What Does 2 Kings 13:12 Mean in the King James?

And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might wherewith he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

2 Kings 13:12 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The Hebrew calls both Joash’s deeds and their chronicle “words,” joining what he does to the account that carries it forward.

THE MEANING

Your actions outlast the moment they occur, becoming part of the account through which your days are known. The verse leaves most of that account outside the frame, pointing to a record beyond the line in view.

THE ROOT

דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים

dibrê hayyāmîm

GROWS FROM

ד־ב־ר

d-b-r

To speak; a word, matter, or affair.

“acts / chronicles” in this verse is dibrê hayyāmîm. The Hebrew words translated “acts” and “chronicles” share the same three consonants: a deed is a matter to be recounted, and the chronicle is the words of the days. The verse joins what happens to the account that preserves it.

ALSO GROWS

dābār: A word, thing, matter, or affair.

דָּבָר

This branch shows how the root can hold both something spoken and something that happens.

dibbēr: To speak or utter.

דִּבֵּר

The spoken word and the recorded deed grow from the same root, linking action with its telling.

dibrê hayyāmîm: Words or matters of the days; annals or chronicles.

דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים

This is the phrase rendered “chronicles,” literally naming a record as the words of the days.

THE PATTERN

What happens in a life exceeds a single telling, so scripture points beyond the passage to records that preserve its deeds.

And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?

1 Kings 11:41 · KJVThe verse names Solomon’s deeds and points to a written record that holds more than the present passage recounts.

Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer,

1 Chronicles 29:29 · KJVDavid’s life is preserved across several records, extending the account beyond one telling.

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

John 21:25 · KJVThe deeds named in a passage open onto a larger account, too extensive to fit in the books imagined here.

THE THREAD

And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?

1 Kings 11:41 · KJV

Solomon’s deeds and their archive are named with the same root, making the link grammatical as well as thematic. The phrase “words of the days” reveals the chronicle as a telling that carries forward what happened.

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