What Does 2 Kings 13:22 Mean in the King James?
But Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The word translated “oppressed” carries the force of pressing hard: a ruler’s power bears down on a people across an entire season.
THE MEANING
A ruling force can press a people for the full length of a reign; that sustained pressure remains oppression. The verse keeps the weight of that pressure visible instead of letting its duration make it seem ordinary.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that oppression is only a momentary event: pressure can persist through an entire reign.
THE ROOT
לָחַץ
lāḥaṣ
GROWS FROM
לחץ
To press, squeeze, or press hard.
“oppressed” in this verse is lāḥaṣ. The Hebrew verb לָחַץ (lāḥaṣ), meaning “to press hard,” also means “to oppress.” The phrase “all the days” makes that pressure sustained: the people remain under it through the whole span of a reign.
ALSO GROWS
lāḥaṣ: To press hard; to oppress.
לָחַץ
Exodus 3:9 uses this same verb for the Egyptians’ oppression, keeping the physical force of the word in view.
lōḥăṣêhem: Their oppressors; those pressing them.
לֹחֲצֵיהֶם
In Judges 2:18, the same root names the people exerting the pressure, linking the act of oppression to its agents.
THE PATTERN
Scripture names oppression as pressure imposed on people and keeps its duration visible.
Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.THE THREAD
Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.The Hebrew verb לָחַץ (lāḥaṣ), meaning “to press hard” or “oppress,” appears in both verses. Exodus makes the pressure audible in the people’s cry and visible in the oppression itself.
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