What Does 2 Kings 15:5 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house. And Jotham the king’s son was over the house, judging the people of the land.
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 Hebrew verb behind “smote” also carries the sense of touch, so the king’s blow is pictured as contact that reaches his body and leaves him separated.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s blow leaves the king leprous until death, living apart in a separate house. Meanwhile, Jotham takes charge of the household and judges the people. Affliction, separation, and the continuation of public responsibility stand together in the verse.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Rank does not make the body invulnerable: even the king is struck, made leprous, and separated until death.
THE ROOT
וַיְנַגַּע
waynaggaʿ
GROWS FROM
נגע
נגע (nāgaʿ) means to touch, reach, or come into contact; in this verb it means to strike or afflict.
English “smote” sounds like a single blow, while the root also carries the sense of touching or reaching. The verse holds contact and affliction together: the blow becomes the king’s lasting bodily condition.
ALSO GROWS
nāgaʿ: Touch, reach, or come into contact.
נָגַע
This is the root’s contact sense, giving the blow physical force in the verse.
negaʿ: A plague, affliction, or stroke.
נֶגַע
The same consonants name the affliction itself, showing how the root spans contact and its painful result.
שֹׁפֵט
shofet
GROWS FROM
שפט
שפט (shāphaṭ) means to judge, decide, or administer judgment.
This root connects the act of judging with the judgment and order that follow from it. While the king lives apart, Jotham’s role is described through active public judgment.
ALSO GROWS
shāphaṭ: To judge or decide.
שָׁפַט
This verb shares the root of Jotham’s title and makes the action behind “judging” visible.
mishpāṭ: Judgment, justice, or legal order.
מִשְׁפָּט
This branch shows the wider public order associated with the act Jotham carries out.
THE PATTERN
Leprosy places the afflicted person apart from shared life, and the separation is stated plainly.
All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the LORD: and Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:THE THREAD
And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.The same Hebrew root נגע (nāgaʿ, touch or afflict) stands behind “smote” here and “plagued” there. In both verses, contact from the LORD becomes bodily affliction.
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