What Does 2 Kings 16:3 Mean in the King James?
But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel.
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 king’s “way” is not abstract: it becomes the fire his son is made to cross.
THE MEANING
An adopted path becomes visible in what it makes the vulnerable endure: the son is made to pass through fire. The verse names this act an abomination and sets it beside the LORD’s removal of the peoples whose practices the king imitates.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A practice does not become acceptable because a ruler inherits or borrows it; repetition does not make violence sacred.
THE ROOT
הֶעֱבִיר
heʿĕbîr
GROWS FROM
עבר
To pass, cross, or go beyond; in the Hiphil form here, to cause someone to pass.
“made his son to pass through” in this verse is heʿĕbîr. The verb is causative: the king does not merely let his son cross; he makes the child pass through. The root’s sense of crossing or going beyond gives the act a forceful movement through fire.
ALSO GROWS
ʿōvēr: One who passes or crosses
עֹבֵר
This form keeps the root’s crossing sense concrete: someone is moved from one side to another.
ʿēver: Beyond, across, or the other side
עֵבֶר
It names the far side of a crossing and illuminates the movement contained in “pass through.”
דֶּרֶךְ
derekh
GROWS FROM
דרך
To tread, step, or walk upon; the noun can name a path formed by footsteps.
The word for “way” carries the image of a track made by treading. The king follows a path already associated with other rulers, and that practiced course reaches his son in a concrete act.
ALSO GROWS
dāraḵ: To tread or step
דָּרַךְ
The verb makes the path bodily: footsteps press a course into the ground.
dōrēkh: One who treads or steps
דּוֹרֵךְ
This active form keeps “way” connected to the repeated movement of someone following a course.
הוֹרִישׁ
hôrîš
GROWS FROM
ירש
To take possession or inherit; in the causative form here, to dispossess or drive out.
“cast out” in this verse is hôrîš. The Hebrew root carries both dispossession and possession or inheritance. That shared root places the peoples’ expulsion beside the king’s imitation of their practices, holding removal and return in the same sentence.
ALSO GROWS
yāraš: To take possession or inherit; in causative forms, to dispossess
יָרַשׁ
The base verb carries the two directions of land transfer behind the verse’s “cast out.”
môrāšāh: Inheritance or possession
מוֹרָשָׁה
This noun uses the same root for what is received as a possession, echoing the dispossession named in the verse.
THE PATTERN
A chosen way is revealed by what it makes the vulnerable endure.
Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.THE THREAD
And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.The phrase “caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire” uses the same Hebrew root, עבר (ʿābar, to pass or cross), in the causative form. The repeated wording opens this act as a recurring practice within the book, not an isolated image.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us