What Does 2 Kings 17:20 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
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 verse’s “delivered” is literally “gave”: the rejected are transferred into the plunderers’ hand before they are cast from sight.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks now in the stark sequence of rejection, affliction, and being placed in the hands of those who plunder. Its final image is expulsion from sight, with no softening of the violence in that judgment.
THE ROOT
וַיִּמְאָס
wayyim’as
GROWS FROM
מאס
ma'as
Reject, refuse; regard as unwanted.
“rejected” in this verse is wayyim’as. The root carries rejection as an act of refusal and exclusion. Hosea uses the same root for being “cast away,” joining rejection with expulsion in a way the English wording of this verse does not show by itself.
ALSO GROWS
ma'as: To reject or refuse.
מָאַס
This is the verb behind “rejected,” naming the first movement in the verse.
ma'asu: They rejected or refused.
מָאֲסוּ
Psalm 118:22 uses this form when the builders reject the stone, showing the root’s language of exclusion.
וַיִּתְּנֵם
wayyittenem
GROWS FROM
נתן
natan
Give, set, place.
The verb rendered “delivered” is built from natan, “give.” The wording presents the people as given into the plunderers’ hand, making the transfer itself part of the verse’s force.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This is the verb used here: the people are given into the plunderers’ hand.
mattan: A gift; something given.
מַתָּן
This related noun keeps the basic sense of natan visible: what is handed over is given.
THE PATTERN
Rejection is expressed as a handing over, with those outside protection left exposed to what follows.
I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:THE THREAD
My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.The Hebrew behind “cast them away” is מאס (ma’as), the same root rendered “rejected” here. The shared word holds rejection and expulsion together: what is refused is also cast out.
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