What Does 2 Kings 17:27 Mean in the King James?
Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God 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
A land’s “manner” is its mishpat: the governing order its new inhabitants cannot know merely by dwelling there.
THE MEANING
You can dwell in a place without knowing the order its God claims there. A priest carried away from his own place is sent by royal command to teach the land’s mishpat, so residence and imposed instruction meet in one scene.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Living somewhere automatically means knowing the order that governs it.
THE ROOT
מִשְׁפַּט
mishpat
GROWS FROM
שפט
shaphat
To judge, decide, or govern.
Mishpat is more than a manner or local custom: it is judgment, ordinance, and the order by which a people are governed. The priest teaches the God of the land’s governing claims, so settlement alone does not make the new inhabitants fluent in its order.
ALSO GROWS
shophet: Judge; one who decides or governs.
שֹׁפֵט
This branch shows the ruling and judging sense carried by mishpat, beyond the sense of custom.
mishpatim: Judgments or ordinances.
מִשְׁפָּטִים
These are the concrete rulings that give a community its governing order.
וְיֹרֵם
wə-yōrēm
GROWS FROM
ירה
yarah
To direct or instruct; in another use, to cast or shoot.
The root’s sense of direction adds something to “teach”: instruction points a person toward a way. Here, the priest is directed to orient the inhabitants toward the land’s governing order.
ALSO GROWS
torah: Instruction or teaching.
תּוֹרָה
Torah carries instruction as direction for a way of life; here the priest’s task is to teach how the land’s order is to be lived.
moreh: Teacher or instructor.
מוֹרֶה
The teacher directs others toward a path, matching the verse’s concern with learning how to dwell under the land’s order.
THE PATTERN
In scripture, knowing the way of God comes through instruction that shapes how people walk.
Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.THE THREAD
Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.The Hebrew verb translated “teach” in both verses comes from יָרָה (yarah), meaning “to instruct or direct.” In Kings, a priest teaches the land’s mishpat; in the Psalm, the LORD teaches sinners “in the way,” revealing instruction as direction into a lived path.
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