What Does 2 Kings 21:1 Mean in the King James?

Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephzi-bah.

2 Kings 21:1 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The king’s mother is named Hephzibah, ‘my delight is in her’, so delight sits beside the measure of his reign.

THE MEANING

A life is more than a title or the number of years it holds that title. Beside the language of rule, the verse preserves a name that carries delight in its meaning.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Your worth is measured only by your authority, your output, or how long your season lasts.

THE ROOT

חֶפְצִי־בָהּ

ḥep̄ṣî-vāh

GROWS FROM

חפץ

To desire, take pleasure in, or delight in.

“Hephzi-bah” in this verse is ḥep̄ṣî-vāh. The name is a phrase, not just a label: ‘my delight is in her.’ Its root ⁨חפץ⁩ (ḥ-p-ṣ, desire or delight) also appears in Isaiah’s words that the LORD ‘delighteth in thee,’ opening a deeper connection between the name and the language of delight.

ALSO GROWS

ḥāp̄ēṣ: Desire or delight in.

חָפֵץ

This verbal form appears in Isaiah 62:4, where the LORD delighteth in the one called Hephzibah.

ḥēp̄eṣ: Delight, desire, or pleasure.

חֵפֶץ

The related noun shows that the name grows from the language of desire and pleasure, not from a royal title.

מְנַשֶּׁה

mənaššeh

GROWS FROM

נשה

To forget; in this name, to cause to forget.

The name carries the sense of ‘causing to forget,’ the same root Joseph uses when he says God has made him forget his toil. English leaves Manasseh as a name alone; Hebrew lets it carry a verb’s meaning alongside Hephzibah’s delight.

ALSO GROWS

nāšâ: To forget.

נָשָׁה

This is the root behind Manasseh’s name, giving the name a meaning beyond identification.

naššānî: He made me forget.

נַשַּׁנִי

Joseph uses this form in Genesis 41:51 when explaining the name Manasseh, making the name itself a compressed statement about forgetting.

THE PATTERN

A scriptural name can carry a condition, character, or promise inside the word that identifies someone.

And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.

Genesis 41:51 · KJVJoseph explains Manasseh through the meaning of the name, letting it carry the experience of forgetting.

Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.

Isaiah 62:4 · KJVHephzibah names delight, and the verse immediately speaks of the LORD delighting in the one who bears that name.

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1:21 · KJVThe verse connects Jesus’ name with what he does: bringing deliverance to his people.

THE THREAD

Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.

Isaiah 62:4 · KJV

Isaiah names the one who is no longer called Forsaken Hephzibah, then says the LORD ‘delighteth in thee.’ The name and ‘delighteth’ share ⁨חפץ⁩ (ḥ-p-ṣ, desire or delight), so the name in this verse already carries the root that Isaiah makes explicit.

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