What Does 2 Kings 21:9 Mean in the King James?
But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed 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 verb translated “seduced” means Manasseh made the people wander, so the verse depicts influence as a change of direction.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to how a refusal to hear and respond can leave a community vulnerable to someone else’s leading. Manasseh’s influence draws the people into a course of harm deeper than what surrounds them. That danger is present whenever unheeded truth leaves the path open to another’s direction.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that ignoring what I know leaves me neutral and in control of my direction.
THE ROOT
וַיַּתְעֵם
wayyat’em
GROWS FROM
תעה
To wander or go astray; in a causative form, to lead someone astray.
“seduced” in this verse is wayyat’em. The word pictures Manasseh making the people wander, not simply persuading them. Hebrew holds the leader’s action and the people’s lost direction in the same root.
ALSO GROWS
to’eh: One who wanders or goes astray.
תֹּעֶה
The shared root reveals the direction implicit in “seduced”: the people are being turned into wanderers.
ta’inu: We have gone astray.
תָּעִינוּ
This form appears in Isaiah 53:6, where the wandering is shared by all; here the same root describes one person leading many into it.
שָׁמְעוּ
shame’u
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear, listen, and respond.
“hearkened” in this verse is shame’u. The verse says the people do not hear and respond. Their failure is not merely missing information; the Hebrew root joins hearing with the answer a hearer gives.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
The familiar command carries the same responsive hearing that the people withhold here.
shemu’ah: A report or something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
The root spans both what reaches the ear and whether it is received; the verse turns on that gap.
מְנַשֶּׁה
Menasheh
GROWS FROM
נשה
To forget or cause to forget.
Genesis 41:51 explains the name Manasseh through the verb “he made me forget.” Here the name stands beside a verb for leading astray, bringing forgetting and lost direction into the same scene.
ALSO GROWS
nashani: He has made me forget.
נַשַּׁנִי
This is the verb used in the explanation of the name Manasseh in Genesis 41:51.
Menasheh: Manasseh, explained through the idea of causing forgetfulness.
מְנַשֶּׁה
The name’s meaning echoes the verse’s unanswered hearing: what is forgotten can give way to another direction.
THE PATTERN
When people stop hearing and responding, influence can turn their shared direction toward harm.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.THE THREAD
My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.The same root תעה appears in “seduced” here and “caused them to go astray” there. In both verses, the root holds together a people’s wandering and a leader’s role in turning them from their path.
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