What Does 2 Kings 22:6 Mean in the King James?
Unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house.
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
“Repair” means to strengthen: the house is restored by giving its structure firmer support.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to you through the precise work that makes restoration possible: skilled hands shape materials so a house can be strengthened. The existing house receives prepared timber and quarry-cut stone, fitted for the work of helping it stand.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that what has weakened can only be restored by tearing it down is undone here: the house is strengthened through skilled work and prepared materials.
THE ROOT
לְחַזֵּק
lechazzeq to strengthen
GROWS FROM
חזק
ḥ-z-q
To be strong, strengthen, or make firm.
The word translated “repair” names the strengthening of the house. It reveals restoration as making the structure able to stand firm again.
ALSO GROWS
chazaq: Be strong or prevail.
חָזַק
The same root names strength itself, showing that repair changes the house’s capacity to bear weight.
hecheziq: Hold fast or strengthen.
הֶחֱזִיק
The root also carries the sense of holding firm, linking repair with keeping the structure together.
אַבְנֵי מַחְצֵב
avnei mach-tsev stones
GROWS FROM
חצב
ḥ-ṣ-b
To hew, quarry, or cut something out.
“hewn stone” in this verse is avnei mach-tsev stones. The Hebrew phrase points to stones from a quarry: the material that strengthens the house has been cut out and prepared. The stone word אֶבֶן (even, stone) also echoes אָב (av, father) and בֵּן (ben, son) as a wordplay, an image of lineage held within the house’s material.
ALSO GROWS
chotzev: A hewer or quarry worker.
חֹצֵב
The stone’s place in the house begins with skilled hands cutting it from the rock.
mach-tsev: Quarry.
מַחְצֵב
The word names the source of the stone, revealing the cutting and preparation behind the house’s strengthened structure.
לַבֹּנִים
labbonim to the
GROWS FROM
בנה
b-n-h
To build or establish.
The Hebrew keeps the act of building visible inside “builders.” Related words name both the building and its structure, binding skilled labor to what stands as a result.
ALSO GROWS
banah: Build or establish.
בָּנָה
This is the action carried by the word “builders”; the verse centers the work of making the house firm.
mivneh: Structure or building.
מִבְנֶה
The related word names what the builders shape, joining the human work to the house that receives it.
THE PATTERN
Restoration strengthens a structure through skilled work and materials prepared for the task.
And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the LORD, and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the LORD, and also such as wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the LORD.And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.THE THREAD
Let the priests take it to them, every man of his acquaintance: and let them repair the breaches of the house, wheresoever any breach shall be found.Both verses use חזק (chazaq, strengthen) for repairing the house. In this verse, the work meets the breach directly: repair means giving firmness where the structure has yielded.
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