What Does 2 Kings 23:26 Mean in the King James?
Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.
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 Hebrew repeats כעס (kaʿas, vexation) for both the provocations and the act of provoking, keeping the cause of the anger audible inside the verse.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now with a severe claim: a changed moment does not necessarily erase accumulated provocation. The LORD does not turn from fierce anger against Judah, and the verse keeps Manasseh’s provocations in view as its cause.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that a changed present automatically removes the consequences of repeated harm.
THE ROOT
הַכְּעָסִים
hakkeʿasīm
GROWS FROM
כעס
Vexation or anger; in its causative form, to provoke or anger.
The noun for the provocations and the verb for “had provoked” share the same כעס seed. By repeating it, the verse binds the accumulated acts to the anger they kindle: this is not anger without a stated cause, but a response linked to repeated provocation.
ALSO GROWS
kaʿas: Anger, vexation.
כַּעַס
This noun names the state of vexation within the same word family as the provocations in the verse.
hikʿīs: To provoke, cause anger.
הִכְעִיס
This causative form is the verb behind “had provoked him,” joining the act of provoking to the noun for the provocations.
שָׁב
shav
GROWS FROM
שוב
To turn, return, or turn back.
“turned” in this verse is shav. The verse says the LORD does not turn away from the fierce anger. The root also carries the sense of return, making the absent turning back part of the verse’s force.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: To turn or return.
שׁוּב
This is the root’s verbal form and holds both turning and returning within the word used for “turned.”
meshuvah: Turning away, backsliding.
מְשׁוּבָה
This noun shares the root’s consonants and shows how turning can name a departure rather than a return.
THE PATTERN
Repeated actions can set consequences in motion that outlast the moment and person who began them.
And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.THE THREAD
They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.Deuteronomy uses the same כעס root for acts that provoke anger. In 2 Kings, the root appears in both the provocations and the act of provoking, tying the anger to its stated cause.
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