What Does 2 Kings 24:4 Mean in the King James?
And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the LORD would not pardon.
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
Pardon here is measured against innocent blood: the violence has filled a city, and the verse refuses to treat forgiveness as erasure.
THE MEANING
The line speaks now wherever harm to the innocent is dismissed as something a plea can wash away: the blood fills Jerusalem, and the LORD will not pardon. Heard alongside shalom (שָׁלוֹם, wholeness), Yerushalayim (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, Jerusalem) stands in stark contrast to the innocent blood filling the city.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a plea for forgiveness makes violence against the innocent disappear without being faced.
THE ROOT
לִסְלֹחַ
lisloach to forgive
GROWS FROM
סלח
s-l-ḥ
to forgive, pardon
The verse’s phrase means the LORD is not willing to pardon; the refusal is deliberate, not an inability to forgive. The same root names forgiveness elsewhere, so this line makes the bloodshed central to whether pardon is given.
ALSO GROWS
salach: forgive, pardon
סָלַח
The verb form from this root names the act withheld in the verse.
selichah: forgiveness, pardon
סְלִיחָה
This noun appears in the phrase “ready to pardon” in Nehemiah 9:17, connecting pardon to the same Hebrew root.
נָקִי
naqiy innocent or
GROWS FROM
נקה
n-q-h
to be clean, clear, or free from guilt
The word behind “innocent” belongs to a root of being clear or free of guilt. It places the guilt with the one who sheds the blood, while the verse makes the harm visible as something that fills the city.
ALSO GROWS
naqiy: innocent, free of guilt
נָקִי
This adjective describes the blood as belonging to those who bear no guilt for the violence done to them.
niqqayon: cleanness, innocence
נִקָּיוֹן
This noun carries the same idea of being clear of guilt, sharpening the contrast between the innocent victims and the guilty act.
THE PATTERN
Innocent blood remains a claim on the community until its violence is faced.
And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee.And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?THE THREAD
And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.Nehemiah calls God אֱלוֹהַּ סְלִיחוֹת (Eloah selichot, God of pardons), from the same סל״ח root as לִסְלֹחַ (lisloach, to pardon) here. Together, the verses hold readiness to pardon alongside a refusal where Jerusalem is filled with innocent blood.
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