What Does 2 Kings 24:6 Mean in the King James?

So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

2 Kings 24:6 · 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.

THE KEY

The succession is bracketed by two names that speak of YHWH’s action: raising in the father’s name, establishing in the son’s.

THE MEANING

You meet death and succession in one spare line: a father dies, and his son rules in his place. Jehoiakim’s name carries “YHWH raises,” while Jehoiachin’s carries “YHWH establishes,” so the handoff arrives in the language of standing and being set in place.

THE ROOT

יְהוֹיָקִים

Yehoyaqim

GROWS FROM

קום

Rise, stand, arise.

Jehoiakim carries the form ⁨יָקִים⁩ (yaqim), from ⁨קום⁩ (qum), “rise, stand”: “YHWH raises” or “YHWH sets up.” The name makes being raised into place part of the ruler’s identity, even as this verse says his reign and life end.

ALSO GROWS

yaqim: He raises or sets up.

יָקִים

This is the verb form carried in Jehoiakim’s name: YHWH raises.

heqim: Raise, establish, set up.

הֵקִים

It shows how the root moves from standing to the act of setting someone or something in place.

maqom: Place, standing place.

מָקוֹם

The root’s image of standing also appears in the word for a place where one stands.

יְהוֹיָכִין

Yehoyakhin

GROWS FROM

כון

Be firm, establish, prepare.

Jehoiachin carries ⁨כִּין⁩ (kin), from ⁨כון⁩ (kun), “be firm, establish”: “YHWH establishes.” Its root differs from Jehoiakim’s, but the two names place raising and establishing side by side at the moment one reign gives way to another.

ALSO GROWS

yakhin: He establishes or makes firm.

יָכִין

This form supplies the action in Jehoiachin’s name: YHWH establishes.

nakhon: Firm, established, ready.

נָכוֹן

It carries the root’s sense of being made steady or set in place.

hekin: Prepare, make ready, establish.

הֵכִין

This form shows the root’s movement from firmness to preparing something for its place.

שָׁכַב

Shakab

GROWS FROM

שכב

Lie down.

The Hebrew root keeps the phrase “slept with his fathers” close to the bodily image of lying down among them. The next clause shifts from that resting place to the son’s reign, making the passage turn from one generation’s end to another’s rule.

ALSO GROWS

mishkav: Bed, lying place.

מִשְׁכָּב

This branch keeps the root’s concrete image of a place where someone lies down.

shokhev: One lying down.

שֹׁכֵב

It preserves the physical posture behind the verse’s language for death.

THE PATTERN

Human offices outlast their holders by passing to successors when death ends a tenure.

And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

1 Kings 11:43 · KJVSolomon’s death and Rehoboam’s succession express the same handoff from one ruler to the next.

One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.

Ecclesiastes 1:4 · KJVThe verse widens the succession beyond a throne: one generation passes while another takes its place.

And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:

Hebrews 7:23 · KJVDeath prevents each priest from continuing in office, so the role passes through many holders.

THE THREAD

So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

1 Kings 2:10 · KJV

Both verses use ⁨שָׁכַב⁩ (shakab), “lie down,” for the phrase “slept with his fathers.” In 1 Kings it marks David’s death and burial; here it closes Jehoiakim’s life just as the next reign begins.

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