What Does 2 Kings 25:14 Mean in the King James?

And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.

2 Kings 25:14 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The tools are named by their service, then seized: even what ministers can be carried away.

THE MEANING

You see the work by its tools: pots, shovels, snuffers, spoons, and bronze vessels. Each is named as something through which service happens, and then the whole set is carried away. The loss is concrete: it removes the means by which the work is done.

THE ROOT

יְשָׁרְתוּ

yeshartu

GROWS FROM

שרת

To serve, attend, or minister.

“ministered” in this verse is yeshartu. The bronze tools are described through the service they perform, so their removal also interrupts the work they enable. This root keeps ministry grounded in acts of service, not merely a title.

ALSO GROWS

mesharet: Attendant; minister.

מְשָׁרֵת

The related noun names a person through the service they carry out, echoing how these vessels are identified by their use.

lesharet: To serve; to minister.

לְשָׁרֵת

This form uses the same root for service performed at the altar, clarifying the work these vessels supported.

THE PATTERN

Sacred spaces and their material contents can be seized or dismantled, and scripture names that loss in concrete terms.

And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.

Daniel 1:2 · KJVThe vessels of the house of God are carried away and placed in another ruler’s storehouse.

They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith the LORD; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.

Jeremiah 27:22 · KJVThe temple vessels are named as objects carried away, with their removal and return both stated plainly.

And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

Mark 13:2 · KJVThe dismantling of the temple buildings shows the same material vulnerability at the scale of the whole structure.

THE THREAD

When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the LORD:

Exodus 30:20 · KJV

Exodus uses the same root for the act of serving at the altar. Here, the objects are named through that service before the verse says they are taken away.

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