What Does 2 Kings 25:25 Mean in the King James?
But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah.
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
Two names in the killer’s lineage mean “God hears,” while the verse records a killing that reaches everyone gathered around Gedaliah.
THE MEANING
This verse holds a killing in full: Gedaliah dies, and the Jews and Chaldees with him die too. Violence around a public center reaches the people gathered nearby; the names Ishmael and Elishama carry “God hears” twice within that scene.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that political violence can be contained to one intended victim dissolves here: the people gathered with Gedaliah are killed alongside him.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁמָעֵאל
Yishmaʿel
GROWS FROM
שׁמע
š-m-ʿ
To hear, listen, or heed.
“Ishmael” in this verse is Yishmaʿel. The name carries the root for “hear” inside it, and that same root returns in Elishama, so this family line sounds twice with “God hears.” English preserves both names but leaves their shared meaning inaudible beside the killing at Mizpah.
ALSO GROWS
šāmaʿ: To hear; to listen.
שָׁמַע
This verb is embedded in Ishmael’s name, where El names the one who hears.
ʾElīshāmāʿ: God hears; God has heard.
אֱלִישָׁמָע
Elishama repeats the same hearing root in the genealogy, making the echo audible within the verse.
THE PATTERN
Violence aimed at a political center reaches beyond its named target to the surrounding community.
And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees.And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.THE THREAD
And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.Genesis makes Ishmael’s name explicit: he is named because the LORD hears Hagar’s affliction. Here, the same root שׁמע (shamaʿ, “hear”) appears in both Ishmael and Elishama, carrying a thread the English names leave inaudible beside the account of violence.
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