What Does Zechariah 2:12 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.
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 word “again” reveals that divine choosing can reopen belonging, and Jerusalem’s name carries the wholeness toward which that choosing moves.
THE MEANING
The LORD claims Judah as his portion on ground set apart, and chooses Jerusalem again. The repeated choosing keeps belonging open in the present: an earlier rupture does not make renewal impossible. Jerusalem carries shalom, wholeness, in its name, so the chosen place bears the nature of wholeness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a season of rejection makes belonging impossible to renew.
THE ROOT
וּבָחַר
u-vāḥar
GROWS FROM
בחר
b-ḥ-r
To choose, select, or single out.
“choose again” in this verse is u-vāḥar. The verb בָּחַר (bachar, to choose) names an active selecting, and “again” makes that act renewed. Belonging here is not a closed status; it is chosen anew.
ALSO GROWS
bāḥīr: Chosen one
בָּחִיר
This branch shows how the act of choosing can become an identity received by the one chosen.
nivḥar: Was chosen
נִבְחַר
This form keeps the choice visible as something bestowed, rather than something the chosen one produces.
וְנָחַל
ve-nāḥal
GROWS FROM
נחל
n-ḥ-l
To inherit or take possession.
English “inherit” can sound like a transfer of property, while נחל (nāḥal, to inherit) also speaks of receiving and possessing a share. Judah is named as the LORD’s own portion, so belonging is expressed as a claimed share.
ALSO GROWS
naḥălāh: Inheritance, possession, or allotted share
נַחֲלָה
This noun makes explicit the share or heritage contained in the verb.
nāḥal: To inherit or take possession
נָחַל
The verb shows the action behind the inheritance: Judah is actively received as the LORD’s portion.
יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Yerushalayim
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
To be whole or complete; wholeness.
The name Yerushalayim (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, Yerushalayim: Jerusalem) carries shalom (שָׁלוֹם, shalom: wholeness). The place chosen again bears wholeness in its name, giving the renewed choosing a nature as well as a location.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, completeness
שָׁלוֹם
This branch reveals the nature carried in Jerusalem’s name.
shalem: Whole, complete
שָׁלֵם
This form describes the state of completeness toward which wholeness points.
THE PATTERN
Divine choosing makes belonging an active gift that can be renewed.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.THE THREAD
Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.This verse uses the same Hebrew root בחר (bachar, to choose) and pairs the choice with “yet,” echoing “again” here. The repeated word makes renewal part of Jerusalem’s choosing: it is spoken again.
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