2 Chronicles study section

2 Chronicles word studies

A handful of Hebrew words carry the theology of 2 Chronicles. Tap the speaker next to any word to hear it pronounced.

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Key words

כָּנַע (kana): “To Humble, Subdue”

Usage: 2 Chronicles 7:14; 12:6-7; 32:26; 33:12, 23

Meaning: To be humbled, to bow low, to submit. In its reflexive form it means to humble oneself before God, the turning point between judgment and mercy in Chronicles.

Theological Significance: The book’s pivotal promise hangs on this word: “if my people... humble themselves... I will hear.” Even wicked Manasseh’s self-humbling brings restoration. It anticipates the gospel truth that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6), and the humility of Christ Himself (Philippians 2:8).

דָּרַשׁ (darash): “To Seek, Inquire”

Usage: 2 Chronicles 14:4; 15:2, 12-13; 17:4; 26:5

Meaning: To seek, inquire of, or resort to; in Chronicles, to seek the LORD wholeheartedly in worship and obedience.

Theological Significance: Seeking God is the mark of the faithful kings and the path of blessing: “as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper” (26:5). It echoes the invitation to “seek the LORD while he may be found” (Isaiah 55:6), answered fully in Christ.

עָזַב (azav): “To Forsake, Abandon”

Usage: 2 Chronicles 7:19; 12:1, 5; 15:2; 24:20

Meaning: To leave, forsake, or abandon. The tragic counterpart to seeking, it describes turning away from the LORD and His covenant.

Theological Significance: The refrain “if you forsake him, he will forsake you” (15:2; 24:20) states the book’s moral logic. Against it shines the promise, fulfilled in Christ, that God will never forsake those who are His: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

כָּבוֹד (kavod): “Glory”

Usage: 2 Chronicles 5:14; 7:1-3

Meaning: Glory, weight, honor, splendor, especially the visible, radiant presence of God that fills the temple as a cloud.

Theological Significance: The glory that filled Solomon’s temple points to Christ, who is “the radiance of the glory of God” (Hebrews 1:3), in whom God’s glory dwelt among us (John 1:14), and to the new creation where God’s glory is its light (Revelation 21:23).

רָפָא (rapha): “To Heal”

Usage: 2 Chronicles 7:14; 30:20

Meaning: To heal, cure, or restore. God promises to “heal their land” for a humbled, repentant people, and heals the people at Hezekiah’s Passover.

Theological Significance: God’s healing in Chronicles is bound to repentance and points to the deeper healing of the soul in Christ, “by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24), and to the final healing of all creation (Revelation 22:2).

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