2 Chronicles 34:26

But as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, tell him that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘As for the words that you heard,

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Huldah speaks to the royal delegation that King Josiah of Judah sent to consult the LORD, delivering her oracle immediately after announcing God’s unquenched wrath on the nation (2 Chronicles 34:25).

The words — מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה הַשּׁוֹלֵחַ (melekh Yehudah ha-sholeakh) literally names "the king of Judah who sent [you]," specifying the human agent behind the inquiry. The adverb כֹּה (koh) means "thus," functioning as the formal marker introducing the divine speech that follows.

The thread — The oracle fulfills the commission first given to the messengers in 2 Chronicles 34:21 and is structurally anchored by the command to "tell the man who sent you" in 2 Chronicles 34:23. This third-person address to a royal sender mirrors the prophetic formula in 2 Kings 22:16 and Jeremiah 26:2.

Why it lands — The text requires the reader to recognize that divine judgment and mercy are directed at specific individuals within a covenant community, not at the nation as an undifferentiated mass. It demands careful attention to who commissions a spiritual inquiry, since the messenger carries the exact weight of the sender’s accountability.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְאֶל־ve./'el-and/ to מֶ֣לֶךְMe.lekh[the] king of יְהוּדָ֗הye.hu.DahJudah הַשֹּׁלֵ֤חַha./sho.Le.achwho/ sent אֶתְכֶם֙'et./Khem<obj.>/ you לִדְר֣וֹשׁli/d.Ro.oshto/ consult בַּֽיהוָ֔הba./Yah.weh<in>/ Yahweh כֹּ֥הkohthus תֹאמְר֖וּto.me.Ruyou will say אֵלָ֑יו ס'e.La/vto/ him כֹּֽה־koh-thus אָמַ֤ר'a.Marhe says יְהוָה֙Yah.wehYahweh אֱלֹהֵ֣י'e.lo.Hei[the] God of יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לYis.ra.'ElIsrael הַדְּבָרִ֖יםha./de.va.Rimthe/ words אֲשֶׁ֥ר'a.Sherwhich שָׁמָֽעְתָּ׃sha.Ma.'e.tayou have heard

King James Version

And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to enquire of the Lord, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard;

Cross-references

2 Chronicles 34:21 “Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for those remaining in Israel and Judah concerning the words in the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that has been poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD by doing all that is written in this book.”
2 Chronicles 34:23 And Huldah said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Tell the man who sent you