Verse Lens · Concise explanation
2 Kings 23:34 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 34. 34And Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence: “And Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Egypt removes Jehoahaz and imposes Jehoiakim.”
Read It With
- 2 Kings 23:31–35
Read 2 Kings 23:34 with 23:31–35. The selected wording supplies one step in the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Jehoahaz rules three months, Pharaoh-necho imprisons him, fines the land, appoints Eliakim as Jehoiakim, and Jehoiakim taxes the people to pay Egypt.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Egypt removes Jehoahaz and imposes Jehoiakim,” 2 Kings 23:34 advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence through the wording “And Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 2 Kings 23:28–30 establishes this prior movement: Josiah goes against Pharaoh-necho at Megiddo, is killed, and is buried in Jerusalem as the people anoint Jehoahaz. 2 Kings 23:31–35 reverses, redirects, or qualifies the preceding movement; that evidenced relationship, rather than database adjacency alone, explains its placement.
Read 2 Kings 23:31–35 together
Why these verses belong together: 2 Kings 23:31–35 forms one scene or regnal notice: Jehoahaz rules three months, Pharaoh-necho imprisons him, fines the land, appoints Eliakim as Jehoiakim, and Jehoiakim taxes the people to pay Egypt.
Verse 31. 31 Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
Verse 32. 32 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.
Verse 33. 33 And Pharaoh-nechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.
Verse 34. 34 And Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.
Verse 35. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaoh-nechoh.
What Remains True
Theological interpretation never makes imperial domination morally clean or turns displaced and subjected people into scenery for a ruler's story. This unit tests that truth through the narrated movement: Jehoahaz rules three months, Pharaoh-necho imprisons him, fines the land, appoints Eliakim as Jehoiakim, and Jehoiakim taxes the people to pay Egypt. In 2 Kings 23:34, the concrete line “And Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned…” keeps that truth accountable to narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “And Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned….” Compare interested accounts without forcing agreement, name the people affected by tribute, siege, displacement, or rule, and refuse modern ethnic or national mapping. This response follows from the unit's own sequence: Jehoahaz rules three months, Pharaoh-necho imprisons him, fines the land, appoints Eliakim as Jehoiakim, and Jehoiakim taxes the people to pay Egypt.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 2 Kings 23:31–35 — Egypt removes Jehoahaz and imposes JehoiakimSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 2 Kings 23:31–35, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Kings
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, royal formulas, clause relationships, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 23:31–35
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 2 Kings with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: A unit-bounded translation comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence is not treated as evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible 2 Kings PDF, printed pp. 663–665, translation and translator notes for 23:31–35
Open source ↗