What Does 1 Chronicles 14:17 Mean?
And the name of David went out into all lands, and the LORD set his dread upon all nations.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the fame of David went out into all lands; and the LORD brought the fear of him upon all nations.THE KEY
The word translated “fame” is shem (שֵׁם, shem, “name”), so the verse distinguishes the name that goes out from the dread the LORD places.
THE MEANING
David’s name carries his nature into every land, while the LORD sets dread of him upon every nation. The spread of renown and the placement of fear appear as two distinct acts: one goes out, and one is set over the nations.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a person’s public force belongs wholly to the person: the LORD is the one who places dread upon the nations.
THE ROOT
דָּוִד
Dawid
GROWS FROM
דוד
dōd
Beloved; the root family includes the beloved one and expressions of love.
The verse says David’s shem (שֵׁם, shem, “name”) goes out, the word rendered “fame” is literally “name.” David’s own name is linked to dod (דּוֹד, dod, “beloved”), so what travels is the nature carried in the name.
ALSO GROWS
Dawid: The name David, understood through its association with “beloved.”
דָּוִד
The verse’s central name carries a quality, not only a public label.
dodim: Expressions of love or affection.
דּוֹדִים
This branch makes the root’s connection with love visible and deepens the name’s association with “beloved.”
פַּחְדּוֹ
paḥdô
GROWS FROM
פחד
paḥad
Dread, terror; to fear or tremble.
The word holds both dread and the act of fearing within one root. Here that dread is directed toward David and set upon whole nations, making fear a public force rather than only a private feeling.
ALSO GROWS
paḥad: Dread or terror.
פַּחַד
This is the noun behind the fear placed upon the nations.
pāḥad: To be afraid or tremble.
פָּחַד
The verbal branch shows the response contained in the same root as the dread imposed.
נָתַן
nātan
GROWS FROM
נתן
nātan
Give, set, place.
“set” in this verse is nātan. The root can describe giving or placing something in a particular position. The verse presents the nations’ fear as something the LORD sets upon them.
ALSO GROWS
nātan: To give or place.
נָתַן
This is the verb used for the LORD’s act in the verse.
mattānāh: A gift or thing given.
מַתָּנָה
The related noun shows the root’s sense of something received from another; here what is given is dread.
THE PATTERN
When the LORD sets dread in motion, it spreads beyond private feeling into a force felt by whole communities.
And they pulled up their stakes, and the shattering of God was upon the cities all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.This day I begin to set your dread and your fear upon the face of the peoples under all the heavens, who will hear of you, and will tremble, and writhe because of you.And great fear came upon the whole assembly, and upon all who heard these things.THE THREAD
And they pulled up their stakes, and the shattering of God was upon the cities all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.It uses the same root פחד (paḥad, “terror, dread”) for fear that rests over whole cities. In both verses, fear is pictured as a force upon a community, not only as a private feeling.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us