What Does 1 Chronicles 19:2 Mean?
And David said, I will show faithful love to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed faithful love to me. And David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. So the servants of David came into the land of the children of Ammon to Hanun, to comfort him.
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 David said, I will shew kindness unto Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father shewed kindness to me. And David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. So the servants of David came into the land of the children of Ammon to Hanun, to comfort him.THE KEY
The kindness David received does not end with its first giver; it becomes the way he meets another man’s grief.
THE MEANING
A kindness received can remain active after its giver is gone, shaping how you meet another person’s grief now. Here, care takes the form of messengers sent to Hanun, and their purpose, comfort, is named twice.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The care someone gave me ended with them; their absence leaves nothing to carry forward.
THE ROOT
חֶסֶד
ḥesed
GROWS FROM
חסד
ḥ-s-d
Loyal kindness or faithful love
The Hebrew word translated “kindness” appears twice, tying David’s response to the care he once received. Its range includes faithful love, so the verse presents this as a bond carried forward, not a passing courtesy.
ALSO GROWS
ḥasadim: Plural acts of loyal kindness
חֲסָדִים
The repeated kindness in the verse is a concrete act: David sends people to comfort Hanun.
ḥasid: A person characterized by loyalty or devotion
חָסִיד
This related word shows how chesed can describe a quality embodied in a person, as David embodies the kindness he received.
לְנַחֲמוֹ
lenachamo
GROWS FROM
נחם
n-ḥ-m
To comfort or console; in other forms, to relent or be moved
“to comfort him” in this verse is lenachamo. The root names consolation here, while elsewhere it can describe relenting or being moved. Its range lets comfort carry the possibility of an inward change in response to grief, without suggesting that the grief disappears.
ALSO GROWS
tanḥumim: Comforts or consoling words
תַּנְחוּמִים
This noun from the same root makes explicit the consoling care the messengers are sent to bring.
niḥam: Changed course or was moved in response
נִחַם
This related verb reveals a root that includes a shift in response, adding depth to the act of comforting Hanun.
וַיִּשְׁלַח
vayyishlaḥ
GROWS FROM
שלח
š-l-ḥ
To send forth; also to release or let go
“sent” in this verse is vayyishlaḥ. David’s kindness takes the shape of sending people across a distance to meet Hanun in his grief. The same root can carry the sense of release, while here it specifically describes sending forth.
ALSO GROWS
shilluach: An act of sending or releasing
שִׁלּוּחַ
This branch holds both senses present in the root: David sends messengers, and the root also carries the wider sense of letting go.
shaluach: A person dispatched on a mission
שָׁלוּחַ
The messengers are people sent with a purpose: to bring comfort.
THE PATTERN
Kindness stays alive when remembered care is carried forward and extended beyond the expectation of return.
And David said, Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may do faithful love with him for Jonathan's sake?But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return. And your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Highest, for he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil.THE THREAD
And David said, Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may do faithful love with him for Jonathan's sake?The same Hebrew חֶסֶד (ḥesed, faithful love, loyal kindness) appears as “kindness” in both verses. In one, David’s care reaches Hanun because of his father; in the other, it reaches Jonathan’s surviving family, showing how remembered kindness can outlive the person who first gave it.
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