What Does 1 Samuel 30:21 Mean?
And David came to the two hundred men, who were so faint that they could not walk after David, and whom they had set down at the brook Besor. And they went out to meet David, and to meet the people who were with him. And when David drew near to the people, he asked after their wholeness.
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 came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor: and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him: and when David came near to the people, he saluted them.THE KEY
David (דָּוִד, David, “beloved”) comes near to those who cannot keep pace and asks after their שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “wholeness”), so the verse makes care, not capacity, the sign of belonging.
THE MEANING
Your limits do not place you outside the people. The weary are still met as part of the group, and David comes near to ask after their wholeness and well-being. The scene holds a pause inside belonging.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that you belong only while you can keep up. Here, exhaustion does not put anyone outside the circle of care.
THE ROOT
שָׁלוֹם
shalom
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
To be whole, complete, or sound.
“asked after their wholeness” in this verse is shalom. The Hebrew phrase behind “saluted them” asks after שָׁלוֹם (shalom, wholeness and well-being). The greeting is an inquiry into the men’s condition: David’s first act toward those who could not continue is to ask whether they are whole.
ALSO GROWS
shalem: Whole, complete, sound.
שָׁלֵם
This branch makes the greeting’s concern concrete: it asks after the men’s intactness and well-being.
shillem: To repay or make good.
שִׁלֵּם
This branch carries the sense of restoring what is due or making something complete, adding depth to wholeness beyond a polite greeting.
וַיֹּשִׁיבֵם
wayyoshivem
GROWS FROM
ישב
y-sh-b
To sit, settle, or dwell.
“set down” in this verse is wayyoshivem. The verb translated “abide” comes from the root for sitting and dwelling: David settles the exhausted men by the brook while the others continue. Their pause is part of the group’s journey; the text does not cast them out of it.
ALSO GROWS
yashav: To sit, dwell, or remain.
יָשַׁב
This is the root’s basic movement: staying in a place rather than continuing onward.
moshav: A dwelling place or settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
This branch gives the root a settled place, echoing the men remaining at the brook while still belonging to the company.
THE PATTERN
Care preserves a person’s place in the community even when exhaustion stops their movement.
For he perceives our shape; he remembers that we are dust.And he said to them, Come away by yourselves into an empty place, and rest a while, for many were coming and going, and they did not have a well-timed moment even to eat.Carry one another's weights, and so you fill up the instruction of the Anointed One.THE THREAD
Ask for the wholeness of Jerusalem; those who love you are at ease.Both passages join שָׁאַל (sha’al, “ask”) to שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “wholeness”): David asks after the men’s well-being, and Psalm 122 asks after Jerusalem’s. What the KJV renders as a salutation is a real inquiry into whether people are whole.
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