What Does 2 Kings 13:17 Mean?
And he said, Open the window toward the east. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the LORD's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria, for you shall strike the Syrians at Aphek until you have finished them.
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 he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the LORD’s deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them.THE KEY
Here deliverance is not abstract rescue: it is the arrow itself, launched toward the enemy and named as the LORD’s intervention.
THE MEANING
The verse holds before you deliverance with direction and force: the arrow is sent east toward Syria, with the stated outcome that the Syrians are struck until consumed. Its image is military and violent; the text does not hide that the enemy is destroyed. Deliverance appears here as intervention that changes who holds power.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that deliverance is always gentle or bloodless: this verse names a weapon aimed at an enemy and speaks of that enemy’s destruction.
THE ROOT
תְּשׁוּעָה
teshuah
GROWS FROM
שוע
sh-w-ʿ
Cry out for help; call for rescue.
The word used for “deliverance” here belongs to the שוע word-family, whose verb means to cry out for help. That keeps rescue close to the plea that rises from danger: the arrow is named as the LORD’s answer in a concrete, violent form.
ALSO GROWS
shava: To cry out for help.
שָׁוַע
This verb carries the call for aid that sits beneath the verse’s noun for deliverance.
shav'ah: A cry or plea for help.
שַׁוְעָה
It links the cry for rescue with the deliverance the arrow is said to enact.
יְרֵה
yereh
GROWS FROM
ירה
yarah
Throw, cast, or shoot; direct toward a target.
The command uses the same root that yields “instruction”: to shoot and to instruct both involve directing something toward a mark. The arrow’s release therefore carries a sense of aimed direction as well as force.
ALSO GROWS
torah: Instruction; direction.
תּוֹרָה
The arrow is directed toward a target, while instruction directs a person along a way.
moreh: Teacher; one who directs or instructs.
מוֹרֶה
This branch brings out the directing force contained in the command to shoot.
פְּתַח
petach
GROWS FROM
פתח
patach
Open; make an opening or passage.
“open” in this verse is petach. Before the arrow is called deliverance, the window is opened toward the east. The root’s branches for an opening and a key show that access is made before the arrow can pass through.
ALSO GROWS
petach: Opening; doorway.
פֶּתַח
The opened window is a passage through which the arrow can be sent.
maphteach: Key.
מַפְתֵּחַ
The same root links opening a boundary with the means by which it is opened.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance appears as a decisive break in an enemy’s power.
And Moses said to the people, Do not fear, take your stand, and see the deliverance of the LORD, which he will do for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again for the ages.He snatches me from my strong enemy and from my haters, for they are too firm for me.Who has brought us out of the authority of darkness and has moved us into the governance of the Son of his love.THE THREAD
And Saul said, No man shall be put to death this day, for today the LORD has worked deliverance in Israel.The same Hebrew word תְּשׁוּעָה names deliverance in both verses, while the surrounding action gives it a different form. Here the arrow’s impact on Syria is explicit; in 1 Samuel, deliverance is followed by a declaration that no one is put to death that day.
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