What Does 2 Kings 19:36 Mean?
So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, went away, and returned, and settled in Nineveh.
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
So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.THE KEY
The Hebrew echoes return with dwell, so Sennacherib’s movement ends not in more motion but in a seat.
THE MEANING
Sennacherib moves out, goes, turns back, and settles at Nineveh; the sequence ends when motion becomes dwelling. The verse speaks now of a wide reach that still has a center, and of movement that can finish in a bounded place.
THE ROOT
וַיָּשָׁב
wayyāšāḇ
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
Turn back, return, bring back.
“returned” in this verse is wayyāšāḇ. This root can describe returning or turning away, so direction gives the turn its meaning. Here it marks a return to a place, without itself implying repentance.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: Return, turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This noun makes the verb’s turn visible as a whole movement back.
meshubah: Turning away, backsliding.
מְשׁוּבָה
The same root can name a turn away, showing that a return always has a direction.
וַיֵּשֶׁב
wayyēšeḇ
GROWS FROM
יָשַׁב
Sit, settle, dwell.
“settled” in this verse is wayyēšeḇ. The Hebrew verb for dwelling also carries the sense of sitting or settling. Its sound echoes the preceding word for return, though the roots differ, as the line moves from turning back to coming to rest.
ALSO GROWS
yashav: Sit, dwell, remain.
יָשַׁב
The root makes the final step bodily and settled: he comes to rest at Nineveh.
moshav: Seat, dwelling place, settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
This branch gives dwelling a concrete place, matching the verse’s ending in Nineveh.
וַיִּסַּע
wayyissaʿ
GROWS FROM
נָסַע
Pull up, set out, journey.
“departed” in this verse is wayyissaʿ. The opening verb carries the feel of setting out on a journey. The verse then moves from setting out to returning and dwelling, making the journey’s limit part of the line’s shape.
ALSO GROWS
nasaʿ: Set out, travel.
נָסַע
This is the journeying motion that opens the sequence.
massaʿ: Journey, stage of travel.
מַסָּע
This branch extends the opening departure into the idea of a route with stages and an end.
THE PATTERN
A movement can turn back toward its source, and what is set in motion can return upon its maker.
His toil turns back upon his head, and his violence comes down upon his skull.Whoever digs a pit falls into it; whoever rolls a stone, it turns back upon him.If anyone is bound for captivity, into it he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, he must be killed with the sword. Here is the bearing up under, and the trust of the set-apart ones.THE THREAD
His toil turns back upon his head, and his violence comes down upon his skull.The word translated “return” in both verses comes from שׁוּב (shuv), meaning to turn back or return. In Kings the turn brings Sennacherib to Nineveh; in the psalm, what he sends out comes back upon him.
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