What Does 2 Kings 6:16 Mean?
And he answered, Do not fear, for those with us are more than those with 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 answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.THE KEY
Fear’s arithmetic changes when the unseen are counted as present.
THE MEANING
The danger in front of you is real, but it is not the full measure of the moment: the company with you exceeds the company against you. Fear is answered by a truer count, one that includes a presence your eyes have not yet registered.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
What I can see opposing me is all that is present, so I stand alone.
THE ROOT
רַבִּים
rabbim
GROWS FROM
רבב
r-b-b
to increase, multiply, or become many
“more” in this verse is rabbim. The Hebrew says the company with us is numerous, carrying the sense of abundance as well as comparison. The count shifts because what stands with you is greater in number than what stands against you.
ALSO GROWS
rav: great, many, abundant
רַב
The same root joins being numerous with being great, so the greater count also carries a sense of magnitude.
rov: multitude, abundance
רֹב
This branch makes the contrast a matter of abundance: the opposing force is not the whole field of what is present.
אַל־תִּירָא
al tira
GROWS FROM
ירא
y-r-ʾ
to fear or stand in awe
“fear” in this verse is al tira. The root can name dread as well as awe, holding both in one word-family. Here the command addresses dread before a visible threat, while the verse grounds its answer in the larger presence alongside you.
ALSO GROWS
yir’ah: fear, awe
יִרְאָה
The noun keeps the root’s range together, showing that fear and awe share a common word-family.
mora: dread, fear
מוֹרָא
This branch sharpens the danger-facing sense of the command: the threat is seen, but it does not define the whole count.
THE PATTERN
Fear loses its claim when the count includes the greater presence that stands with you.
A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my deliverance; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I tremble?What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?You come out of God, little children, and you have overcome them, for greater is the one in you than the one in the world.THE THREAD
And Elisha prayed and said, LORD, I pray you, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and look, the mountain was filled with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.The next verse reveals what the count in this verse already includes: the mountain is full of a company the servant has not yet seen. The threat stays in view, but opened eyes show that it was never the only presence there.
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