What Does 2 Samuel 10:11 Mean?
And he said, If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall be my deliverance. But if the children of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come and deliver you.
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, If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me: but if the children of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will come and help thee.THE KEY
The promise translated “help” is the same deliverance twice over, first received, then given.
THE MEANING
When pressure becomes greater than your strength, another person can become your deliverance; when their pressure exceeds their strength, you can become theirs. Support moves toward whoever is being overpowered.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being overwhelmed means being left alone: either person can need deliverance, and either can offer it.
THE ROOT
תְּשׁוּעָה
teshuah
GROWS FROM
ישע
To deliver, bringing someone out from constriction into spaciousness.
“deliver you” in this verse is teshuah. The same root appears first as the deliverance one commander needs, then as the act the other promises to give. “Help” and “come and help” are one movement in Hebrew: deliverance passes toward whoever is pressed.
ALSO GROWS
teshuah: Deliverance or rescue.
תְּשׁוּעָה
This is the first promise: the other person becomes your deliverance when you are overpowered.
hoshia: To deliver or bring out.
הוֹשִׁיעַ
This is the second promise, using the same root as an action offered in return.
תֶּחֱזַק
techezaq
GROWS FROM
חזק
To be strong, grow strong, or prevail.
“are too strong” in this verse is techezaq. Strength here is not fixed in one person; the balance can tilt either way. The repeated root makes that changing pressure the condition for the shared deliverance.
ALSO GROWS
chazaq: Strong or firm.
חָזָק
It names the strength that may become greater than one person’s capacity.
chizzeq: To strengthen or make strong.
חִזֵּק
This branch shows strength can also be given; the promise turns a shifting balance of power into mutual support.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance moves between people according to who is under greater pressure.
But Moses' hands were heavy. And they took a stone and set it under him, and he sat upon it. And Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on this side and the other on that side, and his hands were steady until the sun went down.For if they fall, the one raises up the one joined to him. But woe to the one who falls with no second to gird him.Carry one another's weights, and so you fill up the instruction of the Anointed One.THE THREAD
Look, God is my deliverance. I will lean my full weight and not tremble, for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song, and he has become my deliverance.The same Hebrew root, ישע (yasha, to deliver), appears in Isaiah as “salvation” and in this promise as “help” and “deliver.” Isaiah names the same bringing-out that the commanders promise to enact for one another.
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