What Does 2 Samuel 10:13 Mean?
And Joab and the people who were with him drew near before the Syrians to the battle, and the Syrians fled from his face.
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 Joab drew nigh, and the people that were with him, unto the battle against the Syrians: and they fled before him.THE KEY
The Hebrew root behind “they fled” also names a refuge, so the retreat carries the shape of movement away from danger and toward safety.
THE MEANING
You see the encounter turn as Joab and the people beside him draw near to battle and the Syrians flee before him. The line ends with the opposing force in retreat.
THE ROOT
וַיָּנֻסוּ
wayyānusū
GROWS FROM
נוס
nūs, to flee, escape
“fled from his face” in this verse is wayyānusū. The root holds fleeing and refuge together: the verb here shares its consonants with a noun for the place of escape. English shows the Syrians running; Hebrew also lets flight carry the shape of moving away from danger and toward safety.
ALSO GROWS
nūs: to flee, escape
נוּס
This verb names the movement the Syrians make in the verse.
mānōs: refuge, place of escape
מָנוֹס
The same root consonants name where one flees to, joining retreat with refuge.
THE PATTERN
When a force meets a presence or resistance it cannot hold against, the scene can turn into its flight.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm or Song of David. Let God rise, let his enemies be scattered, and let those who hate him flee from his face.And he turned aside the wheels of their chariots, and they drove them heavily, and the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.Therefore place yourselves under God. Stand against the Slanderer, and he will flee from you.THE THREAD
Look now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh, let me escape there, is it not a little one? And my living soul will live.Genesis uses the same root for Lot’s plea to flee, with a clear destination: a nearby city he can reach. Beside Joab’s scene, it reveals the root’s two-sided shape, moving away from danger and toward a place of escape.
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