What Does 2 Samuel 13:4 Mean?
And he said to him, Why are you, being the king's son, thin from day to day? Will you not tell me? And Amnon said to him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.
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 unto him, Why art thou, being the king’s son, lean from day to day? wilt thou not tell me? And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.THE KEY
The body makes an unspoken burden visible before the mouth gives it a name.
THE MEANING
Unspoken pressure can surface in the body before it is named. A direct question brings the hidden matter into speech. Amnon calls what he feels love; the name remains answerable to the way that feeling is lived.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that unspoken desire stays invisible: visible diminishment can precede spoken disclosure.
THE ROOT
תַּגִּיד
tagid
GROWS FROM
נגד
To be in front or stand out; in a causative form, to make known or declare.
“tell” in this verse is tagid. In Jonadab’s question, tagid makes telling a bringing-forward: to say something is to set it in view. The verse moves from what the body makes visible to what Amnon brings into words.
ALSO GROWS
neged: In front of, before, opposite.
נֶגֶד
This form carries the sense of what is set before someone, echoing how a question brings an inner cause into view.
nagid: A leader or one placed before others.
נָגִיד
The title shares the root’s image of being out in front, linking disclosure with bringing something forward.
דַּל
dal
GROWS FROM
דלל
To hang low, dwindle, or become weak.
“thin” in this verse is dal. The English “lean” can sound like a description of shape alone, while dal carries lowliness, weakness, and lack. Jonadab sees Amnon diminished before Amnon describes what is weighing on him.
ALSO GROWS
dal: Low, weak, or poor.
דַּל
This is the word used for Amnon’s condition; its range includes being brought low, not only being thin.
dallu: They dwindled or became feeble.
דָּלְלוּ
This form appears in Isaiah 19:6 for rivers that dwindle, extending the image of diminished strength.
אֹהֵב
ohev
GROWS FROM
אהב
To love, be attached to, or hold affection for.
The same root gives the act of loving and love as a noun, binding a feeling to a lived relation. The root names Amnon’s claim but does not certify its character; the story leaves that claim answerable to his conduct.
ALSO GROWS
ahav: To love.
אָהַב
The verb form shares the seed of Amnon’s present claim, keeping the word tied to an act of relating.
ahavah: Love or affection.
אַהֲבָה
The noun form shows that the same root names both loving and what is called love.
THE PATTERN
Hidden inward states press toward visibility through bodily signs and eventual disclosure.
When I hush myself, my bones wear away through my roaring all the day long.For there is nothing covered that will not be uncovered, and nothing hidden that will not be known.The breath of man is the lamp of the LORD, sifting all the inner chambers of the belly.THE THREAD
And Samuel set before him every word, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the LORD. Let him do what is good in his eyes.“Told” here is וַיַּגֶּד (vayyagged), from נגד (n-g-d; nagad), meaning to declare or make known, the same root behind “tell” in 2 Samuel 13:4. Samuel’s full disclosure makes explicit what Jonadab draws out: a question can bring what is held inside into speech.
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