What Does 2 Samuel 14:15 Mean?
And now therefore I have come to speak this word to my lord the king, because the people have made me fear. And your handmaid said, Let me now speak to the king. Perhaps the king will do the word of his handmaid.
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
Now therefore that I am come to speak of this thing unto my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid: and thy handmaid said, I will now speak unto the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his handmaid.THE KEY
The Hebrew דָּבָר (davar, “word/matter”) joins the “thing” she brings to the “request” she voices: the spoken word is the matter being carried.
THE MEANING
Fear is present as you bring a matter before someone with power to act. Your words carry the matter itself, while the request is still only a possibility: the king may act, but the outcome is not yet settled. The verse allows fear and speech to be present at once.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that fear must disappear before a request can be spoken is unsettled here: the speaker names fear while she is already addressing the king.
THE ROOT
הַדָּבָר
hadavar
GROWS FROM
דבר
davar
To speak; a word, matter, or thing.
“word” in this verse is hadavar. The same root appears in the words translated “speak,” “thing,” and “request.” Hebrew holds together the matter she brings and the words by which she brings it, where English presents them as separate things.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, matter, thing.
דָּבָר
This noun names the “thing” she comes to discuss and the “request” she hopes the king will grant.
dibber: He spoke.
דִּבֵּר
This verb names the act of speaking that carries the matter before the king.
יַעֲשֶׂה
ya'aseh
GROWS FROM
עשה
asah
To do or make.
“do” in this verse is ya'aseh. The request is a davar, a spoken matter; the king’s possible response is asah, an act. The phrase “it may be” leaves a real interval between asking and doing.
ALSO GROWS
asah: He did or made.
עָשָׂה
This verb is the root action the king may take in response to the request.
ma'aseh: Deed, work, act.
מַעֲשֶׂה
This noun shows the same root naming an action once something is done.
יְרֵאֻנִי
yere'uni
GROWS FROM
ירא
yare
To fear, dread, or stand in awe.
This root can carry awe when directed toward God and fear when directed toward people or danger. Here the people are the source of her fear, and that pressure is spoken aloud before the request.
ALSO GROWS
yir'ah: Fear, awe.
יִרְאָה
This noun carries the same range of fear and awe that lies beneath the speaker’s fear of the people.
nora: Fearsome, awe-inspiring.
נוֹרָא
This form shows the root describing what inspires fear or awe.
THE PATTERN
A spoken word carries a matter toward an act, while the response remains open.
For he says, and it comes to be; he commands, and it stands.So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what I delight in, and shall break through in the thing to which I sent it.The commander of a hundred answered and said, Lord, I am not enough for you to come under my roof, but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed.THE THREAD
So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what I delight in, and shall break through in the thing to which I sent it.The Hebrew דָּבָר (davar, “word/matter”) names both the “thing” the woman brings and her “request.” Isaiah uses that same root for the word that goes out and accomplishes its purpose, opening the space between her uncertain appeal and the act she hopes for.
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