What Does 2 Samuel 15:15 Mean?
And the king's servants said to the king, Look, your servants stand ready to do whatever my lord the king chooses.
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 the king’s servants said unto the king, Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint.THE KEY
The Hebrew closes with “Behold, your servants,” making readiness sound like an identity before it becomes an action.
THE MEANING
The reader meets a loyalty offered before the next instruction is known. Its shape is not a list of tasks but a willingness to serve within the direction chosen by the one addressed as lord. The verse makes allegiance visible as available service.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that readiness depends on already knowing the assignment: the servants’ commitment comes before the king’s choice.
THE ROOT
עֲבָדֶיךָ
avadekha
GROWS FROM
עבד
ʿ-b-d
to work, labor, or serve
The Hebrew word means “your servants,” tying their service to the king they address. The same root reaches from a servant’s identity to the work of serving, so their pledge carries both loyalty and labor.
ALSO GROWS
eved: servant
עֶבֶד
This noun shares the root and makes service a stated relation, not just a feeling of loyalty.
avodah: work or service
עֲבֹדָה
This branch shows the labor contained in the servants’ promise.
יִבְחַר
yivḥar
GROWS FROM
בחר
b-ḥ-r
to choose or select
“chooses” in this verse is yivḥar. The verb behind “appoint” carries the sense of choosing: the servants offer themselves in response to what their lord selects. The root’s branches connect the king’s choice with the state of being chosen.
ALSO GROWS
baḥir: chosen one
בָּחִיר
This branch makes the link between the king’s choosing and those who serve under that choice.
mivḥar: choice; selected or best things
מִבְחָר
This word from the same root keeps selection at the center of the king’s direction.
THE PATTERN
Service becomes visible as willingness to act within the direction chosen by the one served.
And he took the scroll of the covenant, and called it out in the ears of the people, and they said, All that the LORD has said we will do, and we will hear and respond.But it is not so among you. Whoever wants to be great among you will be your servant.Do you not know that to the one you set yourselves beside as servants for hearing and response, his servants you are, the one you hear and respond to; whether of falling short unto death, or of hearing and response unto alignment?THE THREAD
And they spoke to him, saying, If you will be a servant to this people this day, and serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants for the ages.The Hebrew root עבד (ʿ-b-d), meaning to serve or work, runs through both verses. Here, servants offer service upward; in 1 Kings, a ruler is urged to serve the people. The shared root opens service as a relation that can move in either direction.
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