What Does 2 Samuel 15:26 Mean?
But if he says thus, I have no delight in you. See, here I am, let him do to me as is good in his eyes.
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
But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.THE KEY
God’s possible refusal does not erase the speaker: “Here am I” remains even before the outcome is known.
THE MEANING
The reader imagines hearing, “I have no delight in thee,” and still says, “Here am I.” The outcome is left to what is good in God’s eyes, though the reader cannot dictate or yet know what that will be.
THE ROOT
חָפַצְתִּי
ḥāphaṣtî
GROWS FROM
חפץ
To desire, take pleasure in, or be pleased with.
The form here means “I desired” or “I took pleasure,” so the line turns on desire, not mere approval. The same root appears in “I delight to do thy will” (Psalm 40:8), holding the possibility of refusal alongside the desire to do God’s will.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēphets: Desire, pleasure, or a thing desired.
חֵפֶץ
The noun shows the root can name both the act of desiring and what is desired, deepening the question of where God’s desire rests.
ḥāphēts: To desire or take pleasure in.
חָפֵץ
This verbal form appears in Psalm 40:8; the same root can express desire directed toward God’s will.
טוֹב
ṭôv
GROWS FROM
טוב
Good, pleasant, or beneficial.
The phrase is literally “as is good in his eyes”: the judgment belongs to God’s sight, not to the speaker’s preferred outcome. The root can also name goodness as bounty, so the verse leaves the verdict with God without calling the unknown outcome pleasant to the speaker.
ALSO GROWS
ṭôvāh: Good, a good thing, or a benefit.
טוֹבָה
This form shows that “good” can describe a concrete benefit or outcome, not only an abstract judgment.
ṭûv: Goodness or bounty.
טוּב
This noun appears in phrases such as “the goodness of the LORD” (Psalm 27:13), linking goodness to what God gives or holds as good.
THE PATTERN
When the outcome remains beyond the speaker’s control, the text leaves judgment with God while allowing the speaker’s uncertainty to remain.
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.My times are in your hand; snatch me from the hand of my enemies and from those who pursue me.Saying, Father, if you are willing, carry this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.THE THREAD
I delight to do what pleases you, O my God, and your instruction is within my inward parts.“Delight” in both verses comes from חפץ, the root of desire and taking pleasure. Psalm 40:8 turns that desire toward doing God’s will; here, the speaker leaves open whether God’s delight rests on him.
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