What Does 2 Samuel 16:14 Mean?

And the king, and all the people who were with him, came faint, and drew breath there.

2 Samuel 16:14 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And the king, and all the people that were with him, came weary, and refreshed themselves there.

THE KEY

“Refreshed” shares its root with “living soul”: rest renews the living person, not just the schedule.

THE MEANING

Strength does not make you immune to weariness; you can arrive tired, even alongside others who are tired too. The living self is renewed in the very place where weariness is present.

THE ROOT

וַיִּנָּפֵשׁ

wayyinnāfēsh

GROWS FROM

נפש

n-p-sh

To refresh oneself or recover; the related noun names the living soul.

“drew breath” in this verse is wayyinnāfēsh. The root holds together an action of refreshment and the word for the living soul. Rest here reaches the living person, not merely a pause in activity.

ALSO GROWS

nefesh: living soul

נֶפֶשׁ

The same consonants name the living self, linking refreshment with renewal of the person.

wayyinnāfēsh: and was refreshed; took rest

וַיִּנָּפֵשׁ

This is the verb in the verse: rest is expressed as refreshment.

THE PATTERN

Rest meets weariness by renewing the living self.

Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall stop, that your ox and your donkey may settle, and the son of your handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed.

Exodus 23:12 · SDVThe same Hebrew root for “refreshed” appears here, extending renewal through rest to people and animals.

He turns back my living soul; he leads me in the tracks of alignment for the sake of his nature.

Psalm 23:3 · SDV“Soul” translates nefesh, the living self named by the same root; restoration reaches the whole person.

Come to me, all you who toil and have been loaded down, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28 · SDVThe promise of rest meets people in their labor and weariness, echoing the renewal held in this verse.

THE THREAD

It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for the ages, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and took breath.

Exodus 31:17 · SDV

The rare Hebrew verb translated “refreshed” here appears again in this verse. The same root links the king and his people’s recovery with rest on the seventh day.

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