What Does 2 Samuel 17:20 Mean?
And when Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house, they said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said to them, They have crossed over the waters. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.
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 when Absalom’s servants came to the woman to the house, they said, Where is Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them, They be gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.THE KEY
The woman’s false report uses the exact Hebrew verb that, two verses later, names the men’s real crossing to safety.
THE MEANING
A search is underway, but the woman’s answer turns the searchers away, and they return without finding the men. The verb in her claim, “cross over”, also names the actual Jordan crossing that follows, so the false trail already carries the language of the escape to come.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being sought does not mean being found.
THE ROOT
עָבְרוּ
ʿāḇərû
GROWS FROM
עבר
ʿ-b-r
to pass across, cross over, or pass through
“crossed over the waters” in this verse is ʿāḇərû. “Gone over” can sound like an incidental location report, but the Hebrew verb marks a crossing from one side to another. Here it first serves as the woman’s false trail, then names the real crossing of the Jordan in verse 22.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvar: to cross over or pass by
עָבַר
It is the verb’s base form and makes the claim about the men’s movement explicit.
ʿēver: the far side, beyond
עֵבֶר
The root carries both the act of crossing and the far side reached by crossing.
maʿăḇār: a crossing or passage
מַעֲבָר
This branch brings out the passageway implied by the woman’s report, and by the escape that follows.
וַיָּשֻׁבוּ
wayyāšûḇû
GROWS FROM
שוב
š-w-b
to turn back or return; in a causative form, to bring back or restore
“returned” in this verse is wayyāšûḇû. The searchers’ movement ends in a turn back to Jerusalem, while the men they seek remain beyond their reach. The same root can describe restoration, as in “he restoreth my soul” in Psalm 23:3; here the return restores nothing to the searchers.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: to turn back or return
שׁוּב
This is the movement the searchers make when their search fails.
yeshovev: he brings back or restores
יְשׁוֹבֵב
This form in Psalm 23:3 shows the root’s restorative branch, which sharpens the contrast with this empty return.
THE PATTERN
When pursuit closes in, concealment, misdirection, or escape can leave the endangered beyond the pursuers’ reach.
And it was, at the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue after them quickly, for you shall overtake them.And Saul said to Michal, Why have you thrown me off like this, and sent my enemy away, so that he has slipped away? And Michal answered Saul, He said to me, Send me away; why should I kill you?Then they lifted stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the middle of them, and so passed by.THE THREAD
Then David arose, and all the people with him, and they crossed over Jordan. By the light of morning not one of them was missing; all had crossed over Jordan.The Hebrew root עבר (ʿ-b-r), meaning “cross over,” appears in the woman’s claim here and in the actual crossing of the Jordan in verse 22. What is misdirection in this moment becomes the precise movement that carries the whole company out of danger.
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