What Does 2 Samuel 18:21 Mean?
Then Joab said to Cushi, Go and tell the king what you have seen. And Cushi bowed down to Joab, and ran.
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
Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushi bowed himself unto Joab, and ran.THE KEY
A witness turns sight into a report, carrying what came into view before the king.
THE MEANING
What is seen becomes a message that enters another person’s hearing. Cushi bows, then runs: the charge moves from perception into action and toward the king. The Hebrew command addresses more than one hearer, yet the verse follows Cushi as the one who runs.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that seeing is passive by default: here what the witness sees is to be made known.
THE ROOT
הַגִּידוּ
haggidû
GROWS FROM
נגד
n-g-d
Declare, make known; this root family also carries the sense of what stands before or is conspicuous.
“tell” in this verse is haggidû. The Hebrew form is plural: Joab’s command is to “make known” what has been seen, while the verse follows Cushi as the one who bows and runs. Telling gives sight a destination, placing the report before the king.
ALSO GROWS
neged: Before, in front of, opposite
נֶגֶד
The report is brought before the king; declaration takes on the shape of placing what was seen in front of him.
nagid: Leader, ruler, prince
נָגִיד
The word names a person in front or prominence, fitting the report’s movement toward the king.
רְאִיתֶם
re’item
GROWS FROM
ראה
r-ʾ-h
See, look, perceive.
“seen” in this verse is re’item. This root names seeing, a seer, and what appears to view: perception is an encounter with what comes into sight. Here that encounter becomes the content of a report carried outward.
ALSO GROWS
ro’eh: One who sees; a seer
רֹאֶה
The witness is defined by the act of seeing, which gives the report its source.
mar’eh: Appearance; vision
מַרְאֶה
What appears to the eye is what the messenger is charged to make known.
THE PATTERN
What is witnessed becomes a message when it is carried into another person’s hearing.
Come and hear, all you who stand in awe of God, and I will recount what he has done for my living soul.For we cannot keep from speaking what we have perceived and heard.For you will be his witness to all humankind, of what you have seen and heard.THE THREAD
For you will be his witness to all humankind, of what you have seen and heard.Both verses join seeing to witness: the one who has seen and heard becomes the one who carries that encounter outward. Acts makes explicit the witness structure already moving through Cushi’s command and run.
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