What Does 2 Samuel 21:16 Mean?
And Ishbi-benob, who was of the sons of the giant, whose spear had the weight of three hundred shekels of bronze, was girded with a new sword, and he meant to strike David down.
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 Ishbi-benob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.THE KEY
The repeated language of weight makes the threat measurable, but its measurement does not decide the outcome.
THE MEANING
Here, danger has a precise material scale: a 300-shekel bronze spear, a new sword, and an intention to strike David. The attacker’s intent is real, while the verse leaves its outcome unstated. The threat can be counted without being mistaken for the final word.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse loosens the belief that a threat’s measurable force already determines what happens.
THE ROOT
מִשְׁקַל
mishqal
GROWS FROM
שׁקל
To weigh or measure; by extension, to assess value by weight.
The Hebrew repeats mishqal, the word for weight, and names the measure in shekels. The spear’s danger is made exact and countable, yet the measure itself says nothing about whether the attack succeeds.
ALSO GROWS
shaqal: To weigh or weigh out.
שָׁקַל
The verb behind the noun makes the spear’s threat something explicitly measured.
sheqel: A unit of weight, later also a unit of money.
שֶׁקֶל
The verse gives the spear’s weight in a standard unit, echoing the same measure used for Goliath’s spear in 1 Samuel.
וַיֹּאמֶר
wayyomer
GROWS FROM
אמר
To say, speak, or declare.
“meant” in this verse is wayyomer. The Hebrew says, literally, that he said to strike David; it uses a verb of saying where the KJV renders the thought as inward intent. The attack takes shape as a declared purpose joined to a blow.
ALSO GROWS
omer: A saying or utterance.
אֹמֶר
It keeps the threat within the root’s field of spoken expression.
imrah: A saying, utterance, or word.
אִמְרָה
This branch shows how the root can name the words through which intent is expressed.
דָּוִד
Dāwid
GROWS FROM
דּוֹד
Beloved; the related noun can also mean kinsman.
David’s name is linked to dod, beloved. The verse’s named target thus carries the nature of belovedness beside the giant’s intended blow.
ALSO GROWS
dod: Beloved or kinsman; in some contexts, uncle.
דּוֹד
It reveals the belovedness carried in David’s name.
dodim: Loves or expressions of love.
דּוֹדִים
This related form extends the root’s connection to affection, sharpening the contrast with the attack.
THE PATTERN
Visible force can define the threat without settling the outcome.
And the wood of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and the point of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron, and one who carries the shield walked before him.But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his side, and struck the Philistine, and put him to death. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, You shall go out with us to battle no more, and you shall not snuff out the lamp of Israel.And he said to me, "My favor is enough for you, for strength is carried to its end in weakness." Most gladly, then, I will boast all the more in my weaknesses, so that the strength of the Anointed One may pitch its tent over me.THE THREAD
And the wood of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and the point of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron, and one who carries the shield walked before him.Both passages measure a giant’s spear in shekels, carrying the earlier giant encounter into this attack. The figures and materials differ, 600 shekels of iron for Goliath’s spearhead, 300 of brass here, but the shared weight-root makes the threat echo across David’s story.
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