What Does 2 Samuel 24:16 Mean?
And when the messenger of the LORD stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD sighed over the harm, and said to the messenger who destroyed the people, "Enough, now let your hand drop." And the messenger of the LORD was beside the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
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 the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.THE KEY
The destruction is already in motion, yet the word “stay” means “let the hand drop,” and the command stops the blow.
THE MEANING
A hand is poised over Jerusalem to destroy it, and the LORD says, “It is enough.” “Stay” carries the sense of loosening or letting the hand fall, so the attack stops. The angel remains beside the threshing floor as the destructive reach ends.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A destructive act, once set in motion, cannot be interrupted. Here, the command halts its reach.
THE ROOT
הֶרֶף
hereph
GROWS FROM
רפה
raphah
To loosen, slacken, or let drop.
“let your hand drop” in this verse is hereph. “Stay” translates הֶרֶף (hereph), a command from רפה (raphah), meaning to loosen or let drop. The command names the release of the angel’s hand from its destructive reach.
ALSO GROWS
raphah: To slacken, release, or let go.
רָפָה
This verb gives the command its sense: the hand’s grip loosens.
harpu: Release; let go; be still, as a plural command.
הַרְפּוּ
The same root appears in Psalm 46:10, where “Be still” carries the sense of letting go.
וַיִּשְׁלַח
vayishlach
GROWS FROM
שלח
shalach
To send, send forth, or release.
“stretched out his hand” in this verse is vayishlach. The angel “stretched out” his hand with a verb from שלח (shalach), the root of sending forth and releasing. The hand’s outward sending toward Jerusalem is answered by the command to let it drop.
ALSO GROWS
shilleach: To send away, dismiss, or release.
שִׁלֵּחַ
This branch makes release part of the same root that describes the hand sent forth.
Shiloach: Shiloah, the name of Jerusalem’s sent-flowing waters.
שִׁלֹחַ
The root also names waters sent forth; here it describes a hand sent toward the city.
וַיִּנָּחֶם
vayinnachem
GROWS FROM
נחם
nacham
To relent, regret, or be comforted.
“sighed over” in this verse is vayinnachem. The word rendered “repented” comes from נחם (nacham), whose meanings include relenting and comfort. The verse holds the calamity and its reversal together: the LORD relents, and the destruction does not continue.
ALSO GROWS
nicham: To relent, regret, or be comforted.
נִחַם
This form shows the shift in course behind the verse’s “repented.”
tanchumim: Comforts or consolations.
תַּנְחוּמִים
The same root also yields comfort, placing relief within the root’s range of meanings.
THE PATTERN
When a destructive reach meets its limit, release and relenting can stop its course.
And the LORD relented from the harm he had spoken of doing to his people.And God saw their deeds, because they turned back from their harmful way; and God relented from the harm he had spoken to do to them, and he did not do it.Then Jesus said to him, Turn your sword back to its place, for all who take up the sword will perish by the sword.THE THREAD
Release your grip, and perceive that I AM God; I am lifted high among the nations, I am lifted high in the earth.The command translated “Be still” is הַרְפּוּ (harpu, release or let go), from the same root רפה (raphah, loosen or release) as “stay” here. In this verse the hand releases its destructive reach; in the psalm, release opens into knowing.
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