What Does 2 Samuel 24:23 Mean?
All these things Araunah the king gave to the king. And Araunah said to the king, "May the LORD your God receive you."
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
All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee.THE KEY
The gift reaches a king; acceptance is pictured as the LORD taking pleasure in him.
THE MEANING
You see a complete gift placed into the king’s hands, alongside a blessing that the LORD receive him favorably. Human generosity and divine favor meet here, but they remain distinct: one is given, the other is sought from God.
THE ROOT
יִרְצֶךָ
yirtsekha
GROWS FROM
רצה
To be pleased with, accept, or receive favorably.
“receive” in this verse is yirtsekha. Here, “accept” carries the sense of being pleased with or receiving favorably. In this root, נִרְצָה (nirtzah, be accepted) describes one received favorably, while רִצָּה (ritstsah, satisfy or appease) describes bringing satisfaction; the blessing asks for the LORD’s favorable regard.
ALSO GROWS
nirtzah: Be accepted or received favorably; a Niphal form of רצה.
נִרְצָה
It makes explicit the receiving with favor that Araunah wishes for the king.
ritstsah: Satisfy or appease; a Piel form of רצה.
רִצָּה
This form shows the root’s relation to pleasure and satisfaction, deepening the wish that the LORD take pleasure in the king.
נָתַן
natan
GROWS FROM
נתן
To give, put, or set in place.
“give” in this verse is natan. The root holds giving together with setting or placing. “All these things” names a concrete transfer into another’s hands, set alongside the distinct hope of divine acceptance.
ALSO GROWS
natan: Give, put, or set.
נָתַן
This is the verb in the verse, making Araunah’s gift an act of placing what he has into the king’s hands.
nittan: Be given or be set; a Niphal form of נתן.
נִתַּן
The passive form keeps the same root while shifting attention to what is placed with its recipient.
THE PATTERN
Scripture locates acceptance in God’s regard, even when a human gift or offering is the visible act.
And Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock, and of their fat. And the LORD gazed upon Abel and upon his offering.The slaughtered offerings of God are a broken breath; a broken and crushed heart, O God, you do not despise.But in every nation the one who lives in awe of him and works alignment is received by him.THE THREAD
The LORD takes pleasure in those who stand in awe of him, and in those who wait for his faithful love.“Taketh pleasure” uses the same Hebrew root רצה (ratzah, to be pleased with or accept) as “accept thee” here. Araunah’s blessing over the king appears in the Psalm as the LORD’s own pleasure in those who hope in him.
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