What Does 2 Samuel 3:2 Mean?
And sons were born to David in Hebron, and his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess;
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 unto David were sons born in Hebron: and his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess;THE KEY
David’s line begins with sons born in Hebron, a place-name rooted in joining, so lineage enters the verse as connection taking form.
THE MEANING
A family line takes shape through actual births: David’s sons are born in Hebron, and Amnon is named first. Arrival and order sit together here, the life has entered the family, and its place in the line is marked.
THE ROOT
חֶבְרוֹן
Ḥevron
GROWS FROM
ח־ב־ר
ḥ-b-r
To join, bind together, or associate.
Hebron carries the sense of association or joined company. The verse places David’s sons within a name of joining, so the setting echoes the forming of a family line.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāver: Companion, associate
חָבֵר
A companion is joined to another by association, carrying the root’s sense into relationship.
ḥeber: Company, association
חֶבֶר
This branch makes the joining collective, echoing a family taking shape around David.
וַיִּוָּלְדוּ
Vayyivvaledu
GROWS FROM
י־ל־ד
y-l-d
To bear or bring forth a child.
“were born to” in this verse is Vayyivvaledu. English can make “born” sound like an isolated event, but yalad also branches into “child” and “generations”: birth begins a continuing line. Here, the births gather into the named family of David’s sons.
ALSO GROWS
yeled: Child
יֶלֶד
The noun and verb share the same root: the one born is held inside the word for birth.
toledot: Generations, or an account of origins
תּוֹלְדוֹת
Repeated births become generations, the longer line beginning in this verse.
בְּכוֹרוֹ
Bekhoro
GROWS FROM
ב־כ־ר
b-k-r
To be first or first to ripen.
“firstborn” in this verse is Bekhoro. Bekhor shares its root with bikkurim, the first fruits, and bekhorah, the birthright. Firstness carries more than sequence: it names the opening portion and the place from which order and inheritance are marked.
ALSO GROWS
bekhor: Firstborn
בְּכוֹר
The first child is the first arrival in the family line, the sense named directly here.
bikkurim: First fruits
בִּכּוּרִים
The same root names the first yield, extending firstness from birth order to what opens a harvest.
bekhorah: Birthright
בְּכֹרָה
This branch shows how the firstborn’s place can carry a recognized share in the family line.
THE PATTERN
A lineage takes shape as births turn individual arrivals into generations.
And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, the gotten one, and she said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife. And when he went in to her, the LORD gave her to conceive, and she bore a son.Now Elisabeth's time was filled for her to bring forth, and she brought forth a son.THE THREAD
And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, the gotten one, and she said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.The Hebrew uses yalad in both verses: Eve bears Cain, and David’s sons are born in Hebron. In each, the same root names the arrival by which another life enters a family line.
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