What Does 2 Samuel 3:23 Mean?
And when Joab and all the host that was with him came in, they told Joab, saying, Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he has sent him away, and he has gone away in wholeness.
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
When Joab and all the host that was with him were come, they told Joab, saying, Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he hath sent him away, and he is gone in peace.THE KEY
Peace can be present at a departure and still become vulnerable when its report reaches someone else.
THE MEANING
The verse holds release and reception together: Abner departs in peace, and Joab now hears that news. Peace is real at the moment of departure, yet the report places its continuation in the hands of the person receiving it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A peaceful departure does not guarantee that everyone who hears of it will honor the peace.
THE ROOT
וַיְשַׁלְּחֵהוּ
wayishallechehu
GROWS FROM
שלח
sh-l-ḥ
Send, send forth, release, let go.
“sent him away” in this verse is wayishallechehu. The Hebrew verb wayishallechehu grows from shalach: to send forth, release, let go. Shiloach carries the same “sent” shape in its name, while shulchan is a table, an extending of provision; the root holds release as outward movement.
ALSO GROWS
Shiloach: Sent waters; the name associated with the Pool of Siloam.
שִׁלֹחַ
The same root’s outward movement can carry waters that restore sight, showing that sending can open a way toward restoration.
shulchan: Table; an extending of provision.
שֻׁלְחָן
The table extends provision outward, revealing a form of sending that makes room for what sustains life.
בְּשָׁלוֹם
b'shalom
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
Be complete, whole, intact.
The phrase b’shalom means “in peace,” and shalom grows from sh-l-m: being complete, whole, intact. The verse does not fuse these roots; it places release beside wholeness, naming the condition in which Abner departs.
ALSO GROWS
shalem: Whole, complete.
שָׁלֵם
This branch makes the wholeness within shalom visible: Abner’s departure is described as more than simply leaving.
shillem: Repay, make restitution.
שִׁלֵּם
The same root can name making good what is owed, linking wholeness with what has been restored.
THE PATTERN
Release sends life outward from constriction toward healing and wholeness.
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told the Great House, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may dance a feast to me in the wilderness.He sends his word and heals them, and slips them free from their pits.Then Jesus said to them again, Wholeness be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.THE THREAD
He sends his word and heals them, and slips them free from their pits.The same Hebrew root, shalach, appears in both passages: the king sends Abner away, and God sends a word. Psalm 107 makes the force of that sending explicit, healing and deliverance follow, so the root opens release as a movement that carries restoration outward.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us