What Does 2 Samuel 5:10 Mean?
And David went on and grew greater and greater, and the LORD God of hosts was with him.
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 David went on, and grew great, and the LORD God of hosts was with him.THE KEY
Greatness here is not a single arrival: the Hebrew pictures David as going and becoming great while the LORD is with him.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you now with growth pictured as movement rather than a finished state, held together with the presence of the LORD God of hosts. Greatness is not isolated in this line; it unfolds alongside that presence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the belief that greatness is a fixed status produced by self-making alone; the verse holds ongoing growth and God’s presence together.
THE ROOT
וְגָדוֹל
ve-gadol
GROWS FROM
גדל
g-d-l
Grow, become great, increase.
“grew greater and greater” in this verse is ve-gadol. The Hebrew pairs “went” with “going and becoming great,” so the line presents greatness as continuing movement rather than a status David simply possesses. English can make “grew great” sound like a completed achievement; the wording keeps the growth in motion.
ALSO GROWS
gadol: Great, large.
גָּדוֹל
This is the form used in the verse, joining greatness to the root’s sense of becoming or growing.
migdal: Tower.
מִגְדָּל
A tower rises high from the same root, giving the idea of greatness a visible form.
higdil: Enlarge, make great, magnify.
הִגְדִּיל
This form shows the root extending from growing great to making something great.
דָּוִד
Dawid
GROWS FROM
דוד
d-w-d
Beloved; the beloved one.
David’s name carries the sense of belovedness, placing that quality beside the verse’s account of his rise. The line holds his increasing greatness together with the LORD’s presence, rather than presenting his ascent as self-originating.
ALSO GROWS
dod: Beloved one; also kinsman or uncle.
דּוֹד
The word carries the beloved sense associated with David’s name.
dodim: Beloved intimacies or caresses.
דּוֹדִים
This related form carries belovedness into the language of affection.
צְבָאוֹת
tseva'ot
GROWS FROM
צבא
ts-b-ʾ
Muster for service; a gathered host or army.
“God of hosts” names the one with David through the language of gathered forces and service. His growth therefore unfolds in the presence of one whose scope exceeds David’s own power.
ALSO GROWS
tsava: A host, army, or organized company.
צָבָא
This noun supplies the sense of gathered forces in “God of hosts.”
tsava: Serve or muster for service.
צָבָא
The verbal form connects the host with organized service, adding purpose to the image of gathered forces.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents increase as an unfolding process that is carried by divine support or favor.
And the man grew great, and walked on, and grew, until he became very great.You give me the shield of your deliverance, and your right hand holds me up, and your bowing down makes me great.And Jesus cut his way forward in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and humankind.THE THREAD
And the man grew great, and walked on, and grew, until he became very great.Genesis repeats the same grow-and-become-great root across a sequence of movement and increase. That echo makes the wording in Samuel sound like a continuing process, not a trophy already won.
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