What Does 2 Samuel 5:20 Mean?
And David came to Baal-perazim, and David struck them there, and said, The LORD has broken through my enemies before me, like a breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim, lord of breaches.
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 came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there, and said, The LORD hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim.THE KEY
The same Hebrew root names the LORD’s breakthrough, the flood’s breach, and Baal-perazim itself: the rupture becomes the name.
THE MEANING
When opposition closes around you, this verse presents the LORD’s action as a sudden breach, like water forcing through a barrier. Its image holds violence plainly: enemies are struck down, and the rupture becomes the name.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that divine intervention is always gentle or passive: here the breakthrough is forceful, and the enemies are struck down.
THE ROOT
פָּרַץ
pāraṣ
GROWS FROM
פרץ
p-r-ṣ
To break through, burst out, or make a breach.
“has broken through” in this verse is pāraṣ. The sentence repeats this root in “broken forth,” “breach,” and the place-name Baal-perazim (“Lord of breaches”). The flood image, the LORD’s action, and the name all carry one shared word: the event is pictured as a rupture through opposition.
ALSO GROWS
pereṣ: A breach or rupture.
פֶּרֶץ
The verse uses this noun for the break in waters, echoing the same root as “broken forth.”
pōrēṣ: A breaker; one who breaks through.
פֹּרֵץ
Micah uses this form for the one who goes ahead through a gate, showing the same root as a force that opens a way.
Baal-peratsim: Lord of breaches; master of breakthroughs.
בַּעַל־פְּרָצִים
The place-name preserves the verse’s repeated root, making the breach itself the event’s defining name.
THE PATTERN
The force that breaks a boundary can turn what seems impassable into a way through.
The one who breaks through goes up before them. They break through, pass through the gate, and go out through it. Their king passes before them, and the LORD is at their head.When you cross through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not kindle upon you.When they had gone past the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate that carries into the city, which swung open for them by itself. They went out and passed through one street, and at once the messenger went away from him.THE THREAD
The one who breaks through goes up before them. They break through, pass through the gate, and go out through it. Their king passes before them, and the LORD is at their head.“The breaker” and “they have broken up” come from the same root פרץ as “broken forth” and “breach” here. Micah shows that same rupture opening a gate into a way through.
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