What Does 2 Samuel 5:23 Mean?
And David asked of the LORD, and he said, You shall not go up. Circle around behind them, and come upon them, facing the weeping trees.
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 when David enquired of the LORD, he said, Thou shalt not go up; but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.THE KEY
The command blocks a direct ascent but preserves movement by making the turn itself the route.
THE MEANING
When the way forward meets a boundary, direction may change the route rather than cancel movement. Here, the direct approach is refused, and movement is redirected behind the opposing force.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a closed direct route leaves only forcing through or giving up: the ascent is barred, but another approach is named.
THE ROOT
הָסֵב
hāsēv
GROWS FROM
סבב
to turn, go around, or encircle
“circle around” in this verse is hāsēv. The Hebrew command is a form of סבב, making the turn itself the action: David is told to change his line of approach, not to stop moving. The KJV phrase “fetch a compass” can obscure that direct physical turning.
ALSO GROWS
sābab: to turn, go around, encircle
סָבַב
This basic form names the circling movement that shapes the instructed approach.
sāvîv: around, all around
סָבִיב
This related form makes the spatial sense visible: the route goes around rather than straight up.
שָׁאַל
shaʾal
GROWS FROM
שאל
to ask or request
“enquired” in this verse is shaʾal. Before the movement changes, David asks; the verse places seeking direction before acting. The answer does not merely confirm the expected advance, it changes its shape.
ALSO GROWS
sheʾēlāh: a question or request
שְׁאֵלָה
The question belongs to the same root as David’s act of enquiring.
shāʾūl: asked for
שָׁאוּל
This related form carries the sense of something sought by asking, echoing the verse’s movement from enquiry to a specific answer.
THE PATTERN
Guidance can close the obvious route and disclose movement by a different direction or timing.
In all your ways, perceive him, and he straightens your paths.Your ears will hear and respond to a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," whether you turn to the right hand or to the left.When they came to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Breath did not let them.THE THREAD
And it shall be, when you hear and respond to the footfall in the crowns of the weeping trees, then you shall stir yourself, for then the LORD shall go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.Verse 23 gives the changed position; the next verse gives the signal for when to move. The trees are part of a direction that depends on both where David stands and what he hears.
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