What Does 2 Samuel 6:15 Mean?
So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with a shout, and with the sound of the ram's horn.
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
So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.THE KEY
The Hebrew says they made the ark ascend: the procession is a shared upward movement, made audible by the people’s shout and trumpet.
THE MEANING
What is carried as sacred draws the whole people into one movement, and that movement becomes public sound. Reverence here is communal and embodied: many go together, and their acclamation fills the air.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that reverence must be silent and private gives way to a scene where the whole people meet the sacred with an audible shout.
THE ROOT
וַיַּעֲלוּ
vayyaʿalu
GROWS FROM
עלה
to go up, ascend
“Brought up” can sound like transport, but the Hebrew verb carries the sense of ascent. Its sibling עֹלָה (olah), an offering that rises, adds a resonance of approach and dedication without making the ark itself an offering.
ALSO GROWS
alah: to go up, ascend
עָלָה
This verb is the root beneath the procession’s movement; the ark is borne as part of an ascent.
olah: an offering that goes up
עֹלָה
Its name shares the ascent-root, letting the procession’s upward movement echo the language of approach to God.
תְּרוּעָה
teruʿah
GROWS FROM
רוע
to raise a cry, shout
“a shout” in this verse is teruʿah. The shout is not an abstract note of celebration: it belongs to the same word-family as cries of acclamation and alarm. Paired with the trumpet’s sound, it makes the procession something the whole people can hear and join.
ALSO GROWS
hariʿu: they shouted, acclaimed
הָרִיעוּ
This verbal form from the same root makes the noun’s sound an action voiced by people.
teruʿah: a shout, acclamation, or trumpet blast
תְּרוּעָה
The same word can name a human cry or a blast, joining the people’s voices to the trumpet’s sound.
דָּוִד
Dāwīd
GROWS FROM
דוד
beloved; dear one
David’s name carries the nature of the beloved into this public scene. The procession is led by one whose very name belongs to the language of affection and kinship.
ALSO GROWS
dod: beloved, dear one; kinsman
דּוֹד
This is the word-family beneath David’s name, holding affection and kinship within the name.
dodim: loves, caresses
דּוֹדִים
The same family also names expressions of love, giving David’s name a relational depth beyond a label.
THE PATTERN
The movement of divine presence is made public through sound that gathers and affects the people.
God rises with a shout; the LORD with the sound of a ram's horn.And on the third day, in the morning, there were thunders and flashes, and a heavy cloud upon the mount, and the sound of the ram's horn was very strong, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.For the Lord himself, with a shout of command, with the voice of the chief messenger, and with the trumpet of God, will step down from heaven, and the dead in the Anointed One will rise first.THE THREAD
God rises with a shout; the LORD with the sound of a ram's horn.“Gone up” and “brought up” share the Hebrew root עלה (alah), meaning to ascend. Psalm 47:5 also pairs that ascent with a shout and trumpet, showing the same audible shape of movement.
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