What Does 2 Samuel 7:20 Mean?
What more can David add to say to you? For you, Lord GOD, have known your servant.
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 what can David say more unto thee? for thou, Lord GOD, knowest thy servant.THE KEY
David’s question ends by revealing that he is already known before he can say another word.
THE MEANING
You are already known by the LORD; no perfect sentence is needed to make you visible. David’s words do not create that recognition, they meet it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that you must explain yourself correctly before God can know who you are.
THE ROOT
יָדַעְתָּ
yādaʿta
GROWS FROM
ידע
To know, recognize, or perceive through encounter.
“have known” in this verse is yādaʿta. The verb carries knowing by encounter, not merely possessing information. David has no further words to supply because God already knows him.
ALSO GROWS
daʿat: Knowledge, awareness, or understanding.
דַּעַת
This noun shows how the act of knowing can also be held as knowledge or understanding.
yōdēaʿ: A person who knows or recognizes.
יוֹדֵעַ
The same root names both knowing and the one who knows, placing the emphasis on relationship rather than a detached fact.
דָּוִד
Dāwīd
GROWS FROM
דוד
Beloved; the related noun can also mean uncle.
David’s name carries the sense of beloved. The one speaking as a servant is also named beloved, adding closeness to the verse’s picture of being known.
ALSO GROWS
dōd: A beloved person; in another usage, an uncle.
דּוֹד
The shared form links David’s name with belovedness.
dōdîm: Expressions of intimate affection.
דּוֹדִים
This branch carries the root into the language of affection, shading the name with closeness.
עַבְדְּךָ
ʿavdekha
GROWS FROM
עבד
To work or serve.
‘Servant’ and ‘serve’ grow from the same root. David’s word for himself holds a relation expressed through service, while the sentence places that servant within God’s knowing.
ALSO GROWS
ʿavodah: Labor, work, or service.
עֲבוֹדָה
The noun makes visible the work carried within the word translated ‘servant.’
ʿoved: A worker or person serving.
עֹבֵד
This form names the person by the action of serving, echoing David’s self-description.
THE PATTERN
God’s knowing of a person precedes and exceeds the person’s words about themselves.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, you probe me, and you perceive me.I am the good shepherd. I perceive my own, and my own perceive me.But if anyone loves God, this one is known by him.THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, you probe me, and you perceive me.The Hebrew verb translated ‘known’ shares the ידע (y-d-ʿ; yādaʿ, know or recognize) root with David’s words. Psalm 139 gives the same recognition voice: God searches and knows the person already.
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