What Does 2 Samuel 9:1 Mean?
And David said, Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may do faithful love with him for Jonathan's sake?
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 said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?THE KEY
The kindness David extends is chesed, faithful love that survives the beloved and reaches the person still left in his house.
THE MEANING
A bond remains active after the beloved is gone. David asks whether anyone remains in Saul’s house so his faithful love for Jonathan can reach them. The verse speaks now of love that still carries care toward another person across absence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that love ends with a person’s presence dissolves here: Jonathan is absent, yet David’s faithful love still reaches his house.
THE ROOT
חֶסֶד
chesed
GROWS FROM
חסד
ḥ-s-d
Faithful love, loyal care, and kindness that holds to a bond.
“do faithful love with him” in this verse is chesed. The word translated “kindness” is chesed: faithful love that remains active through loyalty. David’s care reaches beyond Jonathan’s absence to someone in Jonathan’s house, revealing that this love keeps moving through the bond that gave rise to it.
ALSO GROWS
chasadim: Acts of faithful love
חֲסָדִים
The plural form shows chesed as care expressed in actions, like David’s intention to show it.
chasid: A faithful or devoted person
חָסִיד
This root-related form describes someone characterized by loyalty, echoing the enduring bond behind David’s offer.
נוֹתַר
nothar
GROWS FROM
יתר
y-t-r
To remain, be left over, or be in excess.
The question searches for whoever still remains from Saul’s house. The root also carries the sense of what is left over or more than what has been used; here, the remaining person is not treated as residue but as someone to whom faithful love can reach.
ALSO GROWS
nothar: Remained; was left
נוֹתַר
This is the form in the verse, naming the person David hopes is still there.
yeter: Remainder; surplus
יֶתֶר
This branch makes the language of what remains visible beneath the English word “left.”
yoter: More; greater
יוֹתֵר
This branch shares the root’s sense of what is left beyond a measure, linking the remnant to the root’s wider range.
יְהוֹנָתָן
Yehonatan
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give.
Jonathan’s name means “YHWH has given,” and it contains the root natan, “to give.” The name places David’s remembered bond in the language of gift, and the verse shows that gift continuing as care for Jonathan’s house.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give
נָתַן
This is the verb carried in Jonathan’s name, linking the name to the act of giving.
mattan: Gift
מַתָּן
This noun shares the root and echoes the bond that continues to give care beyond Jonathan’s presence.
THE PATTERN
Faithful love continues beyond a person’s presence and reaches people through a bond or character that endures.
But also, you shall not cut off your faithful love from my house for the ages, no, not when the LORD cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the ground.And the LORD passed by before his face, and called out, The LORD, The LORD God, compassionate and full of favor, slow to flare, abounding in faithful love and truth,But God sets his own love beside us, in that while we were still missing the mark, the Anointed One died for us.THE THREAD
But also, you shall not cut off your faithful love from my house for the ages, no, not when the LORD cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the ground.The Hebrew word translated “kindness” here is the same chesed, faithful love, that Jonathan asks David not to cut off from his house. David’s question in 2 Samuel 9 shows that this request still reaches into the present, as he seeks someone who remains to receive that care.
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