What Does 1 Chronicles 20:1 Mean in the King James?
And it came to pass, that after the year was expired, at the time that kings go out to battle, Joab led forth the power of the army, and wasted the country of the children of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried at Jerusalem. And Joab smote Rabbah, and destroyed it.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Rabbah (רַבָּה, Rabbāh, “the Great”) is besieged and demolished while David (דָּוִד, Dāvid, “beloved”) sits in Yerushalayim (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, Yerushalayim, “wholeness”).
THE MEANING
Joab leads the force through Ammon, surrounds Rabbah, strikes it, and destroys it. David remains seated in Jerusalem while another city bears the campaign’s violence. The verse holds the king’s stillness beside the city’s ruin without softening either.
THE ROOT
וַיָּצַר
wayyāṣar
GROWS FROM
צור
tsur
Bind, confine, close in; besiege.
“besieged” in this verse is wayyāṣar. The verb describing Rabbah’s enclosure comes from a word family that also names a rock: the same image of hard boundary can hold or confine. Here that boundary closes around the city, and the verse names the blow and demolition that follow.
ALSO GROWS
māṣōr: Siege, siegeworks
מָצוֹר
This noun for siege makes explicit the surrounding pressure held inside the verb used for Rabbah.
tsur: Rock, cliff
צוּר
The rock branch gives the root a sense of hard boundary; here the city is enclosed by that boundary of force.
יֹשֵׁב
yōshēv
GROWS FROM
ישב
yashav
Sit, dwell, remain.
“Tarried” can sound like a brief delay, but the Hebrew form means sitting or dwelling. Against the kings who go out, the verse places David seated in Jerusalem.
ALSO GROWS
mōshāv: Dwelling, seat, settlement
מוֹשָׁב
The same root names a settled place, making David’s position more concrete than a passing delay.
tōshāv: Resident, sojourner
תּוֹשָׁב
This branch names someone by where they reside, echoing David’s remaining in Jerusalem.
רַבָּה
Rabbāh
GROWS FROM
רבה
ravah
Grow, increase, become great.
Rabbah’s name carries greatness and increase. The verse sets that name against the city’s military ruin, leaving its name intact as its defenses are broken.
ALSO GROWS
rābāh: Grow, increase, become great
רָבָה
This verb carries the idea compressed into Rabbah’s name.
hirbāh: Multiply, make many
הִרְבָּה
This form shows the same root’s movement toward abundance, sharpening the contrast with the city’s destruction.
THE PATTERN
A siege turns a city’s perimeter into a trap by surrounding it with force.
Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about.And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,THE THREAD
And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.Both passages use יֹשֵׁב (yōshēv, “sitting/dwelling”) for David’s place in Jerusalem. The shared verb makes “tarried” a settled posture beside the army’s going out.
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