What Does 1 Samuel 25:13 Mean in the King James?

And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff.

1 Samuel 25:13 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The leader is not outside the violence he sets in motion: David fastens on his own sword too.

THE MEANING

A grievance is already organized into force: each man fastens on a sword, David does too, four hundred move with him, and two hundred stay with the gear. The verse lets you see how anger becomes a coordinated armed threat and how the leader enters the danger he initiates.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that the person directing violence remains outside it: David fastens on a sword himself.

THE ROOT

חֶרֶב

ḥerev

GROWS FROM

חרב

ḥ-r-b

The verb ⁨חרב⁩ (ḥārab) means to dry up or become desolate; the sword noun is traditionally linked to this family through its cutting and desolating force.

This word-family holds the sword beside drying up and devastation, giving the weapon a destructive edge inside its Hebrew name. Here each man, and David too, takes that force onto himself.

ALSO GROWS

ḥārab: To dry up or become desolate

חָרַב

This verb is commonly associated with ⁨חֶרֶב⁩, bringing the idea of devastation into the word-family of the sword.

ḥorbah: Ruin, desolation

חָרְבָּה

This branch shows the desolating outcome carried by the sword-family.

חָגַר

ḥāgar

GROWS FROM

חגר

ḥ-g-r

To gird or bind something around the body.

“gird” in this verse is ḥāgar. The root holds the act of girding and the girdle that fastens things together in one word-family. The command is repeated for each man, and David includes himself in the same physical act.

ALSO GROWS

ḥagorah: Belt, girdle

חֲגוֹרָה

The noun names what binds around the body, making the command to gird tangible.

ḥagur: Girded, equipped

חָגוּר

This form describes the state each man enters when he carries out the command.

THE PATTERN

A shared undertaking moves through both those who go forward and those who sustain it from behind.

For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike.

1 Samuel 30:24 · KJVThose who remain with the equipment share equally with those who enter battle, making the support role part of the same undertaking.

And divide the prey into two parts; between them that took the war upon them, who went out to battle, and between all the congregation:

Numbers 31:27 · KJVThe fighters and the rest of the congregation both receive a share, extending the work beyond those who go out to battle.

And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.

Luke 8:3 · KJVThose who provide from their resources sustain the work alongside those carrying it forward.

THE THREAD

And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.

1 Samuel 18:4 · KJV

The Hebrew word for “girdle” here belongs to the same ⁨חגר⁩ (ḥ-g-r) family as “gird” in this verse. Jonathan gives David a sword and girdle; here David fastens on his sword himself.

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