What Does 2 Kings 11:13 Mean in the King James?
And when Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people into the temple of the LORD.
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
The sound draws Athaliah out of isolation and into the people’s presence, where power can no longer stay at a distance.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to the moment when a public sound reaches you before its full meaning does: it draws its hearer toward the people and into the place where events are unfolding. Hearing becomes entry into the scene.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that hearing keeps you safely at a distance: the sound reaches Athaliah and brings her into the gathering.
THE ROOT
וַתִּשְׁמַע
va-tishmaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
To hear, listen, or heed.
English can make “heard” sound like a completed act of receiving information. This root also grows into the word for a report or tidings; here, what Athaliah hears immediately draws her into the people’s presence, so hearing opens the scene rather than closing it.
ALSO GROWS
shemuʿah: Report, tidings
שְׁמֻעָה
A report is something carried into hearing; the sound in this verse brings news of a public event before Athaliah knows what it means.
shomeaʿ: One who hears, a listener
שֹׁמֵעַ
The root names not only the sound received but the person reached by it; Athaliah’s hearing carries her into the gathering.
THE PATTERN
A public sound turns an unfolding event into an encounter that changes where its hearers stand.
And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.And Adonijah and all the guests that were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, Wherefore is this noise of the city being in an uproar?Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.THE THREAD
And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets: and Athaliah rent her clothes, and cried, Treason, Treason.The next verse reveals what the sound announces: a king stands among the people, with trumpeters and rejoicing all around him. Athaliah’s hearing has brought her into the very scene the noise made public.
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