What Does 2 Kings 13:16 Mean in the King James?
And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put his hands upon the king’s hands.
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
English says “put” twice, but Hebrew first makes the king mount his hand onto the bow, then depicts Elisha setting his hands on the king’s.
THE MEANING
Your action is embodied here: the king’s hand is on the bow while Elisha’s hands rest on his. The image holds personal movement and another’s guidance together in one moment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that receiving help means being replaced: the king still holds the bow as Elisha’s hands meet his.
THE ROOT
הַרְכֵּב
harkev
GROWS FROM
רכב
Ride, mount; in a causative form, make something ride or mount upon something.
“Put ... upon” in this verse is harkev. The king’s command and response use הַרְכֵּב (harkev, “mount/cause to ride”) and וַיַּרְכֵּב (wayyarkev, “he mounted/made ride”), both from רכב (rakav, “ride, mount”). Elisha’s later “put” is וַיָּשֶׂם (wayyasem, “and he set/placed”), from שים (sim, “set/place”), so the verse shifts from mounting the king’s hand on the bow to setting the prophet’s hands on the king’s.
ALSO GROWS
rokhev: A person riding or mounted.
רֹכֵב
The root names the one who rides, showing the motion held inside the command to place the king’s hand on the bow.
rekhev: A conveyance that is ridden.
רֶכֶב
This branch preserves the root’s sense of being mounted or carried, giving the command a more active shape than a generic placement.
THE PATTERN
Hands become the visible point where one person’s support or guidance meets another person’s movement.
But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.THE THREAD
And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.The Hebrew behind “he made him to ride” uses רכב (rakav, “ride, mount”), the same root as the command translated “Put thine hand” here. That root gives the king’s hand an active relation to the bow; Elisha then closes the scene with a different verb, setting his hands on the king’s.
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