What Does 2 Kings 13:18 Mean in the King James?
And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed.
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 Hebrew word translated “stayed” means “stood,” so the decisive moment is the stance that ends the sequence.
THE MEANING
This verse makes the ending of an action visible. The hand strikes three times, then stands; the point where movement stops is part of what the passage says. The reader can see an unfinished reach in the space between the blows given and the sequence’s end.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that beginning a sequence is the same as carrying it through: the three blows happen, and the stopping point still limits their reach.
THE ROOT
וַיַּעֲמֹד
wayyaʿamod
GROWS FROM
עמד
ʿamad
to stand, remain, or hold one’s position
The verb translated “stayed” is literally “stood” or “remained”; after the third blow, the text gives a posture, not just an abstract pause. A related word names a pillar, something that stands, so the stopping point appears as a position the action settles into.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāmad: to stand, remain
עָמַד
This is the verb at the end of the sequence: after three strikes, the king stands.
ʿammūd: pillar, column
עַמּוּד
The related word carries the root’s image of something that stands in place.
הַךְ
hakh
GROWS FROM
נכה
nakah
to strike, smite
“smote” in this verse is hakh. The verb for striking shares its root with a noun for a blow or affliction. English names each impact, while the Hebrew root holds together the act of striking and the wound or blow it produces.
ALSO GROWS
makkāh: blow, strike, affliction, or plague
מַכָּה
This branch connects each measured strike with the affliction a blow can become.
nākheh: stricken, disabled
נָכֶה
This branch carries the root’s striking into a resulting condition.
THE PATTERN
The measure at which an action stops shapes the reach of what follows.
And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.THE THREAD
So Joab blew a trumpet, and all the people stood still, and pursued after Israel no more, neither fought they any more.The Hebrew verb for “stood still” is עמד (ʿamad), the same root translated “stayed” here. In that verse, standing marks the halt of pursuit and fighting, showing how this root makes a stopping point into a position taken.
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