What Does 2 Kings 13:19 Mean in the King James?

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.

2 Kings 13:19 · 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 three blows are not a rehearsal for victory; they set its limit.

THE MEANING

A victory can be real and still stop short: Syria is struck three times, but not consumed. The man of God’s anger marks the distance between what the king could have enacted and what now follows. The violence is literal, and the victory is limited.

THE ROOT

הִכִּיתָ

hikkita

GROWS FROM

נכה

To strike, smite, or beat.

“smitten” in this verse is hikkita. The same root names both the striking and its result: the action and the blow belong to one word-family. Here, the repeated strikes matter because their count marks the boundary of Syria’s defeat.

ALSO GROWS

nakah: To strike or beat.

נָכָה

This is the verb’s root form; the verse uses an inflected form to describe the blows against Syria.

makkah: A blow, wound, or plague.

מַכָּה

This noun shows the same root naming the blow itself, linking the king’s act to the damage it produces.

THE PATTERN

The measure enacted shapes the measure that follows.

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.

2 Kings 13:18 · KJVThe king’s three blows on the ground immediately precede the three defeats of Syria.

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Luke 6:38 · KJVThe measure given becomes the measure returned.

But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

2 Corinthians 9:6 · KJVThe scale of the sowing sets the scale of the harvest.

THE THREAD

And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the LORD’s deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them.

2 Kings 13:17 · KJV

The Hebrew root ⁨נכה⁩ (nakah, to strike) appears in both verses. Verse 17 speaks of striking Syria until it is consumed; this verse shows the limit marked by the three blows.

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