What Does 2 Kings 18:26 Mean in the King James?
Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rab-shakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews’ language in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
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 word rendered “understand” is literally “hear”: the verse makes comprehension a question of whose ears a voice can reach.
THE MEANING
Words travel through overlapping audiences: a message directed to a few can also reach the people within earshot. Here, the request for Aramaic keeps the exchange intelligible to the officials while withholding it from the people on the wall. Who can hear a message shapes who bears its force.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a conversation is private just because it is addressed to a few people dissolves when nearby listeners can understand every word.
THE ROOT
שֹׁמְעִים
shom'im
GROWS FROM
שׁמע
sh-m-ʿ
hear, listen, heed
The Hebrew says, in effect, “we are hearing it,” where the KJV gives “we understand it.” Comprehension is pictured as hearing a voice in a language one’s ears receive, making the question of language a question of who can access the words.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear, listen, heed; hear and respond when the context implies a response.
שְׁמַע
The same root can carry hearing into response; here its form describes understanding through hearing.
shemu'ah: A report, news, or what has been heard.
שְׁמֻעָה
A report is speech carried onward to other ears, echoing how a message can move beyond its intended listeners.
THE PATTERN
A voice changes a shared space according to who can hear and understand it.
Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.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
Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.The word translated “understand” comes from שׁמע (shama, hear/listen) in both verses. Here, the officials ask which ears can receive the words; in Genesis, people can no longer hear one another’s speech as shared meaning.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us