What Does 2 Kings 22:20 Mean in the King James?
Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.
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
Here, peace does not mean the place is spared evil; it marks the gathered person’s passage before that evil reaches their sight.
THE MEANING
The verse holds two truths together: the person is gathered in peace, and evil is still coming upon the place. That evil is not made unreal because he will not see it. The repeated gathering names his passage first among his fathers, then into the grave.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Peace does not mean nothing harmful can be coming to the place I love.
THE ROOT
אֹסִפְךָ
ʾosifkha
GROWS FROM
אָסַף
To gather, collect, or bring in.
The Hebrew repeats the same root: God gathers him to his fathers, and he is gathered into his grave. The doubled word makes death a gathering, first toward kin and then into burial; the peace belongs to that passage even as evil comes upon the place.
ALSO GROWS
asaf: To gather or collect.
אָסַף
This verb appears in both halves of the promise, linking being gathered to the fathers with being gathered to the grave.
asif: Ingathering or harvest.
אָסִיף
The related word for ingathering gives the root a sense of bringing in or gathering to completion, which deepens the verse’s language for death.
בְּשָׁלוֹם
beshalom
GROWS FROM
שָׁלֵם
To be whole, complete, or sound.
“peace” in this verse is beshalom. Shalom carries wholeness and well-being, not only quiet. Here it describes the person’s gathered passage; it does not claim that the place around him is whole or untouched by coming evil.
ALSO GROWS
shalem: Whole, complete, or sound.
שָׁלֵם
This related form shows the wholeness carried within “peace,” even while the verse names harm still coming upon the place.
shelamim: Well-being offerings, often called peace offerings.
שְׁלָמִים
The related term connects shalom with well-being, giving “in peace” a fuller sense than mere quiet.
THE PATTERN
A person’s peaceful passage can coexist with severe harm still approaching the place they belong to.
And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:THE THREAD
And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.Genesis joins going to the fathers with בְּשָׁלוֹם (beshalom, in peace), the same Hebrew word used here. That shared word links departure and peace, while 2 Kings adds the gathering into the grave and the evil still coming upon the place.
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