What Does 2 Kings 3:21 Mean in the King James?
And when all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, they gathered all that were able to put on armour, and upward, and stood in the border.
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 Moabites’ gathering begins with a cry: the Hebrew verb pictures a public summons that turns heard danger into collective readiness.
THE MEANING
Danger narrows the scene to a border, but the response is collective: the people summon everyone able to bear armor and take their place at that edge. A shared report becomes coordinated readiness. The moment of hearing already carries the first movement of defense.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that hearing a threat is passive falls away here: the report becomes a summons, and the people take their place together.
THE ROOT
וַיִּצָּעֲקוּ
wayyitṣāʿăqû
GROWS FROM
צעק
ṣ-ʿ-q
Cry out or call aloud; in this form, summon or call together.
The word rendered “gathered” is וַיִּצָּעֲקוּ (wayyitṣāʿăqû, they called out or summoned), from צעק (ṣ-ʿ-q, cry out or call aloud). The mobilization begins as a public voice: those able to bear armor are called to the border.
ALSO GROWS
tseʿāqāh: Outcry, cry
צְעָקָה
The shared threat becomes audible, turning separate people into a gathered response.
ṣāʿaq: Cry out, call aloud
צָעַק
The call makes the community’s readiness a response to danger, not merely a crowd assembling.
שָׁמְעוּ
shāmeʿû
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
Hear or listen; when a response follows, hearing moves into response.
שָׁמְעוּ (shāmeʿû, they heard) is followed at once by a public summons. Hearing becomes the threshold where information turns into collective action.
ALSO GROWS
shemuʿāh: Report, news
שְׁמוּעָה
The news that reaches the Moabites becomes the trigger for their readiness.
shāmaʿ: Hear, listen, heed
שָׁמַע
The root’s movement from listening toward response is visible in the people’s immediate mobilization.
THE PATTERN
When danger becomes shared knowledge, people turn perception into a coordinated response.
And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:THE THREAD
And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.Both verses turn on שמע (shama, hear or listen): news reaches a people and changes their posture. In Joshua, hearing melts courage; here, it summons people into armor and toward the border.
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