What Does 2 Kings 3:22 Mean in the King James?
And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood:
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 eye can mistake an appearance for the thing itself.
THE MEANING
Light and distance can make what you see feel like proof of what something is. The water appears red as blood, but it remains water. The verse holds the vivid appearance and the thing itself side by side.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a vivid appearance proves what something is.
THE ROOT
וַיִּרְאוּ
vayir'u
GROWS FROM
ראה
To see, look at, or perceive.
“saw” in this verse is vayir'u. The Hebrew root for seeing also gives words for appearance: the act of seeing and what presents itself to sight belong to one word family. Here, the Moabites see water as blood, exposing the gap between what appears and what is.
ALSO GROWS
mar'eh: Appearance or form
מַרְאֶה
The water’s blood-red appearance shapes what the Moabites think they see.
ro'eh: A seer; one who sees
רֹאֶה
The word keeps attention on the one perceiving, whose sight can mistake water for blood.
THE PATTERN
An appearance can be vivid and still be an unreliable measure of what is there.
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)THE THREAD
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.The Hebrew uses the same ראה (ra’ah, see or perceive) root: here Samuel looks at outward appearance, and in 2 Kings the Moabites see water as blood. Together, the verses show how sight can take what appears for the whole truth.
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