What Does 2 Kings 6:20 Mean in the King James?
And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
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 men do not need to be brought into Samaria; their eyes need to open to the place where they already stand.
THE MEANING
You can stand inside a reality and still be unable to see it. The opening does not carry the men to Samaria; it lets them perceive where they already are. What is true can precede what is visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that what you cannot perceive is absent: the men are already in Samaria before their sight opens.
THE ROOT
פָּקַח
pāqaḥ
GROWS FROM
פקח
To open, especially the eyes; to make sight possible.
“open” in this verse is pāqaḥ. The verse repeats this root around the result: Elisha asks for opening, the LORD opens, and the men then see. They discover their location rather than make a new one.
ALSO GROWS
vatippāqaḥnā: were opened (Genesis 3:7)
וַתִּפָּקַחְנָה
The same root marks eyes opening there; opened sight can expose a startling reality rather than create it.
pikkeaḥ: seeing, open-eyed (Exodus 4:11)
פִּקֵּחַ
The root can describe the person whose eyes are open, linking the act of opening to the resulting capacity to see.
THE PATTERN
When sight opens, hidden realities become accessible and change what can be recognized or entered.
And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.THE THREAD
And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.The same root, פקח (pāqaḥ), opens Hagar’s eyes and the men’s eyes here. In both verses, the opening makes something already present visible: water for Hagar and her son, and the men’s place within Samaria.
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