What Does 2 Kings 9:13 Mean in the King James?
Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king.
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
They do not merely call Jehu king: they make a stair from their garments and give his ascent a public voice.
THE MEANING
Authority becomes visible when people place what they carry beneath the one being raised and voice the claim together. Their garments turn the steps into a human-made ascent for Jehu; the trumpet sends the declaration into the open. Kingship here is both named and enacted.
THE ROOT
מַעֲלוֹת
ma'alot
GROWS FROM
ע־ל־ה
ʿalah
to go up, rise, ascend
The Hebrew word for stairs grows from the verb for going up. English marks where Jehu stands; the Hebrew also carries the movement of rising, made tangible as the people place their garments beneath him.
ALSO GROWS
ʿalah: to go up, rise
עָלָה
The verb names the upward movement that the steps make possible.
ʿaliyah: ascent, going up
עֲלִיָּה
This noun keeps the same upward motion present in the word for stairs.
מֶלֶךְ
melekh
GROWS FROM
מ־ל־ך
malakh
to reign, rule
The noun for king and the verb for reigning grow from one root: ruler and act of rule remain joined. The crowd’s words turn Jehu’s ascent into an explicit public claim of rule.
ALSO GROWS
malakh: to reign, rule
מָלַךְ
The verb shows the action held within the title king.
mamlakhah: kingdom, realm
מַמְלָכָה
The same root extends from the ruler to the realm over which rule is exercised.
THE PATTERN
A ruler’s elevation becomes publicly visible through the people’s embodied recognition and shared proclamation.
And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.THE THREAD
And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.The word for Jehu’s stairs, מַעֲלוֹת (ma’alot, stairs), comes from עָלָה (ʿalah, to go up); Genesis uses עֹלִים (ʿolim, ascending) from the same root. There, ascent moves between earth and heaven; here, people make ascent visible beneath a king.
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