What Does 2 Samuel 1:13 Mean in the King James?
And David said unto the young man that told him, Whence art thou? And he answered, I am the son of a stranger, an Amalekite.
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
“Stranger” names a way of dwelling among others, so the answer holds a family’s outsider status and Amalekite peoplehood side by side.
THE MEANING
You can dwell among people without that presence dissolving the origin you carry; this answer holds sojourner parentage and Amalekite identity together. The question draws out where a person is from, and the reply gives more than one layer.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that residence erases origin dissolves here: the man names both a sojourner parent and Amalekite peoplehood.
THE ROOT
גֵּר
gēr
GROWS FROM
גור
g-w-r
To dwell among others as a sojourner or outsider.
English “stranger” can suggest someone merely unknown, but גֵּר (gēr), “sojourner,” names someone living among a people without native status. “Son of a sojourner” names a family’s relation to place, while “Amalekite” names a people; the answer holds both together.
ALSO GROWS
gûr: To sojourn or dwell among others as an outsider.
גּוּר
The noun for “stranger” grows from this verb, linking the identity to dwelling among others.
megûrîm: Sojournings or places of sojourn.
מְגוּרִים
This branch makes the root’s link to residence visible: the stranger’s identity is connected to where and how the family dwells.
דָּוִד
Dāwīd
GROWS FROM
דוד
d-w-d
Beloved; the beloved one.
The name David carries the sense of belovedness through דּוֹד (dōd), “beloved.” The verse places the beloved questioner beside a speaker who names himself through both sojourner parentage and peoplehood.
ALSO GROWS
dōd: Beloved; beloved one.
דּוֹד
This is the word associated with David’s name, bringing the nature of the questioner into the exchange.
dōdî: My beloved.
דּוֹדִי
This form preserves the same beloved root in a personal relation, echoing the name’s relational sense.
THE PATTERN
A person may dwell among others while still carrying the name and status of a sojourner.
I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;THE THREAD
But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.The word translated “stranger” in both verses is גֵּר (gēr), “sojourner,” from גור (g-w-r), “to dwell as a sojourner.” Leviticus makes clear that this status can belong to someone dwelling among a people, opening the young man’s answer as both a relation to place and an identity among peoples.
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