What Does 2 Samuel 1:15 Mean in the King James?
And David called one of the young men, and said, Go near, and fall upon him. And he smote him that he died.
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 voice that commands the killing remains part of the killing, even when another hand delivers the blow.
THE MEANING
The verse lays out the sequence without a gap: David speaks, orders a young man to approach, and the man strikes until the other dies. Responsibility remains visible from the spoken command through the fatal act.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that a person bears responsibility only for the blow their own hand delivers; here, the order comes from David and the strike from another man.
THE ROOT
וַיַּכֵּהוּ
vayyakkehu
GROWS FROM
נכה
n-k-h
To strike or deal a blow; in context, to strike down.
“smote” in this verse is vayyakkehu. This root names the blow and its lethal consequence in the same line. The man does not die at a distance from the command: the commanded strike ends in his death.
ALSO GROWS
makkah: A blow, wound, or plague.
מַכָּה
The noun names the injury produced by the same root, making the violence of the verb concrete.
mukkeh: One who is struck; a stricken person.
מֻכֶּה
The same root names the person by what the blow has done to him.
דָּוִד
david
GROWS FROM
דוד
d-w-d
Beloved; the name carries the nature of one who is beloved.
The name holds belovedness, while the sentence places David’s voice behind a killing. That tension remains in the text: a name carrying love does not make the command harmless.
ALSO GROWS
dod: Beloved; also a male relative such as an uncle.
דּוֹד
This is the word-family from which the name carries its sense of belovedness.
dodim: Loves or expressions of love.
דּוֹדִים
The plural keeps love in the same word-family as David’s name, sharpening the contrast with the lethal order.
וַיֹּאמֶר
vayomer
GROWS FROM
אמר
ʾ-m-r
To say or speak.
“said” in this verse is vayomer. The underlying line repeats this verb of speaking around the instruction. The blow begins as speech: the words direct a man toward another man’s death.
ALSO GROWS
imrah: An utterance or saying.
אִמְרָה
This branch shows speech as something formed and carried; here, the utterance carries a lethal command.
omer: A saying or spoken word.
אֹמֶר
The same root keeps the spoken word present as part of the act, before the hand strikes.
THE PATTERN
Responsibility for violence follows the command and the benefit, even when another hand carries it out.
And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.THE THREAD
Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.The Hebrew verb translated “killed” here comes from the same strike-root as “smote” in this verse. The connection makes responsibility visible beyond the hand holding the sword: the killing is named as David’s act.
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