What Does 2 Samuel 10:11 Mean in the King James?
And he said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me: but if the children of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will come and help thee.
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 promise translated “help” is the same deliverance twice over, first received, then given.
THE MEANING
When pressure becomes greater than your strength, another person can become your deliverance; when their pressure exceeds their strength, you can become theirs. Support moves toward whoever is being overpowered.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being overwhelmed means being left alone: either person can need deliverance, and either can offer it.
THE ROOT
תְּשׁוּעָה
teshuah
GROWS FROM
ישע
To deliver, bringing someone out from constriction into spaciousness.
The same root appears first as the deliverance one commander needs, then as the act the other promises to give. “Help” and “come and help” are one movement in Hebrew: deliverance passes toward whoever is pressed.
ALSO GROWS
teshuah: Deliverance or rescue.
תְּשׁוּעָה
This is the first promise: the other person becomes your deliverance when you are overpowered.
hoshia: To deliver or bring out.
הוֹשִׁיעַ
This is the second promise, using the same root as an action offered in return.
תֶּחֱזַק
techezaq
GROWS FROM
חזק
To be strong, grow strong, or prevail.
“too strong” in this verse is techezaq. Strength here is not fixed in one person; the balance can tilt either way. The repeated root makes that changing pressure the condition for the shared deliverance.
ALSO GROWS
chazaq: Strong or firm.
חָזָק
It names the strength that may become greater than one person’s capacity.
chizzeq: To strengthen or make strong.
חִזֵּק
This branch shows strength can also be given; the promise turns a shifting balance of power into mutual support.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance moves between people according to who is under greater pressure.
But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.THE THREAD
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.The same Hebrew root, ישע (yasha, to deliver), appears in Isaiah as “salvation” and in this promise as “help” and “deliver.” Isaiah names the same bringing-out that the commanders promise to enact for one another.
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