What Does 2 Samuel 10:16 Mean in the King James?

And Hadarezer sent, and brought out the Syrians that were beyond the river: and they came to Helam; and Shobach the captain of the host of Hadarezer went before them.
2 Samuel 10:16 · KJV
The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

The army’s arrival begins with Hadarezer’s act of sending: a threat takes shape when someone sets it in motion.

When force is mobilized, it has a sender, a route, a gathering point, and a commander. Danger is already taking shape before it reaches its destination: intention has become an organized host crossing into view.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that danger is always sudden and shapeless; this verse shows it can have a sender, a route, and a leader.

וַיִּשְׁלַח

wayyishlaḥ

GROWS FROM

שׁ־ל־ח

š-l-ḥ

Send forth, release, or let go; ⁨שָׁלַח⁩ (shālaḥ) means “to send forth” or “release.”

“sent” in this verse is wayyishlaḥ. Hadarezer’s act is more than issuing an order: the root carries the sense of setting something forth. The verse begins at the source of the force, the decision that dispatches it, before showing the army’s movement.

ALSO GROWS

shilluach: Sending away or dismissal.

שִׁלּוּחַ

This branch preserves the root’s sense of releasing something from its sender; here, what is sent is a military force.

Shiloach: Shiloah, a water channel or pool name associated with sending forth.

שִׁילֹחַ

The name shows how sending can also suggest a course along which something travels, echoing the army’s movement across distance.

וַיּוֹצֵא

wayyōṣēʾ

GROWS FROM

י־צ־א

y-ṣ-ʾ

Go out, come forth, or emerge; in this causative form, “bring out” means to cause something to go forth.

The verb makes the emergence visible: someone causes this host to move out. English can make “brought out” sound like a routine transfer, while the Hebrew keeps the act of setting the force into motion in view.

ALSO GROWS

yetzi’ah: Going out, departure, or exit.

יְצִיאָה

It keeps the host’s movement legible as a departure from where it was gathered toward a new destination.

motsāʾ: An outlet, point of departure, or origin.

מוֹצָא

This branch draws attention to where movement issues from, echoing the verse’s sequence from Hadarezer’s sending to the host’s arrival.

Sending becomes real through a route: what is sent crosses into another’s world and reaches a place where it acts.

Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Genesis 45:5 · KJVJoseph’s being sent becomes a path that reaches others and preserves life.
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Isaiah 55:11 · KJVWhat goes forth and is sent reaches its destination and carries out its purpose.
And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.
John 9:7 · KJVThe name “Sent” joins a physical route to an outcome: the man goes to the pool and returns seeing.
And when we cried unto the LORD, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt: and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border:
Numbers 20:16 · KJV

Numbers 20:16 pairs the same Hebrew roots: ⁨שָׁלַח⁩ (shālaḥ, “send forth” or “release”) and ⁨יָצָא⁩ (yāṣāʾ, “go out” or “come forth”) in “sent … and hath brought us forth.” There the movement is an escape from Egypt; here it is an army sent to war, the roots name the mobilization, while the sender and destination shape what it becomes.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us

2 Samuel 10:16 KJV Meaning