What Does 2 Samuel 12:29 Mean in the King James?
And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it.
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 Hebrew for “took” carries the force of capture: Rabbah is seized after David gathers the whole people for war.
THE MEANING
A whole people can be gathered toward conquest; here the force goes to Rabbah, fights, and takes the city. The capture remains bound to battle, keeping the violence of conquest visible.
THE ROOT
וַיִּלְכְּדָהּ
wayyilkedah
GROWS FROM
לכד
To catch, seize, or capture.
“took it” in this verse is wayyilkedah. The root holds catching and capture together, showing Rabbah’s taking as a seizure that encloses. Its branch מַלְכֹּדֶת (malkōdet), meaning “snare” or “trap,” gives that capture the image of being caught.
ALSO GROWS
nilkedah: Was caught or captured.
נִלְכְּדָה
Psalm 9:15 uses this form for the foot caught in a concealed net, making the root’s image of capture visible.
malkōdet: A snare or trap.
מַלְכֹּדֶת
This branch gives capture the image of enclosure, sharpening the force of Rabbah’s capture.
וַיֶּאֱסֹף
wayye'esof
GROWS FROM
אסף
To gather, collect, or bring in.
The verb places the whole people in the action before the march against Rabbah. אָסִיף (asif), “ingathering” or “harvest,” shows how this root can name many parts brought together into one gathered whole.
ALSO GROWS
asif: The gathering in of a harvest.
אָסִיף
This branch echoes the verse’s gathering of all the people into a single force.
ne'esaf: To be gathered or collected.
נֶאֱסַף
This passive form highlights the people as a gathered whole before the battle begins.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents capture as organized force made concrete through battle, seizure, or binding.
Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him,THE THREAD
The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.The word rendered “took” in 2 Samuel comes from לכד (lakad), the same root behind the foot “taken” in the concealed net. Here the people capture the city; in the psalm, the captor is caught, showing the root’s image from the other side.
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