What Does 2 Samuel 14:9 Mean in the King James?

And the woman of Tekoah said unto the king, My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father’s house: and the king and his throne be guiltless.

2 Samuel 14:9 · 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 KEY

The throne is called clean at the exact moment another house is assigned the guilt.

THE MEANING

This sentence places the iniquity on the woman and her father’s house while naming the king and his throne guiltless. It shows how innocence can be pronounced on one side while guilt is assigned to another; the burden remains visible in the very sentence that transfers it.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that a clean verdict proves no one bears guilt breaks here: the sentence places guilt and guiltlessness side by side, assigning them to different parties.

THE ROOT

נָקִי

nāqî

GROWS FROM

נקה

Be clean, clear, or free from liability; clear or acquit.

“guiltless” in this verse is nāqî. The Hebrew adjective ⁨נָקִי⁩ describes the king and his throne as clean, while its root also appears in the action of clearing or acquitting. The word holds a declared state together with the act of clearing: the throne is named clear while iniquity is assigned to the woman and her father’s house.

ALSO GROWS

wənaqqēh: And clear; and acquit.

וְנַקֵּה

This verb from the same root names the act underlying the king’s stated condition of being guiltless.

yənaqqeh: He will clear or acquit.

יְנַקֶּה

In Exodus 34:7 this verb follows ⁨וְנַקֵּה⁩ in a phrase about clearing the guilty, keeping the act of acquittal in view beside this verse’s assignment of guilt.

THE PATTERN

Verdicts assign guilt or cleanness, but naming them does not make the moral account disappear.

And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them.

Genesis 27:13 · KJVThe mother says the curse can rest on her, making explicit the transfer of a consequence from one person to another.

Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

Exodus 34:7 · KJVThe same root appears in the warning that the guilty are not simply cleared, placing this verse’s declared innocence beside the question of who bears iniquity.

He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.

Proverbs 17:15 · KJVIt names acquitting the wicked and condemning the just as corrupt verdicts, exposing how judgment can misassign innocence and guilt.

THE THREAD

Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

Exodus 34:7 · KJV

The king’s “guiltless” and Exodus’s “clear” share the Hebrew root ⁨נקה⁩, which can name both cleanness and the act of clearing. That root makes the verse’s pairing sharp: the king is declared clear as iniquity is placed on the woman and her father’s house.

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