What Does 2 Samuel 15:17 Mean in the King James?
And the king went forth, and all the people after him, and tarried in a place that was far off.
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 says the people stand together at the “house of distance,” turning the king’s departure into a shared place to stand.
THE MEANING
You can be moving after someone and still come to a pause; the pause itself becomes a place you share. The verse holds movement and distance together as the people stand where the one they follow has gone.
THE ROOT
הַמֶּרְחָק
ha-merchaq
GROWS FROM
רחק
r-ḥ-q
to be far or distant; to put at a distance
“far off” in this verse is ha-merchaq. English makes this sound like an indefinite faraway spot, while the Hebrew calls it a “house of distance,” as though distance itself has become a place. This root holds both being far away and placing something far away, so separation becomes the ground on which the people pause together.
ALSO GROWS
raḥoq: far, distant
רָחוֹק
This familiar branch names distance as a condition, the quality of the place where the people stand.
hirḥiq: to put far away, remove
הִרְחִיק
This branch makes distance an action, adding the sense of movement away that surrounds the people’s stopping place.
וַיַּעַמְדוּ
wayyaʿamdu
GROWS FROM
עמד
ʿāmad
to stand, remain, or take one’s place
The verb translated “tarried” is literally “they stood.” That gives the pause a posture: the king’s followers are not only delayed; they occupy a position together.
ALSO GROWS
ʿomed: standing; one who stands
עֹמֵד
This branch makes the verse’s verb visible as a bodily stance rather than a vague wait.
maʿamad: position, station
מַעֲמָד
This branch carries standing into the idea of a place or position one occupies, echoing the people’s shared stop.
THE PATTERN
Following someone means sharing the place they go, even when it lies beyond familiar shelter.
And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.THE THREAD
Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.The Psalm’s “afar off” comes from the same רחק (r-ḥ-q, “to be distant”) root as merchaq here. In this verse distance names a place where people stand; in the Psalm, the same root carries distance into relationship.
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