What Does 2 Samuel 16:1 Mean in the King James?

And when David was a little past the top of the hill, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of asses saddled, and upon them two hundred loaves of bread, and an hundred bunches of raisins, and an hundred of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine.

2 Samuel 16:1 · 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 word for the donkeys being “saddled” shares a Hebrew root with binding up wounds, joining readiness for the road with care for what hurts.

THE MEANING

You can be just past a rise and still have the road ahead uncertain; this verse holds both truths at once. Nourishment reaches you while danger remains unresolved, in forms the body can receive.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

You do not have to be safe before you can receive help; here, provision meets you while the danger is still present.

THE ROOT

חֲבֻשִׁים

ḥăḇušîm

GROWS FROM

חבש

ḥ-b-š

To bind, wrap, or prepare by binding.

The Hebrew word for the animals being saddled comes from a root also used for binding up wounds. One root holds preparation for a journey and care for an injury together, a connection the English word “saddled” leaves hidden.

ALSO GROWS

ḥāḇaš: To saddle or bind an animal for travel.

חָבַשׁ

This is the root in the verse’s description of the prepared donkeys.

ḥubbāšû: They were bound up or bandaged.

חֻבָּשׁוּ

Isaiah uses this form for wounds that have not been cared for, showing the same root’s connection to tending injury.

THE PATTERN

Provision can meet a person in the middle of danger, before the surrounding circumstances are resolved.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Psalm 23:5 · KJVA table and an overflowing cup appear while enemies are still present.

And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.

1 Kings 17:6 · KJVFood and water reach a person in an exposed place while the larger crisis continues.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Matthew 6:11 · KJVThe prayer asks for nourishment in the present day, one day at a time.

THE THREAD

From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

Isaiah 1:6 · KJV

The Hebrew word translated “saddled” here and “bound up” in Isaiah share the root ⁨חבש⁩ (ḥ-b-š). The root joins binding an animal for its journey with binding a wound for care.

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