What Does 2 Samuel 16:5 Mean in the King James?
And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera: he came forth, and cursed still as he came.
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 root behind “cursed” pictures speech making David light, trying to strip his weight as he keeps moving.
THE MEANING
David is met while he moves: a man from Saul’s family comes out and curses him continuously. The hostility is public and ongoing; it moves alongside the king instead of staying hidden. The verb for “cursed” carries the sense of treating someone as slight, reducing their weight in speech.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that spoken contempt is harmless because it is only words: this verse presents it as a sustained act of making another small.
THE ROOT
מְקַלֵּל
məqallēl
GROWS FROM
קלל
q-l-l
To be light or slight; in this form, to treat as contemptible, to curse.
The English word “cursed” can hide the root’s image of making someone light, treating them as if they have little weight. Here the curse accompanies Shimei’s emergence, making his contempt an open, sustained attack as David moves.
ALSO GROWS
qal: Light, slight, or of little weight.
קַל
This branch reveals the reduction inside the curse: David is spoken of as though he were insignificant.
qelalah: A curse or imprecation.
קְלָלָה
The noun shares the root and shows how treating someone as slight becomes an act of hostile speech.
qālôn: Disgrace or dishonor.
קָלוֹן
This branch shows how the root’s sense of diminished weight can extend into public dishonor.
THE PATTERN
Cursing makes a person small in speech, and Scripture treats that speech as consequential.
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.THE THREAD
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.Genesis uses the same Hebrew root for “curse” that describes Shimei’s words here: speech that treats someone as slight. The shared root lets you hear this scene as more than hostile noise; it is the kind of speech the promise names as consequential.
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