What Does 2 Samuel 16:6 Mean in the King James?
And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David: and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left.
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
David’s name carries the beloved into the scene, yet even the mighty men at his sides do not keep the stones from reaching him.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you in the reality that being beloved does not make a body untouchable: stones reach David and the people with him. Mighty men stand on both sides, yet their presence does not dissolve the danger. Vulnerability and strength remain in the same frame.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being beloved or surrounded by strength does not make you unreachable by violence.
THE ROOT
דָּוִד
Dāwîḏ
GROWS FROM
דוד
d-w-d
Beloved; dear one.
The name carries the sense of “beloved” into a scene of physical attack. The verse holds affection and exposure together: being beloved does not place David beyond the reach of stones.
ALSO GROWS
dod: Beloved or dear one; also a kinsman or uncle.
דּוֹד
The same consonants can name a beloved person or close kin, placing affection and belonging inside David’s name.
dodim: Loves or expressions of love.
דּוֹדִים
This related word appears for love in the Song of Songs, making the name’s consonants echo affection amid the assault.
וַיְסַקֵּל
wayĕsaqqēl
GROWS FROM
סקל
s-q-l
To stone or pelt with stones.
“cast stones” in this verse is wayĕsaqqēl. The Hebrew verb names the full physical act of pelting with stones. Its word family keeps the thrown stones and the violence they enact joined together.
ALSO GROWS
saqal: To stone or pelt with stones.
סָקַל
This verb form makes the assault a direct action against David and the people with him.
seqilah: Stoning.
סְקִילָה
The related noun names the act itself, joining this attack to other scenes where stones become instruments of bodily violence.
אֲבָנִים
ʾăḇānîm
GROWS FROM
אבן
ʾ-b-n
Stone.
The spelling אבן (even, stone) can also be heard as אָב (av, father) joined with בֵּן (ben, son), holding father and son together in the word. A stone can also occupy a structural place in a building; here the stones fly against a body.
ALSO GROWS
even: A stone.
אֶבֶן
The plural stones in the verse return to this single, concrete object in the hand.
even pinnah: Cornerstone.
אֶבֶן פִּנָּה
The same stone word appears for a stone set at the corner of a structure, bringing the word’s building sense into view beside the stones hurled here.
THE PATTERN
Stones turn hostility into bodily violence, exposing both the target and the public force around them.
And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died.Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.THE THREAD
And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.Both verses use סקל (saqal, to stone or pelt with stones) with David at the center. Here stones are thrown at him; there his own people speak of stoning him, so the shared root joins an attack from beyond his circle to a threat within it.
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