What Does 2 Samuel 17:10 Mean in the King James?
And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with him are valiant men.
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
Even a lion-hearted person can come apart when everyone knows the strength facing them.
THE MEANING
A person’s courage can dissolve when the power confronting them feels already known and present. Fear takes hold before any blow lands; shared recognition gives it force.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that courage means invulnerability: even a brave heart can melt under the pressure of what it knows.
THE ROOT
יִמָּס
yimmās
GROWS FROM
מָסַס
māsas
to melt, dissolve, or lose firmness
“melt” in this verse is yimmās. The root pictures courage losing its firmness, not simply a person deciding to retreat. The same word-root describes hearts melting when people recognize a power greater than their own.
ALSO GROWS
wayyimmās: melted (Joshua 2:11)
וַיִּמַּס
The same root shows a heart losing firmness as soon as a threat is recognized.
yimmās: melt (Deuteronomy 20:8)
יִמַּס
There, one person’s melting heart can cause others’ hearts to melt too.
יָדַע
yādaʿ
GROWS FROM
ידע
y-d-ʿ
to know, recognize, or perceive through encounter
“knoweth” in this verse is yādaʿ. The verse says Israel knows David’s strength: this is recognition with force, not detached information. What the people already perceive shapes their courage before the conflict begins.
ALSO GROWS
daʿat: knowledge, understanding
דַּעַת
This related word shows knowing as something that shapes how a situation is understood.
yōdēaʿ: one who knows, perceives
יֹדֵעַ
The knowing person recognizes what is before them, just as Israel recognizes David’s power.
לֵב
lēv
GROWS FROM
לבב
l-b-b
the inner person: thought, will, feeling, and courage
The heart reaches beyond emotion to the inner seat of thought and resolve. That is why a heart can be lionlike in courage and still be the thing that melts.
ALSO GROWS
lēvāv: heart, inner self
לֵבָב
This fuller form points to the whole inward person whose resolve is at stake.
libbō: his heart, his inner resolve
לִבּוֹ
This possessive form in the verse makes the lionlike courage part of the person’s inner self.
THE PATTERN
Fear can dissolve even formidable resolve when a greater power becomes vividly known.
And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.THE THREAD
And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren’s heart faint as well as his heart.The same root מָסַס (māsas), “melt,” appears here, with the effect spreading from one fearful heart to others. It makes clear how courage can dissolve within a group, not only within one person.
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