What Does 2 Samuel 17:16 Mean in the King James?
Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him.
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
A warning sent in time becomes the crossing that keeps an entire company from being swallowed.
THE MEANING
A warning arrives while the whole company still has time to move: they can leave the exposed night ground and cross over before danger engulfs them. The king’s vulnerability is shared; his life and the lives with him hang together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A leader’s danger belongs only to him; the people around him remain untouched.
THE ROOT
יְבֻלַּע
yevullaʿ
GROWS FROM
בלע
To swallow, engulf, or devour.
“swallowed up” in this verse is yevullaʿ. The verb pictures more than a defeat: it is being taken whole into something that swallows. This root can also describe devouring words, showing how the image of consumption can apply to speech as well as bodily danger.
ALSO GROWS
bilei: Devourings; things that consume.
בִּלְעֵי
In Psalm 52:4, this root describes devouring words, extending the image from being swallowed to anything that consumes.
yevullaʿ: May be swallowed or consumed.
יְבֻלַּע
This is the form used here: the king and his people face being engulfed as a group.
שִׁלְחוּ
shilḥu
GROWS FROM
שלח
To send forth, send away, or release.
English “send” can sound like a neutral delivery, while שָׁלַח (shalach, send forth or release) also carries the sense of letting go. The message matters because it reaches David in time for him and the company to move away from exposure.
ALSO GROWS
shaliaḥ: An envoy or dispatched messenger.
שָׁלִיחַ
The message moves through a sent messenger toward David, making its arrival part of the escape.
shilluach: Sending away; release.
שִׁלּוּחַ
The message does more than report danger: it sends David’s company away from the place where it can be engulfed.
Shiloach: Sent forth; the name associated with Siloam.
שִׁלֹחַ
As in the name interpreted as “Sent,” the root carries movement from a source toward a destination; here the warning must reach David.
תַּעֲבֹר
taʿavor
GROWS FROM
עבר
To cross, pass over, or go beyond.
“pass over” in this verse is taʿavor. The verb is intensified in Hebrew by repeating the crossing form, making this a crossing to the far side rather than mere quick travel. That movement answers the threat of engulfment: the company gets across before it is taken in.
ALSO GROWS
maʿavar: A crossing or passage.
מַעֲבָר
It names the passage implied by the command: moving across and out of the exposed place.
ʿever: Across; beyond; the far side.
עֵבֶר
The verse’s movement has a destination beyond the danger, not simply a faster pace within it.
THE PATTERN
A warning that arrives before danger closes in can move people from exposure toward safety.
A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household.Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.THE THREAD
Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.The same root, בלע (balaʿ, swallow or engulf), appears in “swallowed” here and in “swallowed them” there. In both verses the danger is engulfment; the hurried crossing in 2 Samuel moves the company away before it can be taken in.
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