What Does 2 Samuel 17:18 Mean in the King James?

Nevertheless a lad saw them, and told Absalom: but they went both of them away quickly, and came to a man’s house in Bahurim, which had a well in his court; whither they went down.

2 Samuel 17:18 · 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

After being seen, the men escape by changing levels: they descend into a well inside a house.

THE MEANING

You can be seen and reported without being captured. The two men move quickly into a house, then down into its courtyard well; their route out of view leads beneath the surface.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Being seen means the pursuer already has you.

THE ROOT

וַיֵּרְדוּ

vayeredu

GROWS FROM

ירד

to descend, go down

The verse’s “went down” is literal, but its root also appears in the name Yarden, the Jordan, traditionally connected with “descend.” Here that downward movement carries the men out of open view: the escape depends on where they go, not how far.

ALSO GROWS

horid: bring down

הוֹרִיד

This causative form shows the same root can describe someone moving another downward, adding agency to the root’s basic movement.

Yarden: Jordan; traditionally connected to “descend”

יַרְדֵּן

The river’s name carries the same downward motion, echoing the direction the men take into the well.

THE PATTERN

When danger closes in, life is preserved through hidden routes, shelter, and timely movement.

And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.

Exodus 2:3 · KJVA child under threat is concealed in a covered vessel and placed among the reeds.

So Michal let David down through a window: and he went, and fled, and escaped.

1 Samuel 19:12 · KJVDavid escapes pursuit through a hidden route that takes him downward and out of sight.

And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

Matthew 2:13 · KJVA warning moves Joseph’s family out of the reach of a ruler seeking the child’s life.

THE THREAD

I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.

Jonah 2:6 · KJV

Jonah’s “went down” comes from the same Hebrew root ⁨ירד⁩ as “they went down” here. In Samuel, descent takes the men into concealment; Jonah carries the same downward movement into the depths, then speaks of being brought up.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us