What Does 2 Samuel 17:5 Mean in the King James?
Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith.
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 verse makes hearing another voice the hinge where a decision can still change.
THE MEANING
A decision can remain open even after one plan sounds persuasive: Absalom calls Hushai too and asks to hear what is in his mouth. What gets heard can still redirect what happens next.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The first advice heard has already settled the decision.
THE ROOT
נִשְׁמְעָה
nishmeʿah
GROWS FROM
שׁמע
Hear, listen, give heed; the root can describe receiving sound and attending to it.
The English “hear” can sound like mere sound reaching the ear; שׁמע (shama, hear, listen, heed) also carries attentive listening. Absalom asks to receive the counsel in Hushai’s mouth, though hearing it does not guarantee he will heed it.
ALSO GROWS
shama: To hear or listen attentively, and in some contexts to heed.
שָׁמַע
This is the same root behind Absalom’s request to hear Hushai’s counsel; listening here becomes part of the decision.
shemuʿah: A report or message that has been heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
The branch shows how hearing can become received news; Absalom is asking for another message to enter the deliberation.
THE PATTERN
A decision’s direction can change while another voice is still admitted into counsel.
Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people?And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.THE THREAD
He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.Proverbs 18:13 uses the same root שׁמע (shama, hear, listen, heed): it names answering before hearing as folly. Absalom brings another voice into the decision, but the next choice still depends on whether he heeds what he hears.
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