What Does 2 Samuel 18:16 Mean in the King James?

And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel: for Joab held back the people.

2 Samuel 18:16 · 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.

THE KEY

The crowd turns back because Joab restrains it: here, return is the result of held-back force.

THE MEANING

A pursuing crowd can still be turned back when its momentum is interrupted. The trumpet sounds, and Joab holds the people back; the verse names restraint as the cause of their return. Here, restraint actively limits violence.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Once a crowd is in pursuit, it cannot be recalled; here, the trumpet and Joab’s restraint stop it.

THE ROOT

חָשַׂךְ

ḥāśaḵ

GROWS FROM

חשך

To hold back, withhold, or restrain; the same root family also names darkness.

“held back” in this verse is ḥāśaḵ. English gives this action a social shape: Joab holds a crowd back. The Hebrew root also appears in a word for darkness, a connection English does not preserve; here, its direct sense is restraint.

ALSO GROWS

ḥāśaḵ: Withhold, hold back, restrain

חָשַׂךְ

This is the verb used for Joab stopping the people from pursuing further.

ḥōshekh: Darkness

חֹשֶׁךְ

This related form shares the root consonants, showing a word-family link between withholding and darkness.

וַיָּשָׁב

vayyāshav

GROWS FROM

שוב

To turn back or return.

“returned” in this verse is vayyāshav. The Hebrew verb keeps the change of direction visible: the people who were pursuing now turn back. Its word family can describe both return and turning away, so the motion is more than simply stopping.

ALSO GROWS

shuv: Turn back, return

שׁוּב

This is the root verb behind the people’s return.

teshuvah: Return, turning back; repentance

תְּשׁוּבָה

This related noun preserves the concrete sense of turning, making the people’s change of direction especially clear.

THE PATTERN

Collective force can be interrupted when someone with authority restrains the group.

So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.

1 Samuel 24:7 · KJVDavid holds his armed followers back, preventing their collective force from becoming an attack.

And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them: wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.

2 Kings 6:22 · KJVElisha’s command stops the captured men from being struck and redirects the encounter away from further violence.

Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

Matthew 26:52 · KJVJesus directly interrupts an armed response by telling the disciple to put away his sword.

THE THREAD

Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

Isaiah 58:1 · KJV

“Spare not” uses the same Hebrew root as “held back,” and the verse then compares the raised voice to a trumpet. In Samuel, the trumpet accompanies restraint of the pursuing crowd; here it accompanies a voice that must not be withheld.

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