What Does 2 Samuel 18:26 Mean in the King James?
And the watchman saw another man running: and the watchman called unto the porter, and said, Behold another man running alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings.
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 runner is recognized as a bearer of tidings before anyone knows what his message contains.
THE MEANING
You meet the instant before a message is known: watchful sight makes an approaching figure legible. The word translated “bringeth tidings” names one who announces news, though the report itself is still unheard. Recognition arrives before certainty, and even the solitary runner carries something the king expects to hear.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a message matters only when a crowd carries it: one solitary runner is enough to be recognized as its bearer.
THE ROOT
מְבַשֵּׂר
mevasser
GROWS FROM
בשר
b-s-r
To announce or bring tidings, often good news.
“tidings” in this verse is mevasser. The root often carries the sense of announcing good news, yet here the runner is identified as a bearer before his report is heard. The word marks him as a messenger while the content remains unknown.
ALSO GROWS
besorah: News or good tidings.
בְּשׂוֹרָה
This names the report the runner is expected to carry, even before its content is revealed.
mevasser: One who announces or brings tidings.
מְבַשֵּׂר
This is the word used for the runner: his role as bearer is recognized before his words arrive.
הַצֹּפֶה
ha-tsofeh
GROWS FROM
צפה
ts-p-h
To look out, keep watch, or watch for what is approaching.
The watchman’s seeing is the first stage of the message: directed looking turns a distant runner into an arrival worth reporting. The verse’s information begins at the lookout, before the runner speaks.
ALSO GROWS
tsopheh: A watcher or lookout.
צֹפֶה
This is the watchman who sees the runner and makes his approach known.
mitspeh: A lookout or watchtower.
מִצְפֶּה
The related word names the place from which an approaching figure becomes visible.
THE PATTERN
Watchfulness turns an approaching figure into a signal before the message itself is heard.
For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:THE THREAD
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!The phrase “bringeth good tidings” uses the same Hebrew root, בשר (b-s-r, announce tidings), that names the runner as a bearer of news here. Isaiah makes the arrival itself part of the message; in Samuel, the bearer is recognized before the content is known.
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