What Does 2 Samuel 18:28 Mean in the King James?
And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king, All is well. And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king, and said, Blessed be the LORD thy God, which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king.
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 pairs shalom, wholeness, with sagar, the shutting or handing over of those who raised their hands against the king.
THE MEANING
You hear shalom beside an explicit account of raised hands: the word names wholeness without erasing the violence. The verse locates the turning of that danger in the LORD’s act of handing over those who opposed the king.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that wholeness means no one has threatened what is precious: the verse names the raised hands openly and still calls the report shalom.
THE ROOT
שָׁלוֹם
shalom
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
To be whole, complete, or sound.
“All is well” is one Hebrew word, shalom, carrying the sense of wholeness. The verse lets that wholeness stand alongside the named violence, so it describes a state of resolution rather than pretending no threat existed.
ALSO GROWS
shalem: Whole, complete, intact.
שָׁלֵם
This branch makes the fullness inside “All is well” visible: the report speaks of wholeness, not only calm.
shillem: To make good, repay, or complete what is due.
שִׁלֵּם
The same root can carry the sense of something brought to completion, giving the report a shade of resolution as well as well-being.
סִגַּר
sigger
GROWS FROM
סגר
s-g-r
To shut or close; by extension, to hand over or enclose.
The verb translated “delivered up” carries the image of shutting or closing. The attackers are not described as vanishing; the verse presents their opposition as brought to a close through the LORD’s act of handing them over.
ALSO GROWS
sagar: To shut or close.
סָגַר
This is the root’s basic image beneath the verse’s “delivered up.”
sagur: Closed or shut.
סָגוּר
This form makes the image of a threat brought within a boundary concrete.
בָּרוּךְ
barukh
GROWS FROM
ברך
b-r-k
To bend the knee; to bless.
“Blessed” in this verse is barukh. The word for blessing retains a bodily image of bending the knee. Ahimaaz’s face-down posture sits beside his spoken blessing, linking the words to a gesture of reverence, though the verse uses a different verb for falling.
ALSO GROWS
berekh: Knee.
בֶּרֶךְ
The concrete body word preserves the bent-knee image carried by the root.
berakhah: Blessing.
בְּרָכָה
This branch names the spoken blessing Ahimaaz directs toward the LORD.
THE PATTERN
Wholeness can be named amid danger because it rests in the LORD’s sustaining action, not in denying the danger.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.THE THREAD
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.The Hebrew behind “perfect peace” repeats שָׁלוֹם שָׁלוֹם (shalom shalom, wholeness upon wholeness). That doubled root opens “All is well” as a statement of fullness held steady, even when the verse names danger.
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