What Does 2 Samuel 19:21 Mean in the King James?
But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD’s anointed?
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 Hebrew word for “cursed” can carry the sense of making light of someone, so Abishai answers a perceived stripping of weight with a demand for death.
THE MEANING
Abishai hears Shimei’s curse as an attack on what is set apart and turns it into a case for death. The verse shows how quickly defense of sacred honor can become a call for lethal retaliation. The demand hangs before the reader as a live question: does an offense make death the necessary answer?
THE ROOT
קִלֵּל
qillēl
GROWS FROM
ק-ל-ל
q-l-l
To be light or slight; in this form, to curse or treat as contemptible.
“cursed” in this verse is qillēl. The curse carries more than the sense of a spoken malediction: the QLL root can evoke making light of someone. Abishai treats that insult to the LORD’s anointed as weighty, then answers it with a demand for death.
ALSO GROWS
qal: Light, slight, or easy.
קַל
It preserves the root’s sense of lightness beneath the English word “cursed.”
qĕlālāh: A curse or imprecation.
קְלָלָה
This noun from the same root shows how speech that makes someone “light” becomes a curse.
מְשִׁיחַ
māšîaḥ
GROWS FROM
מ-ש-ח
m-sh-ḥ
To smear or anoint with oil; מְשִׁיחַ names one who has been anointed.
“the LORD’s anointed” in this verse is māšîaḥ. “Anointed” names a person marked by an act of anointing; it is not merely a title. That status gives Abishai’s charge its force, even as he uses it to argue for a lethal response.
ALSO GROWS
māšaḥ: To anoint or smear with oil.
מָשַׁח
This is the verb behind “the LORD’s anointed,” making the title an act that marks someone out.
mišḥāh: Anointing or anointing oil.
מִשְׁחָה
This branch names the anointing itself, showing the concrete act carried by the title.
שִׁמְעִי
Shimʿî
GROWS FROM
ש-מ-ע
sh-m-ʿ
To hear, listen, or heed.
Shimei’s name is commonly derived from the root for hearing and is often glossed “heard.” Here, a spoken curse is the offense being heard, and Abishai turns that heard offense into a demand for death.
ALSO GROWS
shāmaʿ: To hear, listen, or heed.
שָׁמַע
This root gives the name its sense of hearing and links it to the spoken curse in the verse.
shemuʿāh: A report or tidings, something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch keeps the root’s link between hearing and the report of what was said.
THE PATTERN
An offense can be turned into a demand for death, but Scripture shows that retaliation is not an automatic human right.
And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the LORD hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so?And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD’s anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.THE THREAD
Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.“Lightly esteemed” comes from the same QLL root as “cursed” in this verse. The shared root reveals the curse as an act of making light of someone, sharpening why Abishai treats the insult as weighty.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us