What Does 2 Samuel 19:29 Mean in the King James?
And the king said unto him, Why speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said, Thou and Ziba divide the land.
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 king ends the claim by splitting the field, while the Hebrew lets “matters” remain “words”, what is said and what is at stake are joined.
THE MEANING
When a dispute reaches authority, a verdict can stop further speech by dividing what is contested. Here the field is split between two men, while the verse leaves open whether that allocation answers the claim or repairs their trust.
THE ROOT
דְּבָרֶיךָ
devarékha
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; word, matter, or affair.
“matters” in this verse is devarékha. The Hebrew says “your words,” using davar for both a spoken word and a matter at issue. The king’s question joins the continued speech to the dispute itself: the claim is being spoken, and the claim is what must be settled.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
The same word can name speech and the matter being discussed, holding together what is said and what is at stake.
dibber: Spoke or communicated.
דִּבֵּר
This verb from the same root ties the claimant’s words directly to the act of speaking that the king now cuts short.
תַּחְלְקוּ
tachlequ
GROWS FROM
חלק
To divide, apportion, or share.
“divide” in this verse is tachlequ. The root also gives the word for a “portion” or “share,” making this more than a separation: the field is apportioned between the two men. The ruling assigns each a share without saying that the underlying dispute is made whole.
ALSO GROWS
cheleq: A portion or share.
חֵלֶק
This is the share produced by the act of dividing, clarifying that the ruling allocates what each man receives.
machaloqet: A division or dispute.
מַחֲלֹקֶת
The related word can name both separation and contention, echoing how the divided field sits inside an unresolved dispute.
THE PATTERN
When claims collide, Scripture often makes the division of a share the visible form a judgment takes.
Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?THE THREAD
The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.The king says tachlequ, “divide”; Psalm 16:5 uses cheleq, “portion,” from the same root. One verse divides a field between claimants; the other names the LORD as the speaker’s portion.
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