What Does 2 Samuel 19:40 Mean in the King James?
Then the king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went on with him: and all the people of Judah conducted the king, and also half the people of Israel.
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, his companion, and the people all cross by the same Hebrew root, even where English says the people “conducted” him.
THE MEANING
You are moving toward a new stage with others accompanying you and helping conduct the passage. The gathering can still be incomplete: movement and division occupy the same moment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a meaningful crossing depends on your strength alone is undone here: the king’s passage is conducted by the people with him.
THE ROOT
וַיַּעֲבֹר
wayyaʿavor ʿavar heʿeviru
GROWS FROM
ע־ב־ר
ʿ-b-r
Pass across; cross over.
“went on; went on with; conducted” in this verse is wayyaʿavor ʿavar heʿeviru. Hebrew repeats this root for the king’s movement, Chimham’s movement with him, and the people’s act of conducting him. The English “conducted” conceals that the people are part of the same crossing.
ALSO GROWS
ʿavar: To pass across or cross over.
עָבַר
This is the root behind the king and Chimham going on.
heʿevir: To cause to pass across; bring across.
הֶעֱבִיר
This causative form describes Judah conducting the king.
maʿavar: A passage or crossing.
מַעֲבָר
The root also gives a name for the threshold the verse’s people move through together.
גִּלְגָּל
Gilgal
GROWS FROM
ג־ל־ל
g-l-l
Roll; roll away.
Gilgal carries an echo of rolling that Joshua 5:9 makes explicit through the words “rolled away.” Here the king’s movement toward Gilgal brings that name’s sense of something being rolled clear into the passage.
ALSO GROWS
galal: To roll or roll away.
גָּלַל
Joshua 5:9 uses this verb when it links Gilgal’s name with what has been rolled away.
megillah: A scroll; a rolled document.
מְגִלָּה
This branch preserves the root’s image of something rolled into a form that can be opened.
THE PATTERN
Crossing language marks movement from one side or state to another, making passage itself a turning point.
And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.THE THREAD
And all the people went over Jordan. And when the king was come over, the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him; and he returned unto his own place.The preceding verse records the people and king crossing the Jordan; this verse repeats the crossing root as the king, Chimham, and Judah move toward Gilgal. The English shift to “conducted” hides that the people’s act belongs to the same movement across.
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