What Does 2 Samuel 20:14 Mean in the King James?
And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Beth-maachah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him.
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 people do not merely assemble; they put themselves behind a leader, turning a gathering into a following.
THE MEANING
Whenever people gather around a moving center, their shared presence can become shared direction. This verse holds the two movements together: the people assemble, then go after him. What begins as convergence becomes a following.
THE ROOT
וַיִּקָּהֲלוּ
wayyiqqāhălû
GROWS FROM
קהל
To assemble or convene.
“gathered together” in this verse is wayyiqqāhălû. The verb comes from קהל (qāhal), the same root that names an assembly or congregation. English can make this sound like people merely clustering; the Hebrew presents a people assembled as a body, and the next words show that body taking direction.
ALSO GROWS
qāhāl: Assembly, congregation.
קָהָל
The related noun names the gathered body itself, showing how this verb forms people into an assembly.
hiqhîl: To cause to assemble.
הִקְהִיל
This causative form makes explicit the act of bringing people together that is implicit in the verse’s verb.
אַחֲרָיו
aḥărāw
GROWS FROM
אחר
Behind, after, or later.
The phrase places the people behind him in the direction of movement. Related forms of this root can refer to what comes afterward, keeping physical following and sequence close together: people go after him now, and what follows takes shape behind that movement.
ALSO GROWS
aḥărît: End, latter part, outcome.
אַחֲרִית
This branch carries the sense of what comes afterward, echoing how the people’s movement follows the leader.
aḥărôn: Last, latter.
אַחֲרוֹן
This form preserves the root’s sense of coming after, the same relation expressed when people go after him.
THE PATTERN
When people converge around a leader or way, proximity becomes a following with shared direction.
And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.THE THREAD
Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.Both passages use קהל (qāhal), “to assemble,” for a people brought together. Deuteronomy adds what the gathering is oriented toward, hearing words and carrying them onward, so the link between assembly and direction comes into view.
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