What Does 2 Samuel 20:7 Mean in the King James?
And there went out after him Joab’s men, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men: and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.
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 same root that sends Joab’s force after Sheba can also describe goodness pursuing you, so the word names motion before it names motive.
THE MEANING
You see an organized force leave Jerusalem and pursue a single man; the movement is concrete, armed, and unequal. The verse’s double motion, going out, then chasing, shows a place associated with wholeness becoming the launch point for pursuit, and it leaves the violence in view.
THE ROOT
לִרְדֹּף
lirdof
GROWS FROM
רדף
radaph
to chase or pursue
“pursue” in this verse is lirdof. The root names the motion of pursuit, while its branches can make someone either the pursuer or the pursued. The same verb elsewhere describes goodness and faithful love following a person, so the chase itself does not tell you what is driving it.
ALSO GROWS
redifah: pursuit, chasing
רְדִיפָה
It names the act behind the force moving after Sheba.
nirdaf: one who is pursued or persecuted
נִרְדָּף
It shows the other side of the same root: the person on the receiving end of the chase.
וַיֵּצְאוּ
vayetse'u
GROWS FROM
יצא
yatsa
to go out, emerge, or depart
“went out” in this verse is vayetse'u. The Hebrew repeats this verb: the force goes out, then goes out from Jerusalem toward pursuit. Its root can also name an origin or point of departure, making the city the launch point of the chase.
ALSO GROWS
yotse: one who goes out or emerges
יֹצֵא
It makes the departure an active movement rather than a static location.
motsa: origin, source, or point of departure
מוֹצָא
It echoes Jerusalem’s role as the place from which the pursuit begins.
יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Yerushalayim
GROWS FROM
שלם
shalem
to be whole or complete
“Jerusalem” in this verse is Yerushalayim. The city’s name carries the sense of wholeness. Here, the forces leave that named center and move into a pursuit whose violence remains explicit.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: wholeness, completeness
שָׁלוֹם
It gives the city’s name its echo of an integrated state.
shalem: whole, complete
שָׁלֵם
It clarifies the root’s sense of wholeness carried in the city’s name.
THE PATTERN
Pursuit reveals the direction a force serves: it can chase people toward bondage, follow a person as goodness, or seek what makes for wholeness.
And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.THE THREAD
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.The Hebrew root translated “pursue” here is also translated “follow” in the psalm. In Samuel, armed men pursue a target; in the psalm, goodness and faithful love pursue the speaker, the root holds the motion together while what follows changes.
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