What Does 2 Samuel 22:30 Mean in the King James?
For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.
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 source comes before each motion: the way through opposition and over a barrier opens “by thee,” not through the runner’s strength alone.
THE MEANING
What confronts you can feel like a force to pass through or a boundary to pass over. In both movements, the verse names God as the source of the crossing, before it names the motion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that only self-generated strength can carry you past opposition or limits; the verse attributes both crossings to God as their enabling source.
THE ROOT
אֲדַלֶּג
ʾădallēg
GROWS FROM
דלג
dalag
to leap or bound across
“leaped” in this verse is ʾădallēg. The same root describes leaping across mountains in Song of Songs 2:8. The wall remains in place; the verb makes crossing it the image, rather than its disappearance.
ALSO GROWS
medallēg: leaping
מְדַלֵּג
Song of Songs 2:8 uses this form for the beloved leaping over mountains, linking the wall-crossing here to movement across vast barriers.
dillug: a leap or skipping over
דִּלּוּג
This noun preserves the root’s sense of crossing by a bound, bringing out the decisive upward movement hidden inside “leaped.”
אָרֻץ
ʾārūṣ
GROWS FROM
רוץ
rûṣ
to run or hurry onward
“run” in this verse is ʾārūṣ. This root’s word family can describe both running and a course of running. Here the course goes through the troop instead of around it, giving the first half of the verse a different motion from the leap over the wall.
ALSO GROWS
rātsû: they ran
רָצוּ
Jeremiah 23:21 uses this form for prophets who ran without being sent, showing that the verb names movement while the source of that movement still matters.
merutsātām: their course
מְרוּצָתָם
Jeremiah 23:10 uses this related noun for a course of movement; here the run cuts directly through the force in the way.
THE PATTERN
What exceeds human strength becomes traversable through God’s enabling presence.
For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.THE THREAD
The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.The same Hebrew verb behind “leaped” appears here as “leaping” across mountains. Its recurrence carries the wall-crossing image into a wider scene of movement across what looks impassable.
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