What Does 2 Samuel 22:36 Mean in the King James?
Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great.
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
God’s gentleness is what enlarges you, while God’s deliverance itself becomes the shield around you.
THE MEANING
You are held by a deliverance that surrounds you like a shield. God meets you with gentleness, and that gentleness enlarges you into greatness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that becoming great requires hardening yourself dissolves here: your enlargement comes through God’s gentleness.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁעֶךָ
yishʿekha
GROWS FROM
ישע
ישע (yashaʿ) means to deliver, bringing someone out of danger or constriction.
The word translated as salvation carries the lived movement of being brought out. Here, deliverance is the shield itself: it surrounds you now.
ALSO GROWS
yeshaʿ: deliverance, rescue
יֵשַׁע
This noun from the same root shows that the shield is protection through deliverance.
yeshuʿah: deliverance, salvation
יְשׁוּעָה
The same root names deliverance as both what surrounds you here and what brings you out.
תַּרְבֵּנִי
tarbēnî
GROWS FROM
רבה
רבה (ravah) means to increase, grow, or become numerous.
“made me great” in this verse is tarbēnî. The word translated as great carries a sense of increase or enlargement. The verse places that growth in God’s gentleness: its cause is as striking as its scale.
ALSO GROWS
hirbāh: he increased, multiplied
הִרְבָּה
This form from the same root makes the verse’s enlargement part of a broader language of increase.
marbeh: increasing, making numerous
מַרְבֶּה
This branch keeps the sense of growth present in the word translated as made great.
THE PATTERN
God’s care shelters the vulnerable and raises them through sustaining strength.
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.THE THREAD
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.2 Samuel’s יִשְׁעֶךָ (yishʿekha, your deliverance) and Isaiah’s יְשׁוּעָה (yeshuʿah, deliverance) share the Hebrew root ישע (yashaʿ). Isaiah names God as that deliverance itself, while this verse pictures the same deliverance as a shield around you.
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