What Does 2 Samuel 23:10 Mean in the King James?
He arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword: and the LORD wrought a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to spoil.
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 word translated “clave” is the same Hebrew verb used for covenantal attachment, so the exhausted hand is bound to its sword with the force of a bond.
THE MEANING
At the edge of exhaustion, your hand can remain joined to what it has been wielding; the grip itself does not mean the struggle is over. The LORD brings about a great victory, while those who follow return only to plunder. Violence, deliverance, bodily cost, and the followers’ limited motive remain visible together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that a victory called the LORD’s must make the violence disappear or render everyone around it noble: the sword still binds the exhausted hand, and the followers return only to plunder.
THE ROOT
וַתִּדְבַּק
vatidbaq
GROWS FROM
דבק
d-b-q
Cling, adhere, hold fast; become joined.
English “clave” can sound like a momentary grip, but דבק describes holding fast or being joined. The same verb names a bond between spouses and attachment to God; here, that force of attachment binds a weary hand to its sword, holding intimacy and violence in the same root.
ALSO GROWS
vedavaq: He shall cleave, cling, or be joined.
וְדָבַק
In Genesis 2:24, this verb describes the bond between a man and his wife, showing that דבק carries the force of deep joining, not simply grasping.
tidbaq: You shall cling or hold fast.
תִּדְבָּק
Deuteronomy 10:20 uses this form for holding fast to the LORD, showing the root’s range from covenantal attachment to the hand’s bond with its weapon.
תְּשׁוּעָה
teshuah
GROWS FROM
ישע
y-sh-ʿ
Deliver, rescue, bring into safety.
This root places deliverance beneath the word rendered “victory”: beyond the defeat of an enemy, it carries the sense of being brought out to safety. Here, that deliverance comes while the sword remains in the exhausted hand, holding the outcome and its violent means together.
ALSO GROWS
yasha: To deliver, rescue, bring into safety.
יָשַׁע
The verb at the root of תְּשׁוּעָה frames victory as being brought out, not merely as an enemy’s defeat.
yesha: Deliverance, rescue.
יֵשַׁע
This related noun makes the rescue within the verse’s victory language audible: the LORD brings deliverance in the midst of the fight.
THE PATTERN
Victory can be attributed to God even when human conflict and effort remain visible.
And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hands.For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.THE THREAD
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.The verb translated “cleave” in Genesis is דבק, the same root as the hand clinging to the sword here. The same word can name intimate joining or an attachment sustained through violence, so the root reveals more than a tired grip.
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