What Does 2 Samuel 23:15 Mean in the King James?
And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Beth-lehem, which is by the gate!
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 Hebrew asks for someone to make David drink, so the longing is already shaped as an act of provision.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks in the particular: David (דָּוִד, Dāvid, “beloved”) longs for the water of Bethlehem’s well, by the gate. Bethlehem (בֵּית לֶחֶם, Beit Lechem, “house of bread”) sets thirst beside the name of nourishment. You meet longing here as something with a source and a place.
THE ROOT
יַשְׁקֵנִי
yashqeni
GROWS FROM
שקה
שָׁקָה (shaqah): to give drink; to water.
“give me drink” in this verse is yashqeni. The verb asks for someone to cause David to drink, making the request relational: another gives what thirst needs. The same root describes watering the ground, so the act can sustain both a person and the soil.
ALSO GROWS
hishqah: he gave drink; he watered
הִשְׁקָה
This form shares the root’s ש־ק־ה consonants and names the act of giving water that David longs for.
mashqeh: a drink; a beverage
מַשְׁקֶה
This noun carries the same root consonants into the water itself, the provision sought in the verse.
וַיִּתְאַוֶּה
vayyit'avveh
GROWS FROM
אוה
אָוָה (ʾawah): to desire, crave, or long for.
“longed” in this verse is vayyit'avveh. The Hebrew presents longing as an inward desire that becomes speakable. It lets the want take a precise shape, a particular water from a particular well, and be heard.
ALSO GROWS
ta'avah: desire; craving
תַּאֲוָה
This noun shares the root’s א־ו־ה consonants and shows the desire beneath David’s spoken wish.
hit'avah: to desire; to long for
הִתְאַוָּה
This verb form shares the same root consonants and echoes the inward longing named in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Thirst takes form as a request for drink, and provision as giving it.
And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Beth-lehem, which is by the gate!They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst.For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:THE THREAD
But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.The verb שָׁקָה (shaqah, “to give drink; to water”) also describes water reaching the ground here. The same act holds together the earth’s watering and David’s request, widening thirst into a pattern of provision.
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