What Does 2 Samuel 3:30 Mean in the King James?
So Joab and Abishai his brother slew Abner, because he had slain their brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle.
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 describes Abner as having caused Asahel to die, making that death the stated cause of another killing.
THE MEANING
An injury can remain active through the living: Asahel’s death becomes the stated reason for Abner’s killing. One death continues as a cause inside another, carried forward through grief and kinship.
THE ROOT
הֵמִית
hēmît
GROWS FROM
מות
m-w-t
To die; in this verb form, to cause someone to die.
The Hebrew uses the causative form of the root for Abner’s act: he caused Asahel to die. English says “had slain,” while the Hebrew form keeps the death and Abner’s agency together in the same word.
ALSO GROWS
mût: to die
מוּת
This verbal form names the dying at the center of the grievance.
māwet: death
מָוֶת
The noun names the outcome that Joab and Abishai answer with another killing.
mēt: dead; one who has died
מֵת
This form names the state the causative verb brings about for Asahel.
THE PATTERN
When an injury becomes the stated reason for answering with violence, harm carries forward; restraint can interrupt the chain.
And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.THE THREAD
Howbeit he refused to turn aside: wherefore Abner with the hinder end of the spear smote him under the fifth rib, that the spear came out behind him; and he fell down there, and died in the same place: and it came to pass, that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died stood still.The word “died” here comes from מוּת (mût, to die), the same root that appears in 2 Samuel 3:30 as הֵמִית (hēmît, caused to die). The shared root connects Asahel’s death to Abner’s agency, making the stated reason for the later killing more precise.
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