What Does 2 Samuel 3:39 Mean in the King James?
And I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah be too hard for me: the LORD shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness.
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 LORD’s “reward” comes from the same root as “wholeness,” casting justice as a reckoning that brings what is owed to completion.
THE MEANING
You can carry real responsibility and still feel weak before people whose hardness exceeds your power. The verse names their evil plainly, then places repayment with the LORD according to the deed. Your weakness does not erase the wrong or make you responsible for matching its force.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a rightful calling should make you able to control or defeat every hard person around you.
THE ROOT
יְשַׁלֵּם
yeshallēm
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
To be whole or complete; in this form, to repay or bring what is owed to completion.
“reward” in this verse is yeshallēm. The verse uses יְשַׁלֵּם (yeshallēm) for repayment, from the same root as שָׁלוֹם (shalom), wholeness. This connects the reckoning to what is due, measured against the evil done rather than against the king’s power to answer it.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, well-being
שָׁלוֹם
The shared root links repayment with the language of wholeness and a settled condition.
shalem: Whole, complete
שָׁלֵם
This branch carries the sense of completion that also underlies bringing an account to what is owed.
shillem: Repay, compensate
שִׁלֵּם
This is the closest verbal branch to the verse’s statement that the LORD repays the evildoer.
קָשִׁים
qāšîm
GROWS FROM
קשה
q-sh-h
To be hard or severe; by extension, to be difficult or stubborn.
“hard” in this verse is qāšîm. קָשִׁים (qāšîm) carries more than difficulty: its root also describes severity and stubbornness. The verse names a force David cannot meet, then sets that hardness beside a measured reckoning for the evil done.
ALSO GROWS
qashah: Be hard, severe, or difficult
קָשָׁה
This verb shows that the word for “hard” can describe an imposing condition as well as a difficult person.
qeshi: Hardness, stubbornness
קְשִׁי
This noun brings out the resistant quality held in the word used for these men.
THE PATTERN
When human power cannot settle wrongdoing, Scripture names the evil and places recompense with God.
To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:THE THREAD
Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work.The Hebrew verb behind “renderest” is תְשַׁלֵּם (teshallem), from the same שׁלם root as “shall reward” here. Both verses describe repayment according to a person’s work, opening David’s appeal as part of a wider scriptural pattern.
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