What Does 2 Samuel 5:14 Mean in the King James?

And these be the names of those that were born unto him in Jerusalem; Shammua, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon,

2 Samuel 5:14 · KJV

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

Solomon is born in Jerusalem, and both names carry the same root of wholeness: the place and the child echo one another.

THE MEANING

This verse speaks as more than a family record: the births are located in Jerusalem, whose name carries shalom, and among them Solomon bears that same wholeness in his name. The reader encounters life as received and named within wholeness, with meaning held inside the names themselves.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It dissolves the assumption that this passage is only a list of labels: Solomon’s name repeats the wholeness carried by Jerusalem.

THE ROOT

שְׁלֹמֹה

Shlomo

GROWS FROM

שלם

š-l-m

To be whole or complete.

Solomon’s name grows from the same root as shalom, wholeness. Jerusalem also carries that sound, so the verse places a child whose name bears wholeness inside a city whose name bears it too.

ALSO GROWS

shalom: Wholeness.

שָׁלוֹם

This is the quality echoed in Solomon’s name and in Jerusalem’s name.

shalem: Whole, complete.

שָׁלֵם

This branch makes visible the root sense carried by shalom and Solomon’s name.

נָתָן

Nathan

GROWS FROM

נתן

n-t-n

To give, set, or place.

Nathan’s name is formed from the Hebrew verb for giving. In a list of births, that name makes receiving a child and giving a name part of the same language.

ALSO GROWS

natan: To give, set, or place.

נָתַן

The name itself carries the action of giving into the family record.

mattanah: A gift.

מַתָּנָה

This related word shows the root’s movement from giving to what is given.

שַׁמּוּעַ

Shammua

GROWS FROM

שמע

š-m-ʿ

To hear or listen.

Shammua carries the sense of being heard. English preserves the name’s sound but leaves its hearing-root hidden among the other names.

ALSO GROWS

shamaʿ: To hear or listen.

שָׁמַע

This verb is the seed of Shammua’s name.

shemuah: A report or tidings.

שְׁמוּעָה

This branch shows how the root of hearing also gives rise to what is heard and carried onward.

THE PATTERN

Scripture lets names carry a nature into a life, making identity part of the story’s meaning.

Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

Genesis 17:5 · KJVThe name Abraham carries the future described in the verse, so the name itself speaks into the life.

And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

Exodus 2:10 · KJVMoses’ name is tied to the act of drawing him out, carrying the nature of that beginning into his story.

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1:21 · KJVThe name Jesus carries deliverance, and the verse states the nature of his work alongside it.

THE THREAD

Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days.

1 Chronicles 22:9 · KJV

This verse states directly what 2 Samuel leaves encoded: Solomon’s name shares its root with shalom, wholeness. The birth list places that name in Jerusalem, and this verse makes the connection between Solomon and peace explicit.

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