What Does 2 Samuel 5:20 Mean in the King James?
And David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there, and said, The LORD hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim.
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 same Hebrew root names the LORD’s breakthrough, the flood’s breach, and Baal-perazim itself: the rupture becomes the name.
THE MEANING
When opposition closes around you, this verse presents the LORD’s action as a sudden breach, like water forcing through a barrier. Its image holds violence plainly: enemies are struck down, and the rupture becomes the name.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that divine intervention is always gentle or passive: here the breakthrough is forceful, and the enemies are struck down.
THE ROOT
פָּרַץ
pāraṣ
GROWS FROM
פרץ
p-r-ṣ
To break through, burst out, or make a breach.
The sentence repeats this root in “broken forth,” “breach,” and the place-name Baal-perazim (“Lord of breaches”). The flood image, the LORD’s action, and the name all carry one shared word: the event is pictured as a rupture through opposition.
ALSO GROWS
pereṣ: A breach or rupture.
פֶּרֶץ
The verse uses this noun for the break in waters, echoing the same root as “broken forth.”
pōrēṣ: A breaker; one who breaks through.
פֹּרֵץ
Micah uses this form for the one who goes ahead through a gate, showing the same root as a force that opens a way.
Baal-peratsim: Lord of breaches; master of breakthroughs.
בַּעַל־פְּרָצִים
The place-name preserves the verse’s repeated root, making the breach itself the event’s defining name.
THE PATTERN
The force that breaks a boundary can turn what seems impassable into a way through.
The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them.When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.THE THREAD
The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them.“The breaker” and “they have broken up” come from the same root פרץ as “broken forth” and “breach” here. Micah shows that same rupture opening a gate into a way through.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us