What Does 2 Samuel 5:4 Mean in the King James?
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
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 verse places “beloved” before the count: David’s name carries that meaning before his reign is measured.
THE MEANING
A role has a beginning and a span; it does not exhaust the person within it. David’s name carries the sense “beloved,” so even as this verse counts the years of his rule, it names a person before it names an office.
THE ROOT
דָּוִד
Dawid
GROWS FROM
ד־ו־ד
D-W-D
Beloved, dear one; the root also carries a related sense of kinship.
“David” in this verse is Dawid. The name in the sentence is more than an identifier: it carries the sense “beloved.” The verse counts years of rule, yet the name beneath that count evokes a person held in affection.
ALSO GROWS
dōd: Beloved or dear one
דּוֹד
This sense is carried in David’s name as the verse records his years as ruler.
dōd: Uncle or close male kinsman
דּוֹד
The related kinship sense keeps the root near personal bonds, even in a verse centered on public rule.
מָלַךְ
malakh
GROWS FROM
מ־ל־ך
M-L-K
To reign or rule.
The shared M-L-K root links the action “reigned” to king and kingdom. The forty years therefore name a whole span of governance, not merely a title held.
ALSO GROWS
melekh: King
מֶלֶךְ
The same root names the ruler whose years of reign are counted here.
mamlakhah: Kingdom
מַמְלָכָה
The root also names the realm shaped by a reign, giving the forty-year count a public scope.
THE PATTERN
Public responsibility begins at a named season and unfolds within a measured span.
And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.From thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,THE THREAD
And David perceived that the LORD had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake.The words “king” and “kingdom” belong to the same M-L-K root as “reigned” in this verse. That later line places David’s measured reign within a rule established for Israel’s sake.
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