What Does 2 Samuel 6:10 Mean in the King James?
So David would not remove the ark of the LORD unto him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
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 verb behind “carried it aside” means to incline or turn, so David changes where the ark is received rather than ending its movement.
THE MEANING
David does not bring the ark into his city; its direction turns toward another household. The verse holds a refusal and a continued arrival together: what cannot be received at one place is received at another.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that when the holy is refused at the expected center, it has disappeared. Here, refusal changes its route; the ark remains present.
THE ROOT
וַיַּטֵּהוּ
vayyattehu
GROWS FROM
נטה
נטה (natah): stretch out, incline, turn aside.
“carried it aside” in this verse is vayyattehu. This root names movement that changes direction: stretching out, inclining, and turning aside belong to its range. David’s refusal does not remove the ark from the story; the turn places it in another household.
ALSO GROWS
natah: Stretch out, extend, or incline.
נָטָה
The verb can describe extending what reaches outward; here, the ark’s movement extends toward a different receiving place.
neteh: Incline or turn toward; an imperative form of the same verb.
נְטֵה
This form makes the root’s directional sense plain: a turn redirects what is moving, as the ark is turned toward Obed-edom’s house.
THE PATTERN
The sacred is received in concrete places, including ordinary households.
And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months. And the LORD blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that he had.And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.THE THREAD
He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.“Bowed” comes from the same Hebrew root, נטה (natah), as “carried it aside” here: both describe an inclining that changes direction. In one verse the heavens bend toward descent; in the other the ark turns toward a house.
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