What Does 2 Samuel 6:11 Mean in the King James?
And the ark of the LORD continued in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months: and the LORD blessed Obed-edom, and all his household.
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 says the ark does not merely stay for three months, it dwells, and the blessing reaches the entire household.
THE MEANING
The ark dwells in the home, and the LORD’s blessing reaches the person named and everyone beneath that roof. The verse holds sacred presence and household-wide blessing together, showing that what touches one person can reach the whole house.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The blessing is private and belongs only to the person named: the verse extends its reach to the whole household.
THE ROOT
וַיֵּשֶׁב
wayyeshev
GROWS FROM
ישב
yashav
sit, remain, dwell, settle
Under “continued” is the verb for sitting and dwelling: the ark’s time there is pictured as settling into the house. The house becomes more than a stop; it is where the verse locates blessing for the whole household.
ALSO GROWS
yoshev: one who sits or dwells; an inhabitant
יֹשֵׁב
The branch names someone by the place they inhabit, echoing the ark’s settled presence in the house.
moshav: a dwelling, settlement, or seat
מוֹשָׁב
This branch gives dwelling a concrete place, like the home where the ark remains.
וַיְבָרֶךְ
vayevarekh
GROWS FROM
ברך
barakh
bless; the related bodily sense is bending the knee
“blessed” in this verse is vayevarekh. The same consonants appear in the word for knee, bringing a bodily image into the LORD’s act of blessing. Here the blessing reaches beyond the named man to every member of his household.
ALSO GROWS
berekh: knee
בֶּרֶךְ
This related word lets the root’s image of bending the knee echo beneath “blessed.”
berakhah: blessing
בְּרָכָה
The noun shares the root of the LORD’s action here, showing the blessing as something that reaches the household.
עֹבֵד אֱדוֹם
Oved-Edom
GROWS FROM
עבד
avad
work, serve
Obed (עֹבֵד, Oved) means “one who serves”; the full name Obed-edom (עֹבֵד אֱדוֹם, Oved-Edom) reads “servant of Edom,” and Edom (אֱדוֹם, Edom) means “red.” The name’s serving nature meets the verse’s household scene: the ark dwells in the home, and the blessing encompasses the whole household.
ALSO GROWS
eved: servant
עֶבֶד
This noun shares the root in Obed’s name, carrying the sense of service.
avodah: work or service
עֲבֹדָה
This branch makes the root’s activity visible beneath the name of the one whose house receives the ark.
THE PATTERN
Scripture depicts blessing as reaching a household, not remaining with the person at its center.
And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field.Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.THE THREAD
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:Genesis uses the same root twice: first in “I will bless thee,” then in “thou shalt be a blessing.” Samuel shows that root’s reach extending from Obed-edom to everyone in his household.
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