What Does 2 Samuel 6:21 Mean in the King James?

And David said unto Michal, It was before the LORD, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel: therefore will I play before the LORD.

2 Samuel 6:21 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

David, ⁨דָּוִד⁩ (Dāwid, “beloved”), locates his joy before the LORD who chose him, making divine regard, not Michal’s judgment, the frame around it.

THE MEANING

Your place is grounded in the LORD’s choosing rather than another household’s standing. Joy can be visible before God even when someone close reads it as shameful.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie that a respected family or a critic’s approval determines whether your place before God is real.

THE ROOT

וְשִׂחַקְתִּי

ve-sichaqti

GROWS FROM

שׂחק

to play, laugh, or rejoice

The same root holds play and laughter together, opening “play” as expressive joy. The verse repeats that David does this “before the LORD,” giving his joy its audience and setting.

ALSO GROWS

śeḥoq: laughter

שְׂחוֹק

Laughter shows that the root’s play can be joyful expression, not merely a game.

misḥaq: play, game

מִשְׂחָק

This noun keeps the root’s sense of play visible in the word David uses for his act.

בָּחַר

bachar

GROWS FROM

בחר

to choose or select

“chose” in this verse is bachar. David names the LORD as the source of his place, setting divine choice against the standing of another household. Authority is received here, and his play follows from belonging rather than from a claim to impress spectators.

ALSO GROWS

bāḥîr: chosen one, elect

בָּחִיר

This branch names a person as the one selected, echoing the verse’s source of David’s standing.

mibḥār: choice, choicest selection

מִבְחָר

This branch brings the act of selecting into view and reinforces that the choice originates with the chooser.

דָּוִד

Dāwid

GROWS FROM

דוד

beloved

David’s name echoes ⁨דּוֹד⁩, “beloved,” so the verse’s answer begins in belonging: he names the LORD’s choice and then names the LORD as the one before whom he plays. His joy is expressed before the one who receives him, even while Michal judges.

ALSO GROWS

dōd: beloved; also uncle in kinship usage

דּוֹד

In its sense of beloved, this word carries the nature compressed in David’s name.

dōdîm: love, caresses

דּוֹדִים

This plural extends the root from the beloved one to expressions of love.

THE PATTERN

Joy in God’s presence moves outward through the body into visible praise.

And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.

2 Samuel 6:14 · KJVDavid’s dancing makes joy bodily and visible before the LORD.

Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.

Psalm 149:3 · KJVThe psalm joins dance and music as open praise.

And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.

Acts 3:8 · KJVAfter healing, the man’s leaping makes his praise visible in his movement.

THE THREAD

Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;

Proverbs 8:30 · KJV

The Hebrew ⁨מְשַׂחֶקֶת⁩ (mesacheqet, “playing/rejoicing”) shares the root ⁨שׂחק⁩ (śāḥaq, “play, laugh”) with David’s “play.” Proverbs places Wisdom’s delight before God always, opening a wider scriptural picture of gladness expressed in God’s presence.

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