What Does 2 Samuel 7:28 Mean in the King James?
And now, O Lord GOD, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:
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 uses the same root for “thy words” and “thou hast promised,” joining the promise to the very speech called true.
THE MEANING
This verse gives you words for standing before God now: what God says is truth you can rely on, and goodness has been spoken toward the servant. The promise comes through the very speech the verse calls true.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that goodness is only a hopeful feeling with no trustworthy word beneath it.
THE ROOT
דָּבָר
dāḇār
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
To speak; as a noun, a word or matter; as a verb, to speak or utter.
“words / hast promised” in this verse is dāḇār. English gives you “words” and “promised” as separate ideas, but both come from דבר. The promise is spoken goodness, carried by the same word-bearing act the verse calls true.
ALSO GROWS
dāḇār: A word, matter, or thing spoken.
דָּבָר
This is the word translated “words,” the speech declared true.
dibber: Spoke or uttered.
דִּבֶּר
This is the verb behind “thou hast promised”; the promise is itself an act of speaking.
אֱמֶת
ʾemet
GROWS FROM
א־מ־ן
ʾ-m-n
To be firm, steady, or dependable; אֱמֶת names truth as what can be relied on.
“true” in this verse is ʾemet. The verse calls God’s words אֱמֶת: truth with the quality of firmness. It links what is spoken with what is dependable, so the promised goodness has reliable ground.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāman: To be firm, steady, or trustworthy; to confirm.
אָמַן
It reveals the firmness carried by the verse’s word for truth.
ʾemunah: Trust or steadfastness.
אֱמוּנָה
It shows the related movement from what is firm to the trust that can rest on it.
THE PATTERN
A spoken promise holds because the one who speaks it is dependable.
God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)THE THREAD
Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.Here too, “word” and “promised” draw on the Hebrew root דבר. The promise is not separate from the word spoken, and not one word of that good promise has failed.
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