What Does 2 Samuel 9:8 Mean in the King James?
And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?
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
“Look upon” is a turning of the face toward someone who calls himself a dead dog.
THE MEANING
You can name yourself as beneath notice, yet that name does not govern the face turned toward you. Here, being seen is a deliberate turning toward the one who expects to be overlooked. The verse holds your self-description beside the regard you receive.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that seeing yourself as worthless makes you unworthy of being seen.
THE ROOT
פָנִיתָ
panita
GROWS FROM
פנה
p-n-h
To turn, face toward, or attend.
The word translated “look upon” carries the sense of turning toward someone. The attention in this verse is not distant observation; it is a face deliberately directed toward the person who calls himself a dead dog.
ALSO GROWS
panah: To turn toward or give attention.
פָּנָה
This verb makes the motion inside “look upon” visible: the face turns toward someone.
panim: Face; by extension, presence.
פָּנִים
The related word for face gives turning toward a personal shape: to attend is to direct one’s presence.
מֵת
met
GROWS FROM
מות
m-w-t
To die; to be dead.
“dead” in this verse is met. The same death-root names both the state he claims and the act of dying. His image reaches for an ending, yet the sentence places it beside a face turned toward him.
ALSO GROWS
mut: To die.
מוּת
The verb names the movement into the state he invokes about himself.
mavet: Death.
מָוֶת
The noun makes explicit the force of the word he uses to describe himself.
THE PATTERN
The divine regard reaches the lowly and unsettles the belief that status determines who is seen.
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?THE THREAD
Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted.“Turn thee” and “look upon” carry the same Hebrew root, פנה (panah): to turn toward or attend. Both verses put that turning beside a person who names himself as desolate or beneath notice.
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