What Does Deuteronomy 2:33 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people.
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
“Delivered” here is a handover: the LORD places Sihon before Israel, and the verse names “we” as the ones who strike him.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks plainly about conquest: the LORD gives the opposing king into Israel’s reach, and Israel strikes him, his sons, and all his people. Divine action and human violence remain together in the sentence; neither disappears behind the other.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the idea that calling an outcome God’s work makes human violence disappear: it keeps the first-person “we” attached to the blows.
THE ROOT
וַיִּתְּנֵהוּ
wayyittenehu
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
נתן (natan) means to give, set, or place.
The verb presents the king as given or placed before Israel. English “delivered” carries that handover, while the Hebrew root also links it to ordinary giving and placing.
ALSO GROWS
natan: to give, set, or place
נָתַן
This verb shares the seed of “delivered,” showing the transfer as an act of giving or placing.
mattanah: gift
מַתָּנָה
The word for a gift grows from the same root: both a gift and this handover are something given.
וַנַּךְ
wayyannak
GROWS FROM
נכה
n-k-h
נכה (nakah) means to strike or smite.
The verse moves from the LORD’s giving to Israel’s striking, and the Hebrew keeps the human action explicit in “we smote.” The related noun for a blow or plague shows the physical force carried by this root.
ALSO GROWS
nakah: to strike or smite
נָכָה
This is the verb’s root form, making clear that “smote” names a striking action.
makkah: a blow, wound, or plague
מַכָּה
This related noun carries the same striking root into the resulting blow or injury.
THE PATTERN
A divine handover and the human violence that follows can be named in the same sentence.
And the LORD our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people.And the LORD delivered it also, and the king thereof, into the hand of Israel; and he smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein; he let none remain in it; but did unto the king thereof as he did unto the king of Jericho.Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:THE THREAD
Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.Two verses earlier, the same root נתן (natan, give or place) names Sihon as given into Israel’s hand. Here that handover reaches its bodily consequence in the words “we smote him.”
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