30
But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went up. His head was covered, and he was walking barefoot. And all the people with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·ḏā·wiḏ ‘ō·leh ḇə·ma·‘ă·lêh haz·zê·ṯîm ū·ḇō·w·ḵeh ‘ō·leh wə·rōš lōw ḥā·p̄ui wə·hū hō·lêḵ yā·ḥêp̄ wə·ḵāl hā·‘ām ’ă·šer- ’it·tōw ḥā·p̄ū ’îš rō·šōw wə·‘ā·lū ū·ḇā·ḵōh ‘ā·lōh
Word by word22 · parsed
√ Dâvid — David, the youngest son of JesseConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
√ ʻâlâh — to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount)VerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
ʻâlâh — to ascend, to go up The verb of pilgrimage and of sacrifice (the whole burnt offering is the ʻōlāh, the thing that goes up). Here the king goes up, and goes up, and goes up, but away from the city instead of toward it. The direction of Israel's holiest verb has been reversed, and reversed by the king himself.
√ maʻăleh — an elevation, iPreposition-bNounmasculine singular construct
√ zayith — an olive (as yielding illuminating oil), the tree, the branch or the berryArticleNounmasculine plural
√ bâkâh — to weepConjunctive wawVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
bâkâh — to weep Set as a participle beside the participle of ascent, so that ascending and weeping are one motion. Henry reads the tears theologically rather than sentimentally: this is not the fugitive of the Saul years but a man carrying a wounded conscience.
√ ʻâlâh — to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount)VerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
√ rôʼsh — the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itcConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular
rôʼsh — head, top, summit The word is planted here for the sake of v. 32, where the same noun means the summit of the mount. The covered head climbs toward the uncovered head of the hill, and it is at that head that the answer to the prayer is standing.
לוֹ֙lōw
Prepositionthird person masculine singular
√ châphâh — to coverVerbQalQalPassParticiplemasculine singular
châphâh — to cover (Qal passive participle) Barnes and Cambridge both read the muffled head from the parallels (Jeremiah 14:3-4; Ezekiel 24:17; Esther 6:12) as the settled sign of deep mourning. Cambridge sharpens what the sign means rather than only what it is: the covering shuts the griever off from the outer world. Note that the passive participle describes David, while i16 gives the people the active perfect of the same root.
√ hûwʼ — he (she or it)Conjunctive wawPronounthird person masculine singular
√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
√ yâchêph — unsandalledAdjectivemasculine singular
yâchêph — unsandalled A rare word, five verses in all. Poole names it a mourner's habit and adds a second and harsher reading: David is taking “a holy revenge upon himself for his former delicacy and luxury.” The bare foot is at once grief, penitence, and self-sentence. Isaiah 20 will later make the same bare foot a prophetic sign of exile, and that is where this unit's most exact verbal thread runs.
√ kôl — properly, the wholeConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct
√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)ArticleNounmasculine singular
ʻam — a people, a congregated unit Not David's troops but the people, the covenant word. The king's private penance becomes a national liturgy without a word of command being given.
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
√ ʼêth — properly, nearness (used only as a preposition or an adverb), nearPrepositionthird person masculine singular
√ châphâh — to coverVerbQalPerfectthird person common plural
√ ʼîysh — a man as an individual or a male personNounmasculine singular
√ rôʼsh — the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itcNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
√ ʻâlâh — to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person common plural
√ bâkâh — to weepConjunctive wawVerbQalInfinitive absolute
bâkâh — to weep (infinitive absolute) The two infinitives absolute at the close (ū·ḇā·ḵōh, ‘ā·lōh) are the Hebrew way of making an action unbounded and unbroken: going-up-ly, weeping-ly. The verse ends without a finite verb to stop it, which is why the scene refuses to close.
√ ʻâlâh — to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount)VerbQalInfinitive absolute