2 Samuel 3:31-39
New English Translation
31 David instructed Joab and all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes. Put on sackcloth. Lament before Abner!” Now King David followed[a] behind the funeral pallet.[b] 32 So they buried Abner in Hebron. The king cried loudly[c] over Abner’s grave, and all the people wept too. 33 The king chanted the following lament for Abner:
“Should Abner have died like a fool?
34 Your hands[d] were not bound,
and your feet were not put into irons.
You fell the way one falls before criminals.”
All the people[e] wept over him again. 35 Then all the people came and encouraged David to eat food while it was still day. But David took an oath saying, “God will punish me severely[f] if I taste bread or anything whatsoever before the sun sets!”
36 All the people noticed this and it pleased them.[g] In fact, everything the king did pleased all the people. 37 All the people and all Israel realized on that day that the killing of Abner son of Ner was not done at the king’s instigation.[h]
38 Then the king said to his servants, “Do you not realize that a great leader[i] has fallen this day in Israel? 39 Today I am weak, even though I am anointed as king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too much for me to bear![j] May the Lord punish appropriately the one who has done this evil thing!”[k]
Read full chapterNotas al pie
- 2 Samuel 3:31 tn Heb “was walking.”
- 2 Samuel 3:31 tn A מִטָּה (mittah) is typically bed with a frame (which can be ornate and covered with blankets and pillows). Here, like a stretcher, it is a portable frame for carrying a body, technically a bier.
- 2 Samuel 3:32 tn Heb “lifted up his voice and wept.” The expression is a verbal hendiadys.
- 2 Samuel 3:34 tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew manuscripts and several ancient versions in reading “your hands,” rather than “your hand.”
- 2 Samuel 3:34 tc 4QSama lacks the words “all the people.”
- 2 Samuel 3:35 tn Heb “Thus God will do to me and thus he will add.”
- 2 Samuel 3:36 tn Heb “it was good in their eyes.”
- 2 Samuel 3:37 tn Heb “from the king.”
- 2 Samuel 3:38 tn Heb “a leader and a great one.” The expression is a hendiadys.
- 2 Samuel 3:39 tn Heb “are hard from me.”
- 2 Samuel 3:39 tn Heb “May the Lord repay the doer of the evil according to his evil” (NASB similar).
2 Samuel 3:31-39
World English Bible
31 David said to Joab, and to all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes, and clothe yourselves with sackcloth, and mourn in front of Abner.” King David followed the bier. 32 They buried Abner in Hebron; and the king lifted up his voice, and wept at Abner’s grave; and all the people wept. 33 The king lamented for Abner, and said, “Should Abner die as a fool dies? 34 Your hands weren’t bound, and your feet weren’t put into fetters. As a man falls before the children of iniquity, so you fell.”
All the people wept again over him. 35 All the people came to urge David to eat bread while it was yet day; but David swore, saying, “God do so to me, and more also, if I taste bread, or anything else, until the sun goes down.”
36 All the people took notice of it, and it pleased them; as whatever the king did pleased all the people. 37 So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of the king to kill Abner the son of Ner. 38 The king said to his servants, “Don’t you know that a prince and a great man has fallen today in Israel? 39 I am weak today, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me. May Yahweh reward the evildoer according to his wickedness.”
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