Joab fell to the ground on his face, showed respect, and blessed the king. Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord, king, in that the king has performed the request of his servant.”
Parallel Translations
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Joab fell to the ground on his face, showed respect, and blessed the king. Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord, king, in that the king has performed the request of his servant.”
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And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and bowed himself, and thanked the king: and Joab said, To day thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, my lord, O king, in that the king hath fulfilled the request of his servant.
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And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and prostrated himself, and blessed the king; and Joab said: 'To-day thy servant knoweth that I have found favour in thy sight, my lord, O king, in that the king hath performed the request of thy servant.'
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to 2 Samuel 14:22 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 6:8 But Noah found favor in Yahweh’s eyes.
- Exodus 33:16-17 For how would people know that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Isn’t it that you go with us, so that we are separated, I and your people, from all the people who are on the surface of the earth?” Yahweh said to Moses, “I will do this thing also that you have spoken; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
- Ruth 2:2 Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I find favor.” She said to her, “Go, my daughter.”
- 1 Samuel 20:3 David swore moreover, and said, “Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes; and he says, ‘Don’t let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved;’ but truly as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.”
- 2 Samuel 19:39 All the people went over the Jordan, and the king went over. Then the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him; and he returned to his own place.
- Nehemiah 11:2 The people blessed all the men who willingly offered themselves to dwell in Jerusalem.
- Job 29:11 For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it commended me:
- Job 31:20 if his heart hasn’t blessed me, if he hasn’t been warmed with my sheep’s fleece;
- Proverbs 31:28 Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also praises her:
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Hebrew, blessed.
Hebrew, blessed.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Sa 14:22 And Joab fell to the ground on…
2Sa 14:22 And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and bowed himself, and thanked the king: and Joab said, To day thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, my lord, O king, in that the king hath fulfilled the request of his servant.
Ver. 22. And thanked the king.] The king could have found in his heart to have thanked him, but for stark shame; and that Joab knew well enough, though he thus colluded.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain i.e. Restored Absalom at my request; whereby. Joab thought…
i.e. Restored Absalom at my request; whereby. Joab thought to establish himself for ever, and that he should be both the father’s and the son’s favourite.
Quest. Whether David did well in granting this request?
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Answ. Although there be some circumstances which in part extenuate David’s fault herein, as Amnon’s high provocation of Absalom; Absalom’s being out of the reach of David’s justice, where also he could and would have kept himself, if David had not promised him immunity; the extreme danger of Absalom’s infection by heathenish principles and practices; the safety of David’s kingdom, which seemed to depend upon the, establishment of the succession, and that upon Absalom, to whom the hearts of the people were so universally and vehemently inclined, if the matter was really so, and not pretended or magnified by the art of this subtle woman: yet it seems most probable that David was faulty herein, because this action was directly contrary to the express laws of God, which strictly command the supreme magistrate to execute justice upon all wilful murderers, without any reservation, Gen 9:6; Num 35:30,31. And David had no power to dispense with God’s laws, nor to spare any whom God commanded him to destroy; for the laws of God did bind the kings and rulers as well as the people of Israel to observe and obey them, as is most evident from Deu 17:18,19, and from Jos 1:8, and many other places. And indeed we may read David’s sin in the glass of those tremendous judgments of God which befell him, by means of his indulgence to Absalom. For although God’s providences be in themselves no rule to judge of the good or evil of men’s actions; yet where they comply with God’s word, and accomplish his threatenings, as here they did, they are to be taken for the tokens of God’s displeasure.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Joab fell to the ground on his face,…
And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and bowed himself,.... Or bowed so low as to the ground, in reverence of the king:
and thanked the king; for giving him leave to fetch Absalom home, as if it was a favour done to himself: or "blessed" (s) him; wished all happiness and prosperity might attend him, in consequence of this grant, which he knew would be acceptable to the people:
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and Joab said, today thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, my lord, O king, in that the king hath fulfilled the request of his servant; he might presume upon this, that as the king had given orders at his request to recall Absalom, who had murdered his brother, which was tacitly giving him a pardon; so he would forgive him the murder of Abner, Sa2 3:30, and think no more of it; since he perceived now, which he had not so clearly perceived before from that time, that he found grace in his sight, or shared in his favour and good will, as now he saw he did.
(s) "et benedixit", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Fulfilled - But it seems David had no power…
Fulfilled - But it seems David had no power to dispense with God's laws, nor to spare any whom God appointed him to destroy: for the laws of God bound the kings and rulers, as well as the people of Israel. How justly did God make this man, whom he had so sinfully spared, a scourge to him?
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Blessed. That is, praised, and gave thanks to the…
Blessed. That is, praised, and gave thanks to the king.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain JOAB BRINGS ABSALOM TO JERUSALEM. (Sa2 14:22-33)
JOAB BRINGS ABSALOM TO JERUSALEM. (Sa2 14:22-33)
To-day thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight--Joab betrayed not a little selfishness amid his professions of joy at this act of grace to Absalom, and flattered himself that he now brought both father and son under lasting obligations. In considering this act of David, many extenuating circumstances may be urged in favor of it; the provocation given to Absalom; his being now in a country where justice could not overtake him; the risk of his imbibing a love for heathen principles and worship; the safety and interests of the Hebrew kingdom; together with the strong predilection of the Hebrew people for Absalom, as represented by the stratagem of Joab--these considerations form a plausible apology for David's grant of pardon to his bloodstained son. But, in granting this pardon, he was acting in the character of an Oriental despot rather than a constitutional king of Israel. The feelings of the father triumphed over the duty of the king, who, as the supreme magistrate, was bound to execute impartial justice on every murderer, by the express law of God (Gen 9:6; Num 35:30-31), which he had no power to dispense with (Deu 18:18; Jos 1:8; Sa1 10:25).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 22. his servant] This is the reading of the…
22. his servant] This is the reading of the Kthîbh, and is clearly best: the marginal alternative thy comes from the Qrî.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain In that the king hath fulfilled the request of…
In that the king hath fulfilled the request of his servant. Keil concludes from this that Joab had often interceded for Absalom"s pardon, and that this had made the king suspect him of being the prime mover in the affair. But this is to force the meaning, Joab now stood confessed as the person who had brought the woman before the king, and had employed her to gain a hearing. Had he been allowed to plead freely, her intervention would not have been necessary. We have seen, too, that the king"s suspicions have been made in the Authorized Version much stronger than they really were. Many commentators also assume that Joab had a friendship for Absalom, but there are few traces of it in his conduct, and more probably Joab was chiefly influenced by politic motives. It was injurious to the well being of the nation that there should be discord and enmity between the king and his eldest son, and that the latter should be living in exile. The K"ri, thy servant, placed in the margin, is to be decidedly rejected, with all other attempts of the Massorites to remove little roughnesses of grammar.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.