The woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord, O king, may the iniquity be on me, and on my father’s house; and may the king and his throne be guiltless.”
Parallel Translations
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The woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord, O king, may the iniquity be on me, and on my father’s house; and may the king and his throne be guiltless.”
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And the woman of Tekoah said unto the king, My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father’s house: and the king and his throne be guiltless.
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And the woman of Tekoa said unto the king: 'My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father's house; and the king and his throne be guiltless.'
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to 2 Samuel 14:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Samuel 25:24 She fell at his feet, and said, “On me, my lord, on me be the blame! Please let your servant speak in your ears. Hear the words of your servant.
- 1 Kings 2:33 So their blood will return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his offspring forever. But for David, for his offspring, for his house, and for his throne, there will be peace forever from Yahweh.”
- Matthew 27:25 All the people answered, “May his blood be on us, and on our children!”
- Genesis 27:13 His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go get them for me.”
- Numbers 35:33 “ ‘So you shall not pollute the land where you live; for blood pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed in it, but by the blood of him who shed it.
- Deuteronomy 21:1-9 If someone is found slain in the land which Yahweh your God gives you to possess, lying in the field, and it isn’t known who has struck him, then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure to the cities which are around him who is slain. It shall be that the elders of the city which is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer of the herd, which hasn’t been worked with and which has not drawn in the yoke. The elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. The priests the sons of Levi shall come near, for them Yahweh your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in Yahweh’s name; and according to their word shall every controversy and every assault be decided. All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. They shall answer and say, “Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Forgive, Yahweh, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and don’t allow innocent blood among your people Israel.” The blood shall be forgiven them. So you shall put away the innocent blood from among you, when you shall do that which is right in Yahweh’s eyes.
- 2 Samuel 3:28-29 Afterward, when David heard it, he said, “I and my kingdom are guiltless before Yahweh forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner. Let it fall on the head of Joab, and on all his father’s house. Let there not fail from the house of Joab one who has a discharge, or who is a leper, or who leans on a staff, or who falls by the sword, or who lacks bread.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Or, innocent.
Or, innocent.
As touching the breach of the Law which punisheth blood, let me bear the blame.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Sa 14:9 And the woman of Tekoah said unto…
2Sa 14:9 And the woman of Tekoah said unto the king, My lord, O king, the iniquity [be] on me, and on my father’s house: and the king and his throne [be] guiltless.
Ver. 9. The iniquity be on me,] q.d., I am so confident of my surviving son’s innocency, that I doubt not to take the blame upon myself, and dare be bold to say, that you and yours shall sustain no prejudice by favouring my cause, and protecting my child. See the like expressions in Gen 27:13 Mat 27:25.
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 The sense is, either, first, this, If I do…
The sense is, either, first, this, If I do not inform thee aright, and thou thereby be drawn to give an unrighteous sentence on my behalf, I am willing to bear the whole blame of it before God, and men; I acknowledge thou art wholly innocent in the case. Compare Gen 27:13. Or, secondly, this, If through thy forgetfulness or neglect of this my just cause, my adversaries prevail and destroy my son, my desire is, that God would not lay it to the king’s charge, but rather to me and mine, so the king may be exempted thereby. Whereby she both insinuates her great esteem of and affection for the king, thereby winning upon him to compass her design; and withal implies that such an omission of the king’s will bring guilt upon him; and yet most prudently and decently orders her phrase so as not to seem to blame or threaten the king. Compare Exo 5:16; 2Sa 20:16. This sense seems best to agree with David’s answer, which shows that she desired some further assurance of the king’s care and justice in her concern.
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 the woman of Tekoah said unto the king,…
And the woman of Tekoah said unto the king, my lord and king,.... With much vehemence, and yet with great respect, fearing an inquisition into her case; which it would not bear, being a fable, and being very desirous of having sentence on it immediately pronounced:
the iniquity be on me and on my father's house; let the crime be imputed to me and my family, and punishment inflicted on us for it, if I have misrepresented the case, told lies, and deceived the king:
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and the king and his throne be guiltless; let neither he nor his kingdom be charged with any sin, or suffer any damage on that account: or else the sense is, supposing that the king through much business should forget and neglect this affair; and her son should be put to death, through the violence and rage of the family; then she wishes that the fault and punishment of such neglect might not fall upon the king and his kingdom, but upon her and her family: in this form she put it, for the honour of the king, and because she would not be thought to wish ill to him and his kingdom; yet tacitly suggests, that should this be the case, he and his kingdom must expect to answer and suffer for it.
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 Be guiltless - If through thy forgetfulness or neglect…
Be guiltless - If through thy forgetfulness or neglect of this my just cause, my adversaries prevail and destroy my son, my desire is, that God would not lay it to the king's charge, but rather to me and mine, so the king may be exempted thereby. Whereby she insinuates, that such an omission will bring guilt upon him; and yet most decently orders her phrase so as not to seem to blame or threaten the king. This sense seems best to agree with David's answer, which shew's that she desired some farther assurances of the king's care.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 9. The iniquity be on me] She intimates…
Verse 9. The iniquity be on me] She intimates that, if the king should suppose that the not bringing the offender to the assigned punishment might reflect on the administration of justice in the land, she was willing that all blame should attach to her and her family, and the king and his throne be guiltless.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The iniquity be on me ... - Compare the…
The iniquity be on me ... - Compare the principle in Gen 9:5-6; Num 35:30-34. The woman therefore says, if there is any such guilt in sparing my son, may it rest upon me and my house, not on David and his throne. Compare 2Sa 3:28. The cunning speech of the woman extracted a more direct promise of protection from the king 2Sa 14:1.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Guiltless, if the murderer be not brought to execution.…
Guiltless, if the murderer be not brought to execution. I am willing to bear all the blame and punishment. (Calmet) --- Abigail and Rebecca speak in the same manner, 1 Kings xxv. 24., and Genesis xxvii. 13. (Tirinus) --- Though kings may not pardon as they please, yet in this instance David might protect the widow’s son, as there was no witness to prove that he had committed the murder. (Menochius) --- The woman was not satisfied with the former promise. She wished to extort something more decisive. She intimates that the danger is pressing, and if any misfortune should arrive, she cannot impute it to the king, (Calmet) which gives him occasion to encourage her the more. (Haydock)
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 the woman said . . . O king, the…
the woman said . . . O king, the iniquity be on me--that is, the iniquity of arresting the course of justice and pardoning a homicide, whom the Goel was bound to slay wherever he might find him, unless in a city of refuge. This was exceeding the royal prerogative, and acting in the character of an absolute monarch. The woman's language refers to a common precaution taken by the Hebrew judges and magistrates, solemnly to transfer from themselves the responsibility of the blood they doomed to be shed, either to the accusers or the criminals (Sa2 1:16; Sa2 3:28); and sometimes the accusers took it upon themselves (Mat 27:25).
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 9. the iniquity be on me, &c.] If there…
9. the iniquity be on me, &c.] If there is any guilt in thus leaving bloodshed unavenged, may I and my family bear the punishment. She wishes to lead the king up to a more definite promise, before she applies her parable to the case of Absalom.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (9) The iniquity be on me—i.e., if there be…
(9) The iniquity be on me—i.e., if there be any wrong in thus condoning blood-guiltiness, let the responsibility rest on me. Although the king has granted her request, the woman seeks to prolong the interview that she may lead him to commit himself more completely.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The iniquity be on me. The king had given…
The iniquity be on me. The king had given a general promise to help the widow, but she wants to lead him on to a definite assurance that her son shall be pardoned. Less than this would not help Absalom"s case. Instead, therefore, of withdrawing, she represents herself as dissatisfied, and pleads for full forgiveness; and as this would be a violation of the letter of the Levitical Law, in order to remove David"s supposed scruples, she takes upon herself the penalty.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 14:9 If you are criticized: If David allowed a…
14:9 If you are criticized: If David allowed a murder to go unavenged, he would be liable for not carrying out justice and would likely draw criticism.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.