For all my father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king; yet you set your servant among those who ate at your own table. What right therefore have I yet that I should cry any more to the king?”
Parallel Translations
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For all my father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king; yet you set your servant among those who ate at your own table. What right therefore have I yet that I should cry any more to the king?”
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For all of my father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king: yet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right therefore have I yet to cry any more unto the king?
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(19-29) For all my father's house were deserving of death at the hand of my lord the king; yet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right therefore have I yet? or why should I cry any more unto the king?'
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to 2 Samuel 19:28 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Samuel 9:13 So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem; for he ate continually at the king’s table. He was lame in both his feet.
- 2 Samuel 9:10 Till the land for him, you, your sons, and your servants. Bring in the harvest, that your master’s son may have bread to eat; but Mephibosheth your master’s son will always eat bread at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
- Genesis 32:10 I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I crossed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies.
- 1 Samuel 26:16 This thing isn’t good that you have done. As Yahweh lives, you are worthy to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, Yahweh’s anointed. Now see where the king’s spear is, and the jar of water that was at his head.”
- 2 Samuel 9:7-8 David said to him, “Don’t be afraid; for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your father. You will eat bread at my table continually.” He bowed down, and said, “What is your servant, that you should look at such a dead dog as I am?”
- 2 Samuel 21:6-9 let seven men of his sons be delivered to us, and we will hang them up to Yahweh in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of Yahweh.” The king said, “I will give them.” But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of Yahweh’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. He delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before Yahweh, and all seven of them fell together. They were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of barley harvest.
- 2 Kings 8:3 At the end of seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines. Then she went out to beg the king for her house and for her land.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (8 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Worthy to die for Saul’s cruelty toward thee.
Worthy to die for Saul’s cruelty toward thee.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Sa 19:28 For all [of] my father’s house were…
2Sa 19:28 For all [of] my father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king: yet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right therefore have I yet to cry any more unto the king?
Ver. 28. For all of my father’s house were but dead men,] sc., For our siding with Ishbosheth.
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What right therefore have I yet to cry? &c., ] i.e., To complain of my servant’s treachery, or mine own infelicity.
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 Before my lord the king, i.e. before thy tribunal:…
Before my lord the king, i.e. before thy tribunal: we were all at thy mercy; not my estate only, (which thou hast now granted to Ziba,) but my life also was in thy power, if thou hadst dealt with rigour, and as earthly kings use to do with their predecessors’ and enemies’ children. For otherwise by the law of God Saul himself had not deserved to die by David’s hands, as David himself confessed; much less his children, who were not to die for their father’s sins, Deu 24:16. But Mephibosheth speaks like a courtier, and like an orator, aggravating matters against himself, that he might seem to justify the king’s sentence, and to submit to it; and so insinuate himself unto the king’s favour.
To cry any more unto the king, to wit, for the vindication of mine honour, and the restitution of my estate.
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 For all of my, father's house were but dead…
For all of my, father's house were but dead men before my lord the king,.... Or "men of death" (m); worthy of death, not on account of Saul's persecution, for which his family did not deserve to suffer; rather for the attempt of Ishbosheth to get the kingdom from him, which might be deemed treason, and so the family was tainted for it; though the sense may be only this, that their lives lay at his mercy, and that if he had dealt with rigour and severity towards them, as was usual for princes to do towards the family of their predecessors, who had any claim to the kingdom, put them to death, this would have been their case:
yet didst thou set thy servant among them that eat at thine own table; which was showing him great kindness, and doing him great honour:
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what right therefore have I yet to cry any more unto the king? to ask any favour of him, or make any complaint to him.
(m) "viris mortis", Montanus.
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 Before - Before thy tribunal: we were all at…
Before - Before thy tribunal: we were all at thy mercy: not my estate only but my life also was in thy power, if thou hadst dealt with rigor, and as earthly kings use to do with their predecessor's and enemies children. To cry - For the vindication of mine honour, and the restitution of my estate.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 2Sa 19:28. All my father’s house were but dead…
2Sa 19:28. All my father’s house were but dead men before my lord — Before thy tribunal: we were all at thy mercy; not my estate only, but my life also was in thy power, if thou hadst dealt with rigour, and as earthly kings use to do with their predecessors’ and enemies’ children. What right have I yet to cry? — For the vindication of my honour, and the restitution of my estate.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Death, on account of Saul’s persecution, and his sons…
Death, on account of Saul’s persecution, and his sons assuming the purple; so that all his adherents might have been justly slain. (Calmet) --- Cry, as if I had been wronged. (Menochius)
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).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 28. were but dead men] For David might have…
28. were but dead men] For David might have put them all to death. Possibly there is an allusion to the surrender of Saul’s sons to the Gibeonites (ch. 2Sa_21:6-9).
what right, &c.] Since all David’s favours to him were undeserved, he had no ground for making a complaint, and demanding the restoration of his property as a right.
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.