They brought the head of Ishbosheth to David to Hebron, and said to the king, “Behold, the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life! Yahweh has avenged my lord the king today of Saul, and of his offspring.”
Parallel Translations
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They brought the head of Ishbosheth to David to Hebron, and said to the king, “Behold, the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life! Yahweh has avenged my lord the king today of Saul, and of his offspring.”
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And they brought the head of Ish-bosheth unto David to Hebron, and said to the king, Behold the head of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul thine enemy, which sought thy life; and the LORD hath avenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed.
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And they brought the head of Ish-bosheth unto David to Hebron, and said to the king: 'Behold the head of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul thine enemy, who sought thy life; and the LORD hath avenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed.'
Cross-references (16)
Passages linked to 2 Samuel 4:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Samuel 25:29 Though men may rise up to pursue you, and to seek your soul, yet the soul of my lord will be bound in the bundle of life with Yahweh your God. He will sling out the souls of your enemies, as from the hollow of a sling.
- 2 Samuel 22:48 even the God who executes vengeance for me, who brings down peoples under me,
- 1 Samuel 18:11 and Saul threw the spear, for he said, “I will pin David to the wall!” David escaped from his presence twice.
- 1 Samuel 19:2-11 Jonathan told David, saying, “Saul my father seeks to kill you. Now therefore, please take care of yourself in the morning, and live in a secret place, and hide yourself. I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will talk with my father about you; and if I see anything, I will tell you.” Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, “Don’t let the king sin against his servant, against David; because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you; for he put his life in his hand, and struck the Philistine, and Yahweh worked a great victory for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?” Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan: and Saul swore, “As Yahweh lives, he shall not be put to death.” Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as before. There was war again. David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and killed them with a great slaughter; and they fled before him. An evil spirit from Yahweh was on Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing with his hand. Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear; but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, and he stuck the spear into the wall. David fled, and escaped that night. Saul sent messengers to David’s house, to watch him, and to kill him in the morning. Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you don’t save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.”
- 1 Samuel 19:15 Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.”
- 1 Samuel 20:1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?”
- 1 Samuel 23:15 David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the wood.
- 1 Samuel 24:4 David’s men said to him, “Behold, the day of which Yahweh said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’ ” Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe secretly.
- 2 Samuel 18:19 Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Let me now run and carry the king news, how Yahweh has avenged him of his enemies.”
- 2 Samuel 18:31 Behold, the Cushite came. The Cushite said, “News for my lord the king, for Yahweh has avenged you today of all those who rose up against you.”
- Psalms 63:9-10 But those who seek my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They shall be given over to the power of the sword. They shall be jackal food.
- Psalms 71:24 My tongue will also talk about your righteousness all day long, for they are disappointed, and they are confounded, who want to harm me.
- Matthew 2:20 “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who sought the young child’s life are dead.”
- Luke 18:7-8 Won’t God avenge his chosen ones who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them? I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
- Revelation 6:10 They cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
- Revelation 18:20 “Rejoice over her, O heaven, you saints, apostles, and prophets; for God has judged your judgment on her.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Sa 4:8 And they brought the head of Ishbosheth…
2Sa 4:8 And they brought the head of Ishbosheth unto David to Hebron, and said to the king, Behold the head of Ishbosheth the son of Saul thine enemy, which sought thy life; and the LORD hath avenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed.
Ver. 8. Behold the head of Ishbosheth.] A plausible oration they make, but miss of their purpose. They commend their own act to David: (1.) A iucundo, from delight, Lo, here the head of thine enemy; and what more pleasant sight than this? (2.) Ab honesto, from honesty, We did it not without the Lord, who hath set us on work to avenge my lord the king, &c. (3.) Ab utili, from usefulness, For now thine enemy being removed, thou shalt reign alone without a rival. Thus these wretches rhetoricate, and all to insinuate; which yet would not be.
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 Which sought thy life, i.e. to destroy it, or…
Which sought thy life, i.e. to destroy it, or take it away; as this phrase is used, 1Sa 20:1; 23:15, and elsewhere. They thought their action not only blameless, but meritorious; because they had but executed justice upon Saul’s house, and David’s enemies, and made way for David’s obtaining of his rights. It may seem strange they were not discouraged by David’s punishing of the Amalekite for killing Saul, 2Sa 1, and by his sharp reproof of Joab for murdering Abner; but they thought the first case much differing from theirs, because Saul was anointed king by God; whereas Ish-bosheth was not, but was a mere usurper: and for the latter, they thought that David’s sharp words proceeded rather from art and policy, than from any real dislike of thee thing; which they judged, because David contented himself with words, and Joab did not only go unpunished, but continued in his former place and power.
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 David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the…
And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite,.... In a manner they did not expect:
and said unto them, as the Lord liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity; spiritual and temporal, especially the latter is meant, and particularly what he had been brought into by the persecution of Saul, while living, and by those that adhered to his house since his death; which he ascribes to the Lord, and doubted not that he would still deliver him, and complete what he had designed for him, and that he needed not the assistance of such wicked hands as theirs; the words contain the form of an oath made to testify the truth of the following narrative, concerning the man that brought the tidings of Saul's death to him, or for the certainty of what he would do those persons for the murder of Ishbosheth.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. They brought the head - unto David]…
Verse 8. They brought the head - unto David] They thought, as did the poor lying Amalekite, to ingratiate themselves with David by this abominable act.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Life. They wish to recall to David’s remembrance what…
Life. They wish to recall to David’s remembrance what Saul had done against him, that he may approve the more of what they had perpetrated. (Menochius) --- They supposed that, as Abner had been well received, they should obtain still greater favour. (Salien)
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 They brought the head of Ish-bosheth unto David .…
They brought the head of Ish-bosheth unto David . . . and said, Behold the head of Ish-bosheth--Such bloody trophies of rebels and conspirators have always been acceptable to princes in the East, and the carriers have been liberally rewarded. Ish-bosheth being a usurper, the two assassins thought they were doing a meritorious service to David by removing the only existing obstacle to the union of the two kingdoms.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 8. The Lord hath avenged my lord the king…
8. The Lord hath avenged my lord the king — By these words the assassins thought to gain the favour of David; but, like the Amalekite at Ziklag, they little understood how his soul abhorred their bloody deed.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8–12. The Punishment of the Murderers by David
8–12. The Punishment of the Murderers by David
8. to the king] Observe that Ish-bosheth is never honoured with the title of king.
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thine enemy, which sought thy life] These words are to be referred to Saul not to Ish-bosheth. Cp. 1Sa_24:4; 1Sa_25:29.
the Lord hath avenged] The murderers profanely represented themselves as the instruments of Providence. “They pretended piety and loyalty, but they regarded nothing except their own interest.” Wordsworth.
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 (8) The Lord hath avenged.—It is not to be…
(8) The Lord hath avenged.—It is not to be supposed that the murderers pretended a Divine commission for their wicked deed; they only meant to say that, in the providence of God, David was thus avenged on the seed of his cruel persecutor. Yet they state the fact in the way they thought best calculated to awaken the gratitude of David towards themselves.
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 Which sought thy life. Saul had sought David"s life,…
Which sought thy life. Saul had sought David"s life, but Ishbosheth was innocent of any such attempts. Still, had he been victorious, David, as his rival, would certainly have been put to death. Jehovah hath avenged my lord the king. The ordinary language of the East is so religious that these words imply nothing more than that these wicked men saw in their base act a step towards the carrying out of a Divine purpose. But in thus referring to the common belief that David"s kingdom was assured to him by Jehovah, they evidently intended to commend their deed to the really devout mind of the king.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 sought your life
sought your life
This idiom means "was trying to kill you." (See: Idiom)
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As Yahweh lives
This is one of the strongest oaths David could swear, as Yahweh is the witness. AT: "I swear on the life of Yahweh" (See: Idiom)
who delivered my life
Here "life" refers to David himself. This means that Yahweh has kept David alive. AT: "who rescued me" (See: Synecdoche)
translationWords
David
king
avenge
lord
descend
Yahweh
reward
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 4:8 your enemy Saul: As far as we know,…
4:8 your enemy Saul: As far as we know, David never referred to Saul as an enemy. • the Lord has given . . . revenge: Wrongdoers often presume upon God’s favor to justify political ambition. However, David would not reward treachery.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.