He bowed down, and said, “What is your servant, that you should look at such a dead dog as I am?”
Parallel Translations
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He bowed down, and said, “What is your servant, that you should look at such a dead dog as I am?”
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And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?
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And he bowed down, and said: 'What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?'
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to 2 Samuel 9:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Samuel 16:9 Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Please let me go over and take off his head.”
- Matthew 15:26-27 But he answered, “It is not appropriate to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she said, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”
- 1 Samuel 24:14-15 Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea? May Yahweh therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and you, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hand.”
- 1 Samuel 26:20 Now therefore, don’t let my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of Yahweh; for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains.”
- 2 Samuel 3:8 Then Abner was very angry about Ishbosheth’s words, and said, “Am I a dog’s head that belongs to Judah? Today I show kindness to Saul’s house your father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not delivered you into the hand of David; and yet you charge me today with a fault concerning this woman!
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Meaning, a despised person.
Meaning, a despised person.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Sa 9:8 And he bowed himself, and said, What…
2Sa 9:8 And he bowed himself, and said, What [is] thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I [am]?
Ver. 8. Upon such a dead dog as I am?] So he calleth himself, as being lame, poor, of a rejected stock, and no way to be compared to David and his children, whose companion and fellow commoner he was now to be made. There is no more certain way to honour and advancement, than a lowly dejection of ourselves.
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 So contemptible in my person and condition.
So contemptible in my person and condition.
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 he bowed himself,.... In token of gratitude, and…
And he bowed himself,.... In token of gratitude, and as a sign of humility, and of the sense he had of his unworthiness to enjoy such a favour:
and said, what is thy servant, that thou shouldest look on such a dead dog as I am? one so mean, and base, and worthless; which he might say with respect to the infirmities of his body, the rejection of his family by the Lord, their attainder of high treason for rebellion against David, and the low circumstances he was brought into and now under; though one of the royal family, the son of a prince, and grandson of a king; such was his humility, and the sense he had of his being undeserving of any favour from the king, and says this with admiration and astonishment.
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 Bowed himself - It is good to have the…
Bowed himself - It is good to have the heart humbled under humbling providences. If when divine providence brings our condition down, divine grace brings our spirits down, we shall be easy.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Mephibosheth’s humility of expression, even in the mouth of…
Mephibosheth’s humility of expression, even in the mouth of an Oriental, is painful. It was perhaps in part the result of his helpless lameness, and of the other misfortunes of his life.
A dead dog - The wild dogs of the East, which still abound in every town, are the natural objects of contempt and dislike.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 8. A dead dog — Compare 1Sa_24:14. “The strongest…
8. A dead dog — Compare 1Sa_24:14. “The strongest devisable hyperbole of unworthiness and degradation; for in a dead dog the vileness of a corpse is added to the vileness of a dog.” — Kitto.
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. he bowed himself] The same Heb. word as…
8. he bowed himself] The same Heb. word as “did reverence” in 2Sa_9:6.
a dead dog] The vilest and most contemptible object possible. See note on ch. 2Sa_3:8; and cp. ch. 2Sa_16:9; 1Sa_24:14.
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 A dead dog. At first sight this extreme self-humiliation…
A dead dog. At first sight this extreme self-humiliation makes us look on Mephibosheth as a poor creature, whom early misfortune and personal deformity had combined to depress But really this is to impose on an Oriental hyperbole a Western exactness of meaning. When in the East your entertainer assures you that everything he has to his last dirhem is yours, he nevertheless expects you to pay twice the value foreverything you consume; but he makes his exaction pleasant by his extreme courtliness. So Ephron offered his cave at Machpelah to Abraham as a free gift, but he took care to obtain for it an exorbitant price. (Gen_23:11, Gen_23:15) Mephibosheth described himself in terms similar to those used by David of himself to Saul; (1Sa_24:14) but he meant no more than to express great gratitude, and also to acknowledge the disparity of rank between him and 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.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 9:8 a dead dog like me: Mephibosheth knew that…
9:8 a dead dog like me: Mephibosheth knew that anyone with a possible claim to the throne might be killed as a threat.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.