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2 Samuel 17:18

in 2 Samuel 17

But a young man did see them and told Absalom. So the two left quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

But a lad saw them, and told Absalom: and they went both of them away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down thither.

KJV

Nevertheless a lad saw them, and told Absalom: but they went both of them away quickly, and came to a man’s house in Bahurim, which had a well in his court; whither they went down.

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This verse in 2 Samuel 17

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

They, being aware that they were discovered, sheltered themselves in a friend's house in Bahurim, where David had refreshed himself but just before, ch. xvi. There they were happily hidden in a well, which now, in summer time, perhaps was dry,

This site's exposition

they dared not be seen entering the city

on 2 Samuel 17:17-21

Jonathan and Ahimaaz wait at En-rogel, “for they dared not be seen entering the city”. A young man sees them, and they climb down into a well at a house in Bahurim. The man's wife spreads a covering over it, “scattering grain over it so nobody would know a thing”.

This site's exposition

a well in his courtyard

A young man saw Ahimaaz and Jonathan, so the two came to a house in Bahurim, where David had been cursed. Albert Barnes remarks that not everyone there was a Shimei. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take the well to be a household cistern, and Matthew Henry supposes it was dry.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

The woman of the house very ingeniously covered the mouth of the well with a cloth, on which she spread corn to dry, so that the pursuers were not aware that there was a well; else they would have searched it,
Nevertheless, a lad saw them, and told Absalom,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

and came to a man's house in Bahurim, which had a well in his court--The court was that of the house, and the well an empty cistern. All the houses of the better class are furnished with such reservoirs.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

Bahurim - See the marginal reference. They were not all Shimeis in Bahurim.

The words behind it

18 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיַּ֤רְאand he saw

    vaiyar'H7200 →1300 times

  • אֹתָם֙<obj.> them

    ʾotamH853 →10935 times

  • נַ֔עַרa young man

    naarH5288 →239 times

  • וַיַּגֵּ֖דand he told

    vaiyagedH5046 →370 times

  • לְאַבְשָׁלֹ֑םto Absalom

    leavshalomH53 →110 times

  • וַיֵּלְכוּ֩and they went

    vaiyelekhuH1980 →1546 times

  • שְׁנֵיהֶ֨ם[the] two of them

    sheneihemH8147 →768 times

  • מְהֵרָ֜הquickly

    meherahH4120 →20 times

  • וַיָּבֹ֣אוּ׀and they came

    vaiyavouH935 →2568 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • בֵּֽית־[the] house of

    beit-H1004 →2046 times

  • אִ֣ישׁa man

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • בְּבַחוּרִ֗יםin Bahurim

    bevachurimH980 →5 times

  • וְל֥וֹand [belonged] to <the> him

    velo

  • בְאֵ֛רa well

    veerH875 →38 times

  • בַּחֲצֵר֖וֹin courtyard his

    bachatzeroH2691 →

  • וַיֵּ֥רְדוּand they went down

    vaiyereduH3381 →381 times

  • שָֽׁם׃there

    shamH8033 →834 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

3 in all, six open

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    2 Samuel 19:16

    Then Shimei son of Gera, a Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David,

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 2:8

      Keep an eye on Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim who is with you. He called down bitter curses against me on the day I went to Mahanaim, but when he…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 2 Samuel 16:5–13

      As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the family of the house of Saul was just coming out. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and as he approached, he kept yelling out…

  • Through

    2 Samuel 16:5

    As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the family of the house of Saul was just coming out. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and as he approached, he kept yelling out…

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 2:36–46

      Then the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem and live there, but do not go anywhere else.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 2 Samuel 3:16

      Her husband followed her, weeping all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go back.” So he returned home.

    • 1 Kings 2:8–9

      Keep an eye on Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim who is with you. He called down bitter curses against me on the day I went to Mahanaim, but when he…

    • 1 Samuel 17:43

      “Am I a dog,” he said to David, “that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

  • Through

    2 Samuel 3:16

    Her husband followed her, weeping all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go back.” So he returned home.

    it leads to

    • 2 Samuel 16:5

      As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the family of the house of Saul was just coming out. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and as he approached, he kept yelling out…

    • 2 Samuel 19:16

      Then Shimei son of Gera, a Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David,

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About 2 Samuel

David Mourns the Death of Absalom, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
David Mourns the Death of Absalom, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
2 Samuel: the study guide →Read 2 Samuel 17 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 2 Samuel 17 →