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2 Samuel 17:20

in 2 Samuel 17

When Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” “They have crossed over the brook,” she replied. The men searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Absalom’s servants came to the woman to the house; and they said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them, They are gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

KJV

And when Absalom’s servants came to the woman to the house, they said, Where is Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them, They be gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

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This verse in 2 Samuel 17

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

John Cassian

CONFERENCE 17.19.6-7 · Written before 435.

And what shall we say about the deed of the woman who received those who had been sent to King David by the aforementioned Hushai and who hid them in a well, spreading a cover over the mouth of it and making believe that she was drying barley? "They went on," she said, "after having drunk a little water," and by this trick she saved them from the hands of their pursuers. Tell me, then, I ask you, what you would have done if a similar situation had arisen for you who now live under the gospel.

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

They have crossed over the brook

The woman tells Absalom's servants that Ahimaaz and Jonathan have crossed over the brook, a Hebrew word Albert Barnes finds only here. John Cassian asks what a believer under the gospel would do in her place. Matthew Henry adds that God kept Absalom from avenging himself on Zadok and Abiathar.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

However, hereby the messengers were protected, and the pursuers were defeated and returned to Absalom without their prey. It was well that Absalom did not hereupon fall upon their two fathers, Zadok and Abiathar, as Saul on Ahimelech for his kindness to David: but God restrained him. Being thus preserved, they brought their intelligence very faithfully to David (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

And when Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

As soon as ever she had hid the men she went into the house, as if busy about her usual occupations. Had Absalom’s servants, who had had information from some of the people of Bahurim that the men had come to this house, found her in the court it might have directed their attention to the peeled barley. Over the brook of water - Compare 2Sa 16:9 note. The word for “brook” (“Michal”) occurs only here. One has been found in this very district, still so called.

The words behind it

21 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.

  • וַיָּבֹ֣אוּand they came

    vaiyavouH935 →2568 times

  • עַבְדֵי֩[the] servants of

    ʾavdeiH5650 →799 times

  • אַבְשָׁל֨וֹםAbsalom

    ʾavshalomH53 →110 times

  • אֶֽל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • הָאִשָּׁ֜הthe woman

    haishahH802 →781 times

  • הַבַּ֗יְתָהthe house towards

    habaytahH1004 →2046 times

  • וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ֙and they said

    vaiyomeruH559 →5305 times

  • אַיֵּ֗הwhere?

    ʾaiyehH346 →

  • אֲחִימַ֙עַץ֙[are] Ahimaaz

    ʾachimaatzH290 →15 times

  • וִיה֣וֹנָתָ֔ןand Jonathan

    vihonatanH3083 →81 times

  • וַתֹּ֤אמֶרand she said

    vatomerH559 →5305 times

  • לָהֶם֙to <the> them

    lahem

  • הָֽאִשָּׁ֔הthe woman

    haishahH802 →781 times

  • עָבְר֖וּthey have passed over

    ʾaveruH5674 →556 times

  • מִיכַ֣ל[the] brook of

    mikhalH4323 →

  • הַמָּ֑יִם<the> water

    hamayimH4325 →581 times

  • וַיְבַקְשׁוּ֙and they sought [them]

    vayvakshuH1245 →225 times

  • וְלֹ֣אand not

    velo'H3808 →5168 times

  • מָצָ֔אוּthey found [them]

    matzauH4672 →455 times

  • וַיָּשֻׁ֖בוּand they returned

    vaiyashuvuH7725 →1056 times

  • יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם׃ סJerusalem

    yerushalimH3389 →643 times

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

Related verses

12 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Exodus 1:19The midwives answered Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before a midwife arrives.”4 works1 Samuel 27:11–12David did not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, for he said, “Otherwise they will report us, saying, ‘This is what David did.’” And this was David’s custom the whole time he lived in Philistine territory.2 works1 Samuel 21:2“The king has given me a mission,” David replied. “He told me no one is to know about the mission or charge. And I have directed my young men to meet me at a certain place.2 works1 Samuel 19:12–17So Michal lowered David from the window, and he ran away and escaped.2 worksJoshua 2:22–23So the spies went out into the hill country and stayed there three days, until their pursuers had returned without finding them, having searched all along the road.2 worksJoshua 2:3–5So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab and said, “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, for they have come to spy out the whole land.”2 works
The other 6 cross-references, with their words ▾
2 Samuel 15:34But you can thwart the counsel of Ahithophel for me if you return to the city and say to Absalom: ‘I will be your servant, my king; in the past I was your father’s servant, but now I will be your servant.’2 works1 Chronicles 6:8Ahitub was the father of Zadok, Zadok was the father of Ahimaaz,2 works1 Samuel 19:14When Saul sent the messengers to seize David, Michal said, “He is ill.”2 works1 Samuel 19:17And Saul said to Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this? You sent my enemy away and he has escaped!” Michal replied, “He said to me, ‘Help me get away, or I will kill you!’”2 works1 Samuel 27:10who would ask him, “What have you raided today?” And David would reply, “The Negev of Judah,” or “The Negev of Jerahmeel,” or “The Negev of the Kenites.”2 worksJudges 4:20“Stand at the entrance to the tent,” he said, “and if anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say, ‘No.’”2 works

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

    Exodus 1:19

    The midwives answered Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before a midwife arrives.”

    it leads to

    • 2 Samuel 17:19–20

      Then the man’s wife took a covering and spread it over the mouth of the well, scattering grain over it so nobody would know a thing.

    • Joshua 2:4–24

      But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I did not know where they had come from.

    • 1 Samuel 21:2

      “The king has given me a mission,” David replied. “He told me no one is to know about the mission or charge. And I have directed my young men to meet me at a…

  • Through

    1 Samuel 21:2

    “The king has given me a mission,” David replied. “He told me no one is to know about the mission or charge. And I have directed my young men to meet me at a…

    it leads to

    • Colossians 3:9

      Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices,

    • Galatians 2:12

      For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself, for fear of those in the circumcision group.

    • 1 Samuel 19:17

      And Saul said to Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this? You sent my enemy away and he has escaped!” Michal replied, “He said to me, ‘Help me get away, or I will…

    • Genesis 27:20

      But Isaac asked his son, “How did you ever find it so quickly, my son?” “Because the LORD your God brought it to me,” he replied.

    • Genesis 27:24

      Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he replied, “I am.”

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); John Cassian, CONFERENCE 17.19.6-7; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 2 Samuel 17 →