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2 Samuel 19:12

in 2 Samuel 19

You are my brothers, my own flesh and blood. So why should you be the last to restore the king?’

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Ye are my brethren, ye are my bone and my flesh: wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king?

KJV

Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh: wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king?

This verse in 2 Samuel 19

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

Say to the elders of Judah

on 2 Samuel 19:11-12

David sends word through Zadok and Abiathar, asking the elders of Judah why they should be the last to restore the king to his palace. Judah had joined the revolt and now hesitated to welcome him back. He calls them “my brothers, my own flesh and blood”.

This site's exposition

my own flesh and blood

John Gill hears in the kinship words a promise of gentle treatment, since Judah had a hand in the conspiracy and feared punishment. Matthew Henry reads the question as an appeal to the rank of the royal tribe. Judah had crowned Absalom at Hebron.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Where is now the celebrated bravery of that royal tribe? Where is its loyalty?" Note, We should be stirred up to that which is great and good by the examples both of our ancestors and of our neighbours, and by the consideration of our rank.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes

Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh,.... Being of the same tribe, and therefore he should deal gently with them, as if they were parts of his body; and not be severe upon them, for the hand they had in the conspiracy, as they might fear: and wherefore then are ye the last to bring the king back? since they were so nearly related to him, and he so ready to forgive them.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

While the messages of all Yisroel are coming to the king. All this was part of the message he was charged to bring [to the elders].
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Samuel 19:12:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

11 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.

  • אַחַ֣י[are] brothers my

    ʾachaiH251 →630 times

  • אַתֶּ֔םyou

    ʾatemH859 →1094 times

  • עַצְמִ֥י[are] bone my

    ʾatzmiH6106 →126 times

  • וּבְשָׂרִ֖יand flesh my

    uvesariH1320 →270 times

  • אַתֶּ֑םyou

    ʾatemH859 →1094 times

  • וְלָ֧מָּהand <to> why?

    velamahH4100 →752 times

  • תִהְי֛וּwill you be

    tihyuH1961 →3559 times

  • אַחֲרֹנִ֖ים[the] last [people]

    ʾacharonimH314 →51 times

  • לְהָשִׁ֥יבto bring back

    lehashivH7725 →1056 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃the king

    hamelekhH4428 →2525 times

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

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

    Genesis 2:23

    And the man said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man she was taken.”

    it leads to

    • Ephesians 5:28–30

      In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

    • Genesis 29:14

      Then Laban declared, “You are indeed my own flesh and blood.” After Jacob had stayed with him a month,

      Reached by 3 separate paths from here.

    • 1 Corinthians 11:8–9

      For man did not come from woman, but woman from man.

    • 2 Samuel 5:1

      Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood.

  • Through

    Ephesians 5:30

    For we are members of His body.

    it leads to

    • 1 Corinthians 6:15

      Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!

    • 1 Corinthians 12:12–27

      The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ.

    • Romans 12:5

      so in Christ we who are many are one body, and each member belongs to one another.

  • Through

    2 Samuel 5:1

    Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood.

    it leads to

    • 1 Chronicles 11:1–3

      Then all Israel came together to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About 2 Samuel

David Mourns the Death of Absalom — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
David Mourns the Death of Absalom — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.