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2 Samuel 6:9

in 2 Samuel 6

That day David feared the LORD and asked, “How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And David was afraid of Jehovah that day; and he said, How shall the ark of Jehovah come unto me?

KJV

And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?

This verse in 2 Samuel 6

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

That day David feared the LORD

on 2 Samuel 6:9-11

David fears the LORD and asks, “How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?” For three months he leaves it in the house of Obed-edom. The LORD blesses Obed-edom's house, and 1 Chronicles 15:13 keeps David's word: “we did not consult Him about the proper order”.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

6 ) and I will do you no hurt. Or this may be looked upon as a good use which David made of this tremendous judgment. He did not say, "Surely Uzzah was a sinner above all men, because he suffered such things," but is concerned for himself, as one conscious, not only of his own unworthiness of God's favour, but his obnoxiousness to God's displeasure.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens

And David was afraid of the Lord that day,....

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

Oveid Edom. He was a Levite as it is wriiten in Divrei Hayomim (I,:24) and he was one of the gatekeepers. 8 Of the Bais HaMikdosh.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Samuel 6:10:1, 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. 5 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

12 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.

  • וַיִּרָ֥אand he feared

    vaiyira'H3372 →315 times

  • דָוִ֛דDavid

    davidH1732 →999 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • יְהוָ֖הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • בַּיּ֣וֹםon the day

    baiyomH3117 →2304 times

  • הַה֑וּא<the> that

    hahu'H1931 →1879 times

  • וַיֹּ֕אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • אֵ֛יךְhow?

    ʾeikhH349 →82 times

  • יָב֥וֹאwill it come

    yavo'H935 →2568 times

  • אֵלַ֖יto me

    ʾelaiH413 →5510 times

  • אֲר֥וֹן[the] ark of

    ʾaronH727 →202 times

  • יְהוָֽה׃Yahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 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

    Psalms 119:120

    My flesh trembles in awe of You; I stand in fear of Your judgments.

    it leads to

    • Habakkuk 3:16

      I heard and trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Decay entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress to come upon the…

    • Daniel 10:8–11

      So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision. No strength remained in me; my face grew deathly pale, and I was powerless.

    • Hebrews 12:21

      The sight was so terrifying that even Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”

    • Hebrews 12:28–29

      Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.

    • Philippians 2:12

      Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

  • Through

    1 Samuel 6:20

    The men of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God? To whom should the ark go up from here?”

    it leads to

    • Malachi 3:2

      But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.

    • Revelation 6:17

      For the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?”

    • Luke 8:37

      Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to depart from them, because great fear had taken hold of them. So He got into the boat and started back.

Where this verse is studied

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.

This page draws on John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and W. G. Blaikie, The Second Book of Samuel (Expositor's Bible).