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2 Samuel 14:32

in 2 Samuel 14

“Look,” said Absalom, “I sent for you and said, ‘Come here. I want to send you to the king to ask: Why have I come back from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there.’ So now, let me see the king’s face, and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent unto thee, saying, Come hither, that I may send thee to the king, to say, Wherefore am I come from Geshur? it were better for me to be there still. Now therefore let me see the king’s face; and if there be iniquity in me, let him kill me.

KJV

And Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent unto thee, saying, Come hither, that I may send thee to the king, to say, Wherefore am I come from Geshur? it had been good for me to have been there still: now therefore let me see the king’s face; and if there be any iniquity in me, let him kill me.

This verse in 2 Samuel 14

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

He denies his own crimes, though most notorious, and will not own that there was any iniquity in him, insinuating that therefore he had been wronged in the rebuke he had been under. He defies the king's justice: "Let him kill me, if he can find in his heart," knowing he loved him too well to do it.

This site's exposition

Wherefore have thy servants set my field on fire

on 2 Samuel 14:31-33

Absalom protests his own innocence to Joab, it had been good for me to have been there still, and demands the king's face on his own terms, let him kill me if I am guilty. Joab carries the demand, and David answers with a kiss, the physical seal of reconciliation after three years of exile and two more years of silence. The chapter closes on the gesture rather than on any change in Absalom's heart, and the sword promised at 12:10 will fall from that same unaddressed heart within a few chapters.

This site's exposition

let him kill me

Matthew Henry reads the offer as a dare, made by a son who knew his father loved him too much to act on it. John Wesley sees Absalom now standing on his own justification as though the killing deserved no death. He treats the exile itself as the wrong.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

5 And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is dead. 6 And thy handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and there was none to part them, but the one smote the other, and slew him.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

Thus he insinuates himself into his father's affections, by pretending such respect and love to him It seems that by this time Absalom having so far recovered his father's favour, began to grow upon him, and take so much confidence as to stand upon his own justification, as if what he had done, had been no iniquity, at least not such as to deserve death.
And Absalom answered Joab,....

The words behind it

32 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.

  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH5595305 times

  • אַבְשָׁל֣וֹםAbsalom

    ʾavshalomH53110 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • יוֹאָ֡בJoab

    yoavH3097144 times

  • הִנֵּ֣הhere!

    hinehH2009843 times

  • שָׁלַ֣חְתִּיI sent

    shalachtiH7971845 times

  • אֵלֶ֣יךָ׀to you

    ʾeleikhaH4135510 times

  • לֵאמֹ֡ר<to> saying

    lemorH5595305 times

  • בֹּ֣אcome

    bo'H9352568 times

  • הֵ֠נָּהhere

    henahH200849 times

  • וְאֶשְׁלְחָה֩so let me send

    veeshlechahH7971845 times

  • אֹתְךָ֨<obj.> you

    ʾotekhaH85310935 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • הַמֶּ֜לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH44282525 times

  • לֵאמֹ֗ר<to> saying

    lemorH5595305 times

  • לָ֤מָּה<to> why?

    lamahH4100752 times

  • בָּ֙אתִי֙have I come

    batiH9352568 times

  • מִגְּשׁ֔וּרfrom Geshur

    migeshurH16509 times

  • ט֥וֹב[was] good

    tovH2896538 times

  • לִ֖יfor <the> me

    li

  • עֹ֣דstill

    ʾodH5750490 times

  • אֲנִי־I

    ʾani-H589874 times

  • שָׁ֑ם[was] there

    shamH8033834 times

  • וְעַתָּ֗הand therefore

    veatahH6258433 times

  • אֶרְאֶה֙let me see

    ʾerehH72001300 times

  • פְּנֵ֣י[the] face of

    peneiH64402123 times

  • הַמֶּ֔לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH44282525 times

  • וְאִם־and if

    veim-H5181069 times

  • יֶשׁ־there

    yesh-H3426140 times

  • בִּ֥יin <the> me

    bi

  • עָוֹ֖ן[is] iniquity

    ʾavonH5771233 times

  • וֶהֱמִתָֽנִי׃and he will kill me

    vehemitaniH4191839 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

    Proverbs 28:13

    He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.

    it leads to

    • 1 John 1:8–10

      If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

    • Psalms 32:3–5

      When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.

    • Job 31:33

      if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,

    • Luke 15:18–24

      I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

    • Jeremiah 3:12–13

      Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will no longer look on you with anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will not be…

  • Through

    Romans 3:19

    Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

    it leads to

    • Galatians 3:10

      All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”

    • Galatians 3:22–23

      But the Scripture pronounces all things confined by sin, so that by faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be given to those who believe.

    • Romans 2:12–18

      All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.

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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.