2 Samuel 19:20
in 2 Samuel 19For your servant knows that I have sinned, so here I am today as the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For thy servant doth know that I have sinned: therefore, behold, I am come this day the first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.
KJV
For thy servant doth know that I have sinned: therefore, behold, I am come the first this day of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.
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This verse in 2 Samuel 19
Commentary
7 notes on this verseFor thy servant doth know that I have sinned - This was all he could do; his subsequent conduct alone could prove his sincerity. On such an avowal as this David could not but grant him his life.
This site's exposition
Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me
on 2 Samuel 19:19-20
Shimei names his own sin before anyone can accuse him of it again, come the first this day of all the house of Joseph to meet the king he had cursed at Bahurim. Clarke observes that confession was the only ground available to him, and only his conduct afterward could prove it sincere. The house of Joseph title marks him a leading man among the northern tribes, not merely a private grudge holder acting alone.
This site's exposition
all the house of Joseph
Albert Barnes notes this is the first time the house of Joseph names all ten northern tribes, an odd title from a Benjamite. Coming first gave his submission the weight of the north. Matthew Henry notes his plain admission of sin, made before his own thousand men.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): He fell down before the king, as a penitent, as a supplicant; and, that he might be thought sincere, he did it publicly before all David's servants, and his friends the men of Judah, yea, and before his own thousand. The offence was public, therefore the submission ought to be so. He owns his crime: Thy servant doth know that I have sinned.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
For thy servant doth know that I have sinned,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Expressing the deepest regret for his former outrageous conduct, he was pardoned on the spot; and although the son of Zeruiah urged the expediency of making this chief a public example, his officiousness was repulsed by David with magnanimity, and with the greater confidence that he felt himself now re-established in the kingdom (see on 1Ki 2:8).
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
This is the first time that the “house of Joseph,” or “Joseph,” stands for all the ten tribes of which Ephraim was the head and leader. While Saul of Benjamin was king, or while Mahanaim was the capital of his son’s kingdom, it was not natural so to name them, nor does it seem so at first sight in the mouth of Shimei the Benjamite. But it is very possible that he used the phrase for the purpose of exculpating himself and his own tribe from having taken the initiative in the rebellion, anti of insinuating that they were drawn away by the preponderating influence of the great house of Joseph. On the other hand, the phrase may be an indication that the passage was written after the separation of the kingdom of Israel, when the phrase was a common one.
The words behind it
17 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֚י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יָדַ֣ע | yada' | he knows | H3045 → | 945 times |
| עַבְדְּךָ֔ | ʾavdekha | servant your | H5650 → | 799 times |
| כִּ֖י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אֲנִ֣י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| חָטָ֑אתִי | chatati | I have sinned | H2398 → | 238 times |
| וְהִנֵּֽה־ | vehineh- | and here! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| בָ֣אתִי | vati | I have come | H935 → | 2568 times |
| הַיּ֗וֹם | haiyom | this day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| רִאשׁוֹן֙ | rishon | first | H7223 → | 182 times |
| לְכָל־ | lekhol | of all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| בֵּ֣ית | beit | [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| יוֹסֵ֔ף | yosef | Joseph | H3130 → | |
| לָרֶ֕דֶת | laredet | to come down | H3381 → | 381 times |
| לִקְרַ֖את | likrat | to meet | H7122 → | 139 times |
| אֲדֹנִ֥י | ʾadoni | lord my | H113 → | 333 times |
| הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃ ס | hamelekh | the king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
כִּ֚יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
יָדַ֣עhe knows
yada'H3045 →945 times
עַבְדְּךָ֔servant your
ʾavdekhaH5650 →799 times
כִּ֖יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
אֲנִ֣יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
חָטָ֑אתִיI have sinned
chatatiH2398 →238 times
וְהִנֵּֽה־and here!
vehineh-H2009 →843 times
בָ֣אתִיI have come
vatiH935 →2568 times
הַיּ֗וֹםthis day
haiyomH3117 →2304 times
רִאשׁוֹן֙first
rishonH7223 →182 times
לְכָל־of all
lekholH3605 →5413 times
בֵּ֣ית[the] house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
יוֹסֵ֔ףJoseph
yosefH3130 →
לָרֶ֕דֶתto come down
laredetH3381 →381 times
לִקְרַ֖אתto meet
likratH7122 →139 times
אֲדֹנִ֥יlord my
ʾadoniH113 →333 times
הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃ סthe king
hamelekhH4428 →2525 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Hosea 5:15Then I will return to My place until they admit their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 26:16
O LORD, they sought You in their distress; when You disciplined them, they poured out a quiet prayer.
- Jeremiah 29:12–14
Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
- Deuteronomy 4:29–31
But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
- Psalms 78:34
When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.
- Psalms 50:15
Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”
- Isaiah 26:16
Through
Jeremiah 22:23O inhabitant of Lebanon, nestled in the cedars, how you will groan when pangs of anguish come upon you, agony like a woman in labor.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 6:24
We have heard the report; our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor.
- Jeremiah 6:24
Through
Genesis 48:20So that day Jacob blessed them and said: “By you shall Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.
it leads to
- Ruth 4:11–12
“We are witnesses,” said the elders and all the people at the gate. “May the LORD make the woman entering your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel.…
- Ruth 4:11–12
Through
2 Samuel 19:9And all the people throughout the tribes of Israel were arguing, “The king rescued us from the hand of our enemies and delivered us from the hand of the Philistines, but now he has…
it leads to
- 2 Samuel 15:14
And David said to all the servants with him in Jerusalem, “Arise and let us flee, or we will not escape from Absalom! We must leave quickly, or he will soon overtake us, heap…
- 2 Samuel 15:14
About 2 Samuel
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; 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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.