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2 Samuel 2:15

in 2 Samuel 2

So they got up and were counted off—twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth son of Saul, and twelve for David.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Then they arose and went over by number: twelve for Benjamin, and for Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David.

KJV

Then there arose and went over by number twelve of Benjamin, which pertained to Ish–bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David.

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This verse in 2 Samuel 2

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
Then there arose and went over by number twelve of Benjamin,.... Whom Abner had picked out of that tribe, being his own, and whom he knew to be stout and courageous men, and closely attached to him.

This site's exposition

Let the young men now arise, and play before us

on 2 Samuel 2:14-16

Abner proposes that the young men arise and play before them, and Joab agrees, but the game is twelve against twelve with swords, and every pair falls together, each man's blade in his fellow's side. The place is named Helkath-hazzurim from what happened there, a field remembered by its dead rather than by any victor. What began as a contest between champions ends as mutual slaughter with no survivor on either side of the pairs.

This site's exposition

twelve for Benjamin

The twelve of Abner all came from Benjamin, his own tribe. John Gill reads them as men Abner picked for their courage and their loyalty to him. Matthew Henry reads their eagerness as ambition to please their commander.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), having perhaps been bred up in a foolish ambition thus to serve the humour of their commander-in-chief. But, (2.) However it began, it ended in blood (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host took Ish-bosheth--Here was the establishment of a rival kingdom, which, however, would probably have had no existence but for Abner. Ish-bosheth--or "Esh-baal" (1Ch 8:33;

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

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

The Plain of Swords. Yonasan translates the plain of Killing on account of the swords just like you say [in Scriptures] (Tehilim, 44) 2 Rashi is showing how the word צוּר, sharpness, is used in reference to a sword. "You also turned back the sharpness of his sword."
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Samuel 2:16:1, 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. 7 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

14 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.

  • וַיָּקֻ֖מוּand they arose

    vaiyakumuH6965 →628 times

  • וַיַּעַבְר֣וּand they passed by

    vaiyaavruH5674 →556 times

  • בְמִסְפָּ֑רby number

    vemisparH4557 →134 times

  • שְׁנֵ֧יםtwo [plus]

    sheneimH8147 →768 times

  • עָשָׂ֣רten

    ʾasarH6240 →338 times

  • לְבִנְיָמִ֗ןfor Benjamin

    levinyaminH1144 →166 times

  • וּלְאִ֥ישׁand for Ish-

    uleishH378 →22 times

  • בֹּ֙שֶׁת֙bosheth

    boshetH378 →22 times

  • בֶּן־[the] son of

    ben-H1121 →4930 times

  • שָׁא֔וּלSaul

    shaulH7586 →402 times

  • וּשְׁנֵ֥יםand two [plus]

    usheneimH8147 →768 times

  • עָשָׂ֖רten

    ʾasarH6240 →338 times

  • מֵעַבְדֵ֥יfrom [the] servants of

    meavdeiH5650 →799 times

  • דָוִֽד׃David

    davidH1732 →999 times

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

About 2 Samuel

Combat between Soldiers of Ish-bosheth and David — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Combat between Soldiers of Ish-bosheth and David — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
2 Samuel: the study guide →Read 2 Samuel 2 →

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

Read on in 2 Samuel 2 →