Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

2 Samuel 2:20

in 2 Samuel 2

And Abner glanced back and said, “Is that you, Asahel?” “It is,” Asahel replied.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Then Abner looked behind him, and said, Is it thou, Asahel? And he answered, It is I.

KJV

Then Abner looked behind him, and said, Art thou Asahel? And he answered, I am.

⋯

This verse in 2 Samuel 2

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Asahel pursued after Abner--To gain the general's armor was deemed the grandest trophy. Asahel, ambitious of securing Abner's, had outstripped all other pursuers, and was fast gaining on the retreating commander. Abner, conscious of possessing more physical power, and unwilling that there should be "blood" between himself and Joab, Asahel's brother, twice urged him to desist.

This site's exposition

Art thou Asahel

on 2 Samuel 2:20-23

Abner asks Asahel by name to turn aside and take a lesser man's armor rather than force a fight he does not want, twice, and twice Asahel refuses. Abner kills him with the hinder end of his own spear, driving the butt through his body rather than the point, which the older writers read as a mark of reluctance rather than skill. The debt is not settled here; Joab collects it in the next chapter, and a killing that opens as self-defense becomes the ground for a murder among brothers.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Then Abner looked behind him,.... Perceiving one at his heels, and making haste up to him. And said, art thou Asahel? for it seems he knew him personally, being well acquainted with his family: and he answered, I am; so that they were very near to each other, as to discourse together, and be heard and understood by each other.

The words behind it

9 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.

  • וַיִּ֤פֶןand he turned

    vaiyifenH6437 →135 times

  • אַבְנֵר֙Abner

    ʾavnerH74 →63 times

  • אַֽחֲרָ֔יוbehind him

    ʾacharavH310 →715 times

  • וַיֹּ֕אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • הַאַתָּ֥ה¿ you

    haatahH859 →1094 times

  • זֶ֖ה[is] this

    zehH2088 →1180 times

  • עֲשָׂהאֵ֑לO Asahel

    ʾasahelH6214 →24 times

  • וַיֹּ֖אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • אָנֹֽכִי׃I

    ʾanokhiH595 →359 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 Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel.

Read on in 2 Samuel 2 →