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2 Samuel 20:12

in 2 Samuel 20

But Amasa wallowed in his blood in the middle of the road, and when the man saw that all the troops were stopping there, he dragged the body off the road into a field and threw a garment over it.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a garment over him, when he saw that every one that came by him stood still.

KJV

And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a cloth upon him, when he saw that every one that came by him stood still.

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This verse in 2 Samuel 20

Commentary

8 notes on this verse

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Stood still - Wondering at the spectacle, and enquiring into the author and occasion of it. Removed - Perceiving, that it both incensed them against Joab and hindered the king's service. Cast a cloth upon him - But the covering of blood with a cloth cannot stop its cry to God for vengeance.

This site's exposition

he that is for David, let him go after Joab

on 2 Samuel 20:11-13

One of Joab's men turns the murder into a loyalty test on the spot, pairing Joab's name with David's so that following Joab reads as following the king. Amasa's own body still lies in the highway, and the army stops in its tracks at the sight until someone drags him into a field and throws a cloth over him. Only once the corpse is out of view does the column move again, all of Amasa's newly gathered men included, after the man who killed him.

This site's exposition

threw a garment over it

Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the road, and Adam Clarke thinks he did not die at once. Matthew Henry and John Wesley note that a garment thrown over the body could hide it from the troops and still leave its cry before God, as with Abel at Genesis 4:10. Albert Barnes thinks the stopping nearly became a refusal.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Wicked men think themselves safe in their wickedness if they can but conceal it from the eye of the world: if it be hidden, it is with them as if it were never done. But the covering of blood with a cloth cannot stop its cry in God's ear for vengeance, or make it the less loud.

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

A soldier conjoined his name with David's, and such a magic spell was in the word "Joab," that all the people "went on"--Amasa's men as well as the rest. The conjunction of these two names is very significant.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Amasa wallowed in blood - It is very likely that Amasa did not immediately die; I have known instances of persons living several hours after their bowels had been shed out.
All the people ... - i. e., the levies which Amanda had been leading to Jerusalem; they were irresolute as to what they should do, and the stoppage at Amasa’s body very nearly led to their refusing to follow Joab. But upon the prompt removal and hiding of the body they passed on and followed Joab, their old captain.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

When he saw that all who passed by it remained there. When the man saw that everyone who passed by it would remain there.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Samuel 20:12:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
When it was withdrawn. When it was removed as we find. "When the impurities are removed from silver", 5 Mishlei:4. and as find "When the wicked are removed from before the king". 6 Ibid,:5.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Samuel 20:13:1, 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. 4 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

26 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.

  • וַעֲמָשָׂ֛אand Amasa

    vaamasa'H6021 →16 times

  • מִתְגֹּלֵ֥ל[was] wallowing

    mitgolelH1556 →

  • בַּדָּ֖םin <the> blood

    badamH1818 →360 times

  • בְּת֣וֹךְin [the] middle of

    betokhH8432 →418 times

  • הַֽמְסִלָּ֑הthe highway

    hamesilahH4546 →27 times

  • וַיַּ֨רְאand he saw

    vaiyar'H7200 →1300 times

  • הָאִ֜ישׁthe man

    haishH376 →1663 times

  • כִּֽי־that

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • עָמַ֣דit stopped

    ʾamadH5975 →521 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הָעָ֗םthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • וַיַּסֵּב֩and he brought round

    vaiyasevH5437 →161 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • עֲמָשָׂ֨אAmasa

    ʾamasa'H6021 →16 times

  • מִן־from

    min-H4480 →1188 times

  • הַֽמְסִלָּ֤הthe highway

    hamsilahH4546 →27 times

  • הַשָּׂדֶה֙the field

    hasadehH7704 →334 times

  • וַיַּשְׁלֵ֤ךְand he threw

    vaiyashlekhH7993 →125 times

  • עָלָיו֙over him

    ʾalavH5921 →5755 times

  • בֶּ֔גֶדa garment

    begedH899 →217 times

  • כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר<just> when

    kaasherH834 →5497 times

  • רָאָ֔הhe saw

    raahH7200 →1300 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הַבָּ֥אwho came

    haba'H935 →2568 times

  • עָלָ֖יוon him

    ʾalavH5921 →5755 times

  • וְעָמָֽד׃and he stopped

    veamadH5975 →521 times

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

Related verses

4 in all, six open

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 55:23

    But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.

    it leads to

    • Proverbs 10:27

      The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be cut short.

    • Psalms 5:6

      You destroy those who tell lies; the LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.

    • Job 15:32

      It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not flourish.

  • Through

    Psalms 9:16

    The LORD is known by the justice He brings; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. Higgaion Selah

    it leads to

    • Exodus 7:5

      And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”

    • Proverbs 12:13

      An evil man is trapped by his rebellious speech, but a righteous man escapes from trouble.

    • Exodus 14:31

      When Israel saw the great power that the LORD had exercised over the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and believed in Him and in His servant Moses.

  • Through

    2 Samuel 17:25

    Absalom had appointed Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra, the Ishmaelite who had married Abigail, the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah…

    it leads to

    • 2 Samuel 19:13

      And say to Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my flesh and blood? May God punish me, and ever so severely, if from this time you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!’”

    • 1 Chronicles 2:13

      Jesse was the father of Eliab his firstborn; Abinadab was born second, Shimea third,

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.
2 Samuel: the study guide →Read 2 Samuel 20 →

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 and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.

Read on in 2 Samuel 20 →