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2 Samuel 20:5

in 2 Samuel 20

So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he took longer than the time allotted him.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

So Amasa went to call the men of Judah together; but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him.

KJV

So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah: but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him.

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This verse in 2 Samuel 20

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
He tarried - The cause of Amasa’s delay is not stated. It may have been the unwillingness of the men of Judah to place themselves under his orders, or it may have been caused by a wavering or hesitation in loyalty. This last is evidently insinuated in 2Sa 20:11, and no doubt this was the pretext, whether grounded in fact or not, by which Joab justified the murder of Amasa before David.

This site's exposition

within three days, and be thou here present

on 2 Samuel 20:4-5

David gives Amasa, Absalom's own general during the rebellion, command of the army he promised him at 19:13, a public bid to fold the rebel tribes back into the kingdom by honoring their commander. Amasa cannot raise the men of Judah on David's schedule, and the text does not say why, whether Judah is slow to serve under him or he is simply slow. The delay leaves a gap David cannot afford with Sheba still loose, and it is the door Joab will use to take back the post David just gave away.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), though the promotion of Amasa, who had been their general under Absalom, was very obliging to them, and a proof of the clemency of David's government. Upon Amasa's delay, Abishai, the brother of Joab, is ordered to take the guards and standing forces, and with them to pursue Sheba (

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

So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah,.... To gather, them together out of their several tribes, and bring them to Jerusalem: but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him: than the three days; whether this was owing to the remissness of Amasa, or the unwillingness of the people to serve under him, who had been Absalom's general in the late rebellion, or not having time sufficient allowed him, is not certain.

The words behind it

10 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.

  • וַיֵּ֥לֶךְand he went

    vaiyelekhH1980 →1546 times

  • עֲמָשָׂ֖אAmasa

    ʾamasa'H6021 →16 times

  • לְהַזְעִ֣יקto summon

    lehazikH2199 →73 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • יְהוּדָ֑הJudah

    yehudahH3063 →819 times

  • וַיּ֕וֹחֶרand he was delayed

    vaiyicherH309 →

  • מִן־from

    min-H4480 →1188 times

  • הַמּוֹעֵ֖דthe appointed time

    hamoedH4150 →

  • אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • יְעָדֽוֹ׃ סhe had appointed for him

    yeadoH3259 →

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

Related verses

3 in all, six open

The walk

6 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

    1 Samuel 13:8

    And Saul waited seven days for the time appointed by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the troops began to desert Saul.

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 10:8

      And you shall go before me to Gilgal, and surely I will come to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Wait seven days until I come to you and show…

  • Through

    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!’”

    it leads to

    • 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…

    • 1 Kings 19:2

      So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like the lives of those…

    • Ruth 1:17

      Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”

    • 2 Samuel 8:16

      Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder;

    • 2 Samuel 3:29–30

      May it whirl over the heads of Joab and the entire house of his father, and may the house of Joab never be without one having a discharge or skin disease, or one who…

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 Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 2 Samuel 20 →