Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

2 Samuel 3:14

in 2 Samuel 3

Then David sent messengers to say to Ish-bosheth son of Saul, “Give me back my wife, Michal, whom I betrothed to myself for a hundred Philistine foreskins.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, saying, Deliver me my wife Michal, whom I betrothed to me for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.

KJV

And David sent messengers to Ish–bosheth Saul’s son, saying, Deliver me my wife Michal, which I espoused to me for an hundred foreskins of the Philistines.

⋯

This verse in 2 Samuel 3

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Deliver me my wife - It is supposed that he meant to screen Abner; and to prevent that violence which he might have used in carrying off Michal.

This site's exposition

Make thy league with me

on 2 Samuel 3:12-14

Abner opens the negotiation with whose is the land, offering David the whole kingdom's allegiance, and Henry reads the providence of it without excusing the man: God can make those serviceable to his purpose who have no sincere love for it. David's one condition answers with a demand of his own, the return of Michal, and he prices her by the very sum he once paid Saul for her, an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, the bride price of 1 Samuel 18:25-27 named again as a legal claim rather than a memory.

This site's exposition

Give me back my wife, Michal

Albert Barnes notes that David sent to Ish-bosheth while the covenant with Abner was still secret. The weak king had to act at Abner’s word. Augustine reads David taking Michal back as a picture of forgiveness under the new covenant.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

ADULTEROUS MARRIAGES 5 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

It appears harsh to you that after adultery, spouse should be reconciled to spouse. If faith is present, it will not be harsh. Why do we still regard as adulterers those who we believe have either been cleansed by baptism or have been healed by penance? Under the old law of God, no sacrifices wiped away these crimes, which, without a doubt, are cleansed by the blood of the new covenant. Therefore, in former times, it was forbidden in every way to take back to oneself a woman sullied by another man, although David, as a figure of the New Testament, took back, without any hesitation, the daughter of Saul, whom the father of the same woman had given to another after her separation from David. But now, afterwards, Christ says to the adulteress, "Neither will I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on sin no more." Who fails to understand that it is the duty of the husband to forgive what he knows the Lord of both has forgiven, and that he should not now call her an adulteress whose sin he believes to have been eradicated by the mercy of God as a result of her penance?

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), pleading that he had purchased her at a dear rate, and she was wrongfully taken from him. Ish-bosheth durst not deny his demand, now that he had not Abner to stand by him, but took her from Phaltiel, to whom Saul had married her (

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

And David sent messengers to Ishbosheth, Saul's son,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Sent messengers to Ish-bosheth - Not to Abner, for the league between David and Abner was a profound secret, but to Ish-bosheth who, David knew, must act, feeble as he was, at Abner’s dictation. Abner’s first act of overt allegiance to David was thus done at Ish-bosheth’s bidding; and the effect of the humiliation laid upon Ish-bosheth in exposing his weakness to his own subjects, and so shaking their allegiance to him, was such that Abner needed to use no more disguise.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

From [her] man. Yonasan translated "from the company of her husband."
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Samuel 3:15:1, 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

20 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.

  • וַיִּשְׁלַ֤חand he sent

    vaiyishlachH7971 →845 times

  • דָּוִד֙David

    davidH1732 →999 times

  • מַלְאָכִ֔יםmessengers

    malakhimH4397 →213 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • אִֽישׁ־Ish-

    ʾish-H378 →22 times

  • בֹּ֥שֶׁתbosheth

    boshetH378 →22 times

  • בֶּן־[the] son of

    ben-H1121 →4930 times

  • שָׁא֖וּלSaul

    shaulH7586 →402 times

  • לֵאמֹ֑ר<to> saying

    lemorH559 →5305 times

  • תְּנָ֤הgive !

    tenahH5414 →2011 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • אִשְׁתִּי֙wife my

    ʾishtiH802 →781 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • מִיכַ֔לMichal

    mikhalH4324 →18 times

  • אֲשֶׁר֙whom

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • אֵרַ֣שְׂתִּיI betrothed

    ʾerastiH781 →

  • לִ֔יto <the> myself

    li

  • בְּמֵאָ֖הfor a hundred

    bemeahH3967 →581 times

  • עָרְל֥וֹתforeskins of

    arelotH6190 →

  • פְּלִשְׁתִּֽים׃Philistines

    pelishtimH6430 →287 times

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

Related verses

8 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

1 Samuel 18:27David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented them as payment in full to become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to David in marriage.6 works2 Samuel 6:16As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart.6 works1 Samuel 18:25Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king desires no other dowry but a hundred Philistine foreskins as revenge on his enemies.’” But Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.5 works2 Samuel 2:10Saul’s son Ish-bosheth was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned for two years. The house of Judah, however, followed David.3 works1 Samuel 25:44But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.3 worksGenesis 29:18Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”3 works
The other 2 cross-references, with their words ▾
Genesis 17:11You are to circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and this will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.2 worksGenesis 34:12Demand a high dowry and an expensive gift, and I will give you whatever you ask. Only give me the girl as my wife!”2 works

The walk

7 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 18:25

    Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king desires no other dowry but a hundred Philistine foreskins as revenge on his enemies.’” But Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 34:12

      Demand a high dowry and an expensive gift, and I will give you whatever you ask. Only give me the girl as my wife!”

    • 1 Samuel 18:17

      Then Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage. Only be valiant for me and fight the LORD’s battles.” But Saul was thinking, “I…

    • 1 Samuel 14:24

      Now the men of Israel were in distress that day, for Saul had placed the troops under an oath, saying, “Cursed is the man who eats any food before evening, before I have taken…

    • 1 Samuel 17:26

      David asked the men who were standing with him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he…

    • 2 Samuel 17:8–11

      He continued, “You know your father and his men. They are mighty men, and as fierce as a wild bear robbed of her cubs. Moreover, your father is a man of war who will…

  • Through

    1 Samuel 18:27

    David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented them as payment in full to become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to…

    it leads to

    • Judges 14:19

      Then the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave their clothes to those who had solved the…

    • 1 Samuel 18:13

      Therefore Saul sent David away and gave him command of a thousand men. David led the troops out to battle and back,

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

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 3 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Adulterous Marriages 5; Augustine of Hippo, ADULTEROUS MARRIAGES 5; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 2 Samuel 3 →