1 Kings 2:33

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

So shall their blood return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his seed forever: but to David, and to his seed, and to his house, and to his throne, shall there be peace for ever from Yahweh.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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וּלְכִסְא֜וֹ

kiççêʼ

H3678

“and · to/for · throne · his”

Conjunction + Preposition + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 135× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 41:40

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H3680

TWOT: 1007

seat (of honour), throne, seat, stool - seat (of honour), throne - royal dignity, authority, power (figuratively)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

17: words
14: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
13 nouns
2 prepositions

Verb forms

וְשָׁ֤בוּ Qal · Sequential Perfect
יִהְיֶ֥ה Qal · Imperfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

בְּרֹ֣אשׁ head H7218 ×2
זַרְע֖וֹ seed H2233 ×2
לְעֹלָ֑ם forever H5769 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 41 words from the Hebrew and 38 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to 1 Kings 2:33 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

1 Kings 2:32 Yahweh will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David didn't know it, [to wit], Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah.
Matthew 27:25 All the people answered, "May his blood be on us, and on our children!"
2 Samuel 3:28–29 Afterward, when David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are guiltless before Yahweh forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner:
2 Kings 5:27 The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave to you, and to your seed forever. He went out from his presence a leper [as white] as snow.
Psalms 89:29 I will also make his seed endure forever, And his throne as the days of heaven.
Psalms 89:36–37 His seed will endure forever, His throne like the sun before me.
Psalms 101:8 Morning by morning, I will destroy all the wicked of the land; To cut off all the workers of iniquity from Yahweh's city.
Psalms 109:6–15 Set a wicked man over him. Let an adversary stand at his right hand.

Psalms 132:12 If your children will keep my covenant, My testimony that I will teach them, Their children also will sit on your throne forevermore."
Proverbs 25:5 Take away the wicked from the king's presence, And his throne will be established in righteousness.
Isaiah 9:6–7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be on his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 11:1–9 There shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots shall bear fruit.
Luke 1:31–33 Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and will call his name 'Jesus.'
Luke 2:14 "Glory to God in the highest, On earth peace, good will toward men."

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew 1 Kings 2:33 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְשָׁ֤בוּ דְמֵיהֶם֙ בְּרֹ֣אשׁ יוֹאָ֔ב וּבְרֹ֥אשׁ זַרְע֖וֹ לְעֹלָ֑ם וּלְדָוִ֡ד וּ֠לְזַרְעוֹ וּלְבֵית֨וֹ וּלְכִסְא֜וֹ יִהְיֶ֥ה שָׁל֛וֹם עַד עוֹלָ֖ם מֵעִ֥ם יְהוָֽה

So shall their blood return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his seed forever: but to David, and to his seed, and to his house, and to his throne, shall there be peace for ever from Yahweh.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 1 Kings 2:33 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ἐπιστρέφω ὁ αἷμα αὐτός εἰς κεφαλή αὐτός καί εἰς κεφαλή ὁ σπέρμα αὐτός εἰς ὁ αἰών καί ὁ δαυίδ καί ὁ σπέρμα αὐτός καί ὁ οἶκος αὐτός καί ὁ θρόνος αὐτός γίγνομαι εἰρήνη ἕως αἰών παρά κύριος

And their blood is returned upon his head, and upon the head of his seed for ever: but to David, and his seed, and his house, and his throne, may there be peace for ever from the Lord.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, The Pulpit Commentary discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

וִיתוּבוּן דְמֵיהוֹן בְּרֵישׁ יוֹאָב וּבְרֵישׁ בְּנוֹהִי עַד עַלְמָא וּלְדָוִד וּלְזַרְעֵיהּ וּלְבֵיתֵיהּ וּלְכוּרְסֵיהּ יְהֵא שְׁלָמָא עַד עַלְמָא מִן קֳדָם יְיָ:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on 1 Kings 2:33 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

1Ki 2:33 Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed for ever: but upon David, and upon his seed, and upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there be peace for ever from the LORD.

Ver. 33. And upon the head of his seed for ever.] See 2Sa 3:29. {See Trapp on "2Sa 3:29"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Joab shall be justly punished for the blood that he hath cruelly shed.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

Their blood shall . . . return upon the head of Joab, &c.--A reference is here made to the curse publicly and solemnly pronounced by King David (Sa2 3:28-29).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

33. and upon the head of his seed for ever] Solomon has in mind here the words of his father at the time of Abner’s murder (2Sa_3:29). David’s prayer then was “let the blood rest on the head of Joab and on all his father’s house.”

shall there be peace for ever] The law of Moses ordained that the shedder of innocent blood should not go unpunished (Deu_19:13), and it is said ‘Thine eye shall not pity him … that it may go well with thee.’ Hence there was hope of peace after the murderer was punished.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up,.... To Gibeon, which was a great high place, Kg1 3:4;

and fell upon him, and slew him; at the altar; or, dragging him from it at some distance, drew his sword and slew him:

and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness; not in his dwelling house strictly taken, but in a garden or field adjoining to it, which house in the wilderness; not a waste place uninhabited; for, as Kimchi observes, this word sometimes signifies a place uninhabited, though not tilled, but left for pasture of cattle; and in such a place might Joab's house be, at least his country house, where he might have a farm, and fields, and cattle, as it is plain he had, Sa2 14:30.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Upon the head of his seed - Compare the margin reference. Nothing further is heard of Joab’s descendants in the history.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Upon the head of his seed for ever; either as long as he shall have a posterity, or for a long time, as that phrase is commonly used; but in and by this execution of justice upon him, and such malefactors, my throne shall be established, and God will bless me and mine with peace and prosperity.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

33. Upon… his seed for ever — So the bitter curse of David had long before predicted. See 2Sa_3:29. On that archaic jurisprudence which visited the sins of the fathers upon the children, see note on Jos_7:24.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Josh, and upon the head of his seed according to Exo_20:5 Exo_34:7; Lev_20:5 Lev_26:39. There is an obvious reference to David"s curse 2Sa_3:29, which thoroughly agreed with the spirit of the Old Testament in comprehending the children in its sweep. And it is to be noticed that the sins of the fathers are still, by the operation of natural laws, and by the constitution and laws of society, visited upon the children, to the third and fourth generation forever: but upon Heb. to David, and upon his seed, and upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there be or be," optative; LXX genoito peace i.e., prosperity forever from the Lord. So persuaded is Solomon that he is fulfilling a religious duty in decreeing the execution of Joab; so little thought has he of malice, revenge, or any baser motive, that he counts on the Divine blessing m perpetuity for the deed.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

1 Kings, in the Historical, opens this verse with 17 words (14 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is kiççêʼ (“throne”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word kiççêʼ carries the sense “throne.” How does it shape the verse?
How does 1 Kings 2:32, which shares this passage’s theme, read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “head” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
«וְשָׁ֤בוּ» is a Qal Sequential Perfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 10 words in this verse.
“head” occurs 2× in this single verse.
14 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 17 words in this verse.