2 Samuel 14:19

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

The king said, Is the hand of Joab with you in all this? The woman answered, As your soul lives, my lord the king, none can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your handmaid;

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

1 first appearance in the Hebrew Bible

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אִ֣שׁ

ʼish

H786

“there is”

Particle, Accusative

Appears 2× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: identical (in origin and formation) with H784

TWOT: 173

there is, there are

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 →

36: words
28: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is אִ֣שׁ there is H786 — appearing just 2 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

אִ֣שׁ there is H786

Shared distinctive vocabulary

אִ֣שׁ there is H786 occurs in 2 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Micah 6:10

Grammatical profile

8 verbs
17 nouns
1 adjective
4 pronouns
1 preposition
2 conjunctions
3 particles

Verb forms

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַתַּ֣עַן Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַתֹּ֡אמֶר Qal · Sequential Imperfect
לְהֵמִ֣ין Hiphil · Infinitive Construct
וּלְהַשְׂמִ֗יל Hiphil · Infinitive Construct
דִּבֶּר֙ Piel · Perfect
צִוָּ֔נִי Piel · Perfect
שָׂ֚ם Qal · Perfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ king H4428 ×3
בְּכָל all H3605 ×3
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר to say H559 ×2
יוֹאָ֛ב Joab H3097 ×2
אֲדֹנִ֨י lord H113 ×2
ה֣וּא he H1931 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 63 words from the Hebrew and 71 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.

In the original languages it is 36 Hebrew tokens and 65 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to 2 Samuel 14:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

2 Samuel 14:3 and go in to the king, and speak on this manner to him. So Joab put the words in her mouth.
1 Samuel 1:26 She said, Oh, my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to Yahweh.
Exodus 4:15 You shall speak to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do.
Numbers 20:17 Please let us pass through your land: we will not pass through field or through vineyard, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go along the king's highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed your border.
Deuteronomy 5:32 You shall observe to do therefore as Yahweh your God has commanded you: you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
Deuteronomy 28:14 and shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
Joshua 1:7 Only be strong and very courageous, to observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded you: don't turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.
1 Samuel 17:55 When Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? Abner said, As your soul lives, O king, I can't tell.

1 Samuel 20:3 David swore moreover, and said, Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes; and he says, Don't let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.
1 Samuel 25:26 Now therefore, my lord, as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, seeing Yahweh has withheld you from blood guiltiness, and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now therefore let your enemies, and those who seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.
2 Samuel 3:27 When Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him quietly, and struck him there in the body, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.
2 Samuel 3:29 let it fall on the head of Joab, and on all his father's house; and let there not fail from the house of Joab one who has an issue, or who is a leper, or who leans on a staff, or who falls by the sword, or who lacks bread.
2 Samuel 3:34 Your hands were not bound, nor your feet put into fetters: As a man falls before the children of iniquity, so did you fall. All the people wept again over him.
2 Samuel 11:11 Uriah said to David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in booths; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open field; shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.
2 Samuel 11:14–15 It happened in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
1 Kings 2:5–6 Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his sash that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.

2 Kings 2:2 Elijah said to Elisha, Please wait here, for Yahweh has sent me as far as Bethel. Elisha said, As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So they went down to Bethel.
Proverbs 4:27 Don't turn to the right hand nor to the left. Remove your foot from evil.
Luke 21:15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to withstand or to contradict.

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 2 Samuel 14:19 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ הֲיַ֥ד יוֹאָ֛ב אִתָּ֖ךְ בְּכָל זֹ֑את וַתַּ֣עַן הָאִשָּׁ֣ה וַתֹּ֡אמֶר חֵֽי נַפְשְׁךָ֩ אֲדֹנִ֨י הַמֶּ֜לֶךְ אִם אִ֣שׁ לְהֵמִ֣ין וּלְהַשְׂמִ֗יל מִכֹּ֤ל אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר֙ אֲדֹנִ֣י הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ כִּֽי עַבְדְּךָ֤ יוֹאָב֙ ה֣וּא צִוָּ֔נִי וְה֗וּא שָׂ֚ם בְּפִ֣י שִׁפְחָֽתְךָ֔ אֵ֥ת כָּל הַדְּבָרִ֖ים הָאֵֽלֶּה

The king said, Is the hand of Joab with you in all this? The woman answered, As your soul lives, my lord the king, none can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your handmaid;

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 2 Samuel 14:19 Septuagint · lemma form

καί εἶπον ὁ βασιλεύς μή ὁ χείρ ιωαβ ἐν πᾶς οὗτος μετά σύ καί εἶπον ὁ γυνή ὁ βασιλεύς ζάω ὁ ψυχή σύ κύριος ἐγώ βασιλεύς εἰ εἰμί εἰς ὁ δεξιός ἤ εἰς ὁ ἀριστερός ἐκ πᾶς ὅς λαλέω ὁ κύριος ἐγώ ὁ βασιλεύς ὅτι ὁ δοῦλος σύ ιωαβ αὐτός ἐντέλλω ἐγώ καί αὐτός τίθημι ἐν ὁ στόμα ὁ δούλη σύ πᾶς ὁ λόγος οὗτος

And the king said, Is not the hand of Joab in all this matter with you? and the woman said to the king, As your soul lives, my lord, O king, there is no turning to the right hand or to the left from all that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab himself charged me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your handmaid.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

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)

וַאֲמַר מַלְכָּא הֲיַד יוֹאָב עִמָךְ בְּכָל דָא וַאֲתִיבַת אִתְּתָא וַאֲמַרַת חַיֵי נַפְשָׁךְ רִבּוֹנִי מַלְכָּא אִם אִית לְמִסְטֵי לְיַמִינָא וְלִסְמָלָא מִכֹּל דִי מַלֵיל רִבּוֹנִי מַלְכָּא אֲרֵי עַבְדָךְ יוֹאָב הוּא פַקְדַנִי וְהוּא שַׁוִי בְּפוּמָא דְאַמְתָךְ יַת כָּל פִּתְגָמַיָא הָאִלֵין:

(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 2 Samuel 14:19 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

2Sa 14:19 And the king said, [Is not] the hand of Joab with thee in all this? And the woman answered and said, [As] thy soul liveth, my lord the king, none can turn to the right hand or to the left from ought that my lord the king hath spoken: for thy servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all these words in the mouth of thine handmaid:

Ver. 19. Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this?] Wert not thou secretly bribed and set on by him? Yes, nothing more sure, quoth she; it is bootless to say otherwise; he hath dictated and directed the whole business. All which Joab did, not out of any great goodwill to Absalom; but merely out of self love, to serve his own turn, now that he saw that David was set upon it to have him home, and that he was likely enough to succeed his father in the kingdom. Now as Joab’s hand was in this whole business, he was the engineer: so is Satan’s hand in the sins of the wicked, and in the troubles of the godly, as is easily discerned.

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

Hast not thou done this by the counsel of Joab.

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

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) The hand of Joab.—The king at once penetrates the woman’s disguise, and sees the stratagem. He knew Joab as “wily and politic and unscrupulous,” but we do not know why he suspected him of this especial interest in Absalom. Perhaps it was only the prosperous courtier’s interest in the heir-apparent, but probably Joab had made the same request before, so that the king recognised its source.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

19. none can turn, &c.] The king’s words hit the mark precisely: he discerns the exact state of the case.

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

And the king said, is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this?.... That is, is not this done by the advice, assistance, and direction of Joab? did not he form this scheme for thee, and direct thee to this method, and put thee upon prosecuting it?

and the woman answered and said, as thy soul liveth, my lord the king; what I am about to say is as sure as thou art alive; though this may be only a wish that he might long live and be happy; nothing is more desirable than thy valuable life:

none can turn to the right hand or the left from ought that my lord the king hath spoken; he has hit upon the truth of the matter; there is no dissimulation or prevarication to be used; the thing cannot be denied; for thy servant Joab he bade me, and put all these words in the mouth of thine handmaid: he sent for me, and laid his commands on me, and directed me what to say to the king, and how to conduct this affair.

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

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Right, but he hath ordered me to say all these things. Joab had given her leave to make this declaration, as he perceived that the king’s heart was already inclined towards Absalom, ver. 1. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this? hast thou not said and done this by Joab’s direction and contrivance?

None can turn to the right hand or to the left from ought that my lord the king hath spoken: as the king is so wise that no man can deceive him by any turnings or windings to the right or left hand, but he quickly searcheth out the truth in every thing; so, (it is a folly to dissemble, or go about to conceal it,) it is even so, thou hast now discovered the truth of this business.

He put all these words in the mouth of thine handmaid, to wit, for the scope and substance of them, but not as to all the expressions which she used, for these were to be varied as the king’s answer gave occasion, which also she did with singular prudence.

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

The Pulpit Commentary

Is the hand of Joab with thee in all this? The "not," inserted by the Authorized Version, must be omitted, as it alters the meaning. The king really was uncertain, and asked dubiously, whereas the Authorized Version admits only of an. affirmative answer. David had seen the general drift of the woman"s meaning, but she had involved it in too much obscurity for him to do more than suspect that she was the mouthpiece of Joab, who was standing by, and whose face may have given signs of a more than ordinary interest in the woman"s narrative. She now frankly acknowledges the truth, but skilfully interweaves much flattery in her answer. And her words are far more expressive than what is given in our versions. Literally they are, By thy life, O my lord the king, there is nothing on the right or on the left of all that my lord the king has spoken.

His words had gone straight to the mark, without the slightest deviation on either side.

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

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Of Joab - Hast thou not said and done this by Joab's direction. Said - It is even so, thou hast discovered the truth. These words - As to the substance of them, but not as to all the expressions; for these were to be varied as the king's answer gave occasion.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

It is impossible. [This is] like "if it is possible" or like "is it possible" So too [we find] "Is there in the house of a wicked person" meaning "is there".

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

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.

2 Samuel, in the Historical, opens this verse with 36 words (28 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʼish (“there is”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word ʼish carries the sense “there is.” How does it shape the verse?
The word “there is” first appears here in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
Micah 6:10 shares the word «there is» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“king” occurs 3× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «וַיֹּ֣אמֶר» is Qal Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

1 word makes its first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
This verse counts 36 Hebrew ↔ 65 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 16 words in this verse.
“king” occurs 3× in this single verse.
28 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 36 words in this verse.