2 Samuel 14:8

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

The king said to the woman, Go to your house, and I will give charge concerning you.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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אֲצַוֶּ֥ה

tsâvâh

H6680

“to command”

Verb, Piel, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular

Appears 496× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 2:16

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 1887

to command, charge, give orders, lay charge, give charge to, order - (Piel) - to lay charge upon - to give charge to, give command to - to give charge unto - to give charge over, appoint - to give charge, command - to charge, command - to charge, commission - to command, appoint, ordain (of divine act) - (Pual) to be commanded

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 →

9: words
9: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
3 nouns
1 pronoun
2 prepositions

Verb forms

וַיֹּ֧אמֶר Qal · Sequential Imperfect
לְכִ֣י Qal · Imperative
אֲצַוֶּ֥ה Piel · Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 17 words from the Hebrew and 20 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 9 Hebrew tokens and 14 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 14:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Proverbs 18:13 He who gives answer before he hears, That is folly and shame to him.
2 Samuel 12:5–6 David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As Yahweh lives, the man who has done this is worthy to die!
2 Samuel 16:4 Then said the king to Ziba, Behold, all that pertains to Mephibosheth is yours. Ziba said, I do obeisance; let me find favor in your sight, my lord, O king.
Job 29:16 I was a father to the needy. The cause of him who I didn't know, I searched out.
Isaiah 11:3–4 His delight shall be in the fear of Yahweh; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither decide after the hearing of his ears;

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 14:8 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיֹּ֧אמֶר הַמֶּ֛לֶךְ אֶל הָאִשָּׁ֖ה לְכִ֣י לְבֵיתֵ֑ךְ וַאֲנִ֖י אֲצַוֶּ֥ה עָלָֽיִךְ

The king said to the woman, Go to your house, and I will give charge concerning you.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 2 Samuel 14:8 Septuagint · lemma form

καί εἶπον ὁ βασιλεύς ὑιαίνω βαδίζω εἰς ὁ οἶκος σύ καΐἐγώ ἐντέλλω περί σύ

And the king said to the woman, Go in peace to your house, and I will give commandment concerning you.

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 לְאִתְּתָא אֱזִילִי לְבֵיתָךְ וַאֲנָא אֲפַקֵיד עֲלָךְ:

(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 14:8 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 14:8 And the king said unto the woman, Go to thine house, and I will give charge concerning thee.

Ver. 8. Go to thine house.] Suitors are to be timely dismissed, when they cannot be presently despatched, as Jethro adviseth. {Exo 18:13-23}

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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

2Sa 14:8. The king said, Go to thy house, &c. — Notwithstanding the forementioned dissimilarity, the case was too like his own to suffer David to be unmoved; he soon felt her distress, and told her she might return to her house, and leave the care of her business to him; he would give proper directions about it. But not having yet obtained what she wanted, in seeming solicitude for her son, she added, O king, the iniquity be on me, and the king and his throne be guiltless — She means, either, 1st, If she had pressed the king to any thing in itself unjust, or in any way had misinformed him, or misrepresented the state of the case, she wished all the guilt of that iniquity, or misrepresentation, might fall upon her own head, and upon her family. Or, 2d, If, through the king’s forgetfulness, or neglect of her just cause, her adversaries should prevail and destroy her son, her desire was, that God would not lay it to the king’s charge, but rather to her and hers, so that the king might be exempted thereby. By her words, thus taken, she insinuates that such an omission would bring guilt upon him; and yet most decently so expresses herself as not to seem to blame or threaten him with any punishment from God on that account. This sense seems best to agree with David’s answer, which shows that she desired some further assurances of the king’s care.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 8. I will give charge concerning thee.] This would not do, it was too distant; and she could not by it bring her business to a conclusion: so she proceeds: -

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

8. I will give charge, &c.] Implying that her son should be protected. The king could reasonably grant a free pardon, as it was a case of manslaughter and not a premeditated murder.

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 to the woman, go to thine house,.... Go home and make thyself easy:

and I will give charge concerning thee; intimating that he would inquire into her case; and if it was as she had represented it, he would give orders that she should not be disturbed, or be obliged to deliver up her son, and that he should be safe from those that sought his life.

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

I will give charge ... - Indirectly granting her petition, and assenting that her son’s life should be spared.

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

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

That thy cause may be justly and truly examined, and thy son preserved from their unjust and malicious proceedings.

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

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

I will command something to be done for you

This can be stated in active form. AT: "I will take care of this matter for you" (See: Active or Passive)

Tekoa

Translate the name of this place the same as you did in 2 Samuel 14:2.

may the guilt be on me and on my father's family

This means that if people say that the king was wrong for helping the woman's family that the king should not be guilty. The full meaning of this statement can be made explicit. AT: "if anyone blames you for helping our family, may my family be considered guilty instead" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

The king and his throne

Here the word "throne" refers to anyone who later becomes king in David's place. AT: "The king and his descendants" or "The king and his family" (See: Metonymy)

are guiltless

"are innocent." This implies that in the future if anyone accuses the king of wrongdoing, he will be innocent in the matter. AT: "will be innocent regarding the matter" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

command

lord

family

throne

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

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 9 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is tsâvâh (“to command”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word tsâvâh carries the sense “to command.” How does it shape the verse?
Proverbs 18:13 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «וַיֹּ֧אמֶר» is Qal Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 9 Hebrew ↔ 14 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 4 words in this verse.
9 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 9 words in this verse.