2 Samuel 17:5

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he says.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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הָאַרְכִּ֑י

ʼArkîy

H757

“the · Archite”

Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 6× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Joshua 16:2

Full BDB Definition

Origin: patrial from another place (in Palestine) of similar name with H751

TWOT: None

Archite or Archi = "lengthy" - referring to the home city of Hushai

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 →

12: words
11: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is הָאַרְכִּ֑י Archite H757 — appearing just 6 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

הָאַרְכִּ֑י Archite H757 occurs in 6 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
4 nouns
1 pronoun
4 particles

Verb forms

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר֙ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
קְרָ֣א Qal · Imperative
וְנִשְׁמְעָ֥ה Qal · Cohortative

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

גַּ֖ם also H1571 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 17 words from the Hebrew and 22 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 12 Hebrew tokens and 21 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 17:5 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 15:32–37 It happened that when David had come to the top [of the ascent], where God was worshiped, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn, and earth on his head.
2 Samuel 16:16–19 It happened, when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, was come to Absalom, that Hushai said to Absalom, [Long] live the king, [Long] live the king.

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 17:5 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר֙ אַבְשָׁל֔וֹם קְרָ֣א נָ֔א גַּ֖ם לְחוּשַׁ֣י הָאַרְכִּ֑י וְנִשְׁמְעָ֥ה מַה בְּפִ֖יו גַּם הֽוּא

Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he says.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 2 Samuel 17:5 Septuagint · lemma form

καί εἶπον αβεσσαλωμ καλέω δή καί γέ ὁ χουσι ὁ αραχι καί ἀκούω τίς ἐν ὁ στόμα αὐτός καί γέ αὐτός

And Abessalom said, Call now also Chusi the Arachite, and let us hear what is in his mouth, even in his also.

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 אַבְשָׁלוֹם קְרִי כְעַן אַף לְחוּשַׁי אַרְכָּאָה וְנִשְׁמַע מַה דְיֵימַר אַף הוּא:

(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 17:5 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 17:5 Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith.

Ver. 5. Call now Hushai the Archite also.] God had said that David should not die; but Absalom was doomed to death by God’s determined counsel. If Ahithophel’s counsel had been followed, how could David have escaped, or Absalom perished? Hushai, therefore, is consulted, and the whole scene altered. This came forth "from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working." {Isa 28:29}

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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

2Sa 17:5. Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai — A wonderful effect of Divine Providence, influencing his heart, that he could not rest in Ahithophel’s counsel, though it was so evidently wise, and approved by the general consent of his whole party; and that he should desire Hushai’s advice, though neither his reputation for wisdom was equal to Ahithophel’s, nor had he yet given any one proof of his fidelity to Absalom. But there is no contending with that God who can arm a man against himself, and destroy him by his own mistakes and passions.

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

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Hebrew, what is in his mouth.

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

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) Call now Hushai.—The good sense of Absalom and all the people at once approved the counsel of Ahithophel; but, at a crisis so important, Absalom sought the advice also of the other famous counsellor of his father.

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

5. let us hear likewise what he saith] Let us hear what he too has to say, as well as Ahithophel.

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 when Hushai was come to Absalom,.... Into the council chamber, very probably:

Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner; and then related the counsel he had given as before:

shall we do after his saying? is it right to proceed on this scheme, and carry it into execution?

if not, speak thou; thy mind freely, without any reserve, or fear of giving any offence.

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

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

A wonderful effect of Divine Providence, blinding his mind, and influencing his heart, that he could not rest in Ahithophel’s counsel, though it was so evidently wise, and good, and approved by the general consent of his whole party; and that he should desire Hushai’s advice, though neither his reputation for wisdom was equal to Ahithophel’s, nor had he yet given any one proof of his fidelity to Absalom as Ahithophel had done; nor was he so fixed by his interest to him as Ahithophel was; and though there wanted not just cause to suspect him and his counsel too. But there is no contending with that God who can arm a man against himself, and destroy him by his own mistakes and passions, without any other help.

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

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Call Hushai - A wonderful effect of Divine Providence, influencing his heart, that he could not rest in Ahithophel's counsel, though it was so evidently wise, and approved by the general consent of his whole party; and that he should desire Hushai's advice, though neither his reputation for wisdom was equal to Ahithophel's, nor had he yet given anyone proof of his fidelity to Absalom. But there is no contending with that God who can arm a man against himself, and destroy him by his own mistakes and passions.

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

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

Hushai the Arkite

See how you translated this man's name in 2 Samuel 15:32.

Ahithophel

See how you translated this man's name in 2 Samuel 15:12.

translationWords

Absalom

advice

good

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 12 words (11 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʼArkîy (“Archite”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “Archite” (ʼArkîy) contribute to the verse as a whole?
Joshua 16:2 shares the word «Archite» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“also” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «וַיֹּ֨אמֶר֙» 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 12 Hebrew ↔ 21 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 6 words in this verse.
“also” occurs 2× in this single verse.
11 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 12 words in this verse.