2 Samuel 19:12

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

You are my brothers, you are my bone and my flesh: why then are you the last to bring back the king?

World English Bible · Public Domain

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אַחֲרֹנִ֖ים

ʼachărôwn

H314

“behind”

Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Plural, Absolute

Appears 51× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 33:2

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H309

TWOT: 68e

behind, following, subsequent, western - behind, hindermost, western (of location) - later, subsequent, latter, last (of time)

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 →

11: words
10: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

אַחֲרֹנִ֖ים behind H314 occurs in 48 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
4 nouns
1 adjective
2 pronouns
2 particles

Verb forms

תִהְי֛וּ Qal · Imperfect
לְהָשִׁ֥יב Hiphil · Infinitive Construct

Repetition

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

אַתֶּ֔ם you H859 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 22 words from the Hebrew and 24 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 2 Samuel 19:12 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 5:1 Then came all the tribes of Israel to David to Hebron, and spoke, saying, Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.
Genesis 2:23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."
Judges 9:2 Please speak in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, that all the sons of Jerubbaal, who are seventy persons, rule over you, or that one rule over you? Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.
Ephesians 5:30 because we are members of his body, of his flesh and bones.

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 19:12 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

אַחַ֣י אַתֶּ֔ם עַצְמִ֥י וּבְשָׂרִ֖י אַתֶּ֑ם וְלָ֧מָּה תִהְי֛וּ אַחֲרֹנִ֖ים לְהָשִׁ֥יב אֶת הַמֶּֽלֶךְ

You are my brothers, you are my bone and my flesh: why then are you the last to bring back the king?

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 2 Samuel 19:12 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ὁ βασιλεύς δαυίδ ἀποστέλλω πρός σαδωκ καί πρός αβιαθαρ ὁ ἱερεύς λέγω λαλέω πρός ὁ πρεσβύτερος ιουδα λέγω ἵνα τίς γίγνομαι ἔσχατος ὁ ἐπιστρέφω ὁ βασιλεύς εἰς ὁ οἶκος αὐτός καί λόγος πᾶς ἰσραήλ ἔρχομαι πρός ὁ βασιλεύς

You⌃ are my brethren, you⌃ are my bones and my flesh: why are you⌃ the last to bring back the king to his house?

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)

וּמַלְכָּא דָוִד שְׁלַח לְצָדוֹק וּלְאֶבְיָתָר כַּהֲנַיָא לְמֵימַר מַלִילוּ לְסָבֵי יְהוּדָה לְמֵימַר לְמָא תְהוֹן בַּתְרָאִין לַאֲתָבָא יַת מַלְכָּא לְבֵיתֵיהּ וּפִתְגַם כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲתָא לְוַת מַלְכָּא לְבֵיתֵיהּ:

(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 19:12 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 19:12 Ye [are] my brethren, ye [are] my bones and my flesh: wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king?

Ver. 12. Ye are my brethren.] Which only title is sufficient to stint all strife, if well considered.

Ye are my bones and my flesh.] Now, "no man ever hated his own flesh," (hurt his own bones), "but nourisheth and cherisheth it." {Eph 5:29} We may likewise promise ourselves all good from Christ our brother, upon this account.

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.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) My bones and my flesh.—More exactly, bone, as in 2Sa_19:13 and 2Sa_5:1. Of course the tribe of Judah, from which David sprung, was more closely connected with him by blood than any other; but the point likely to influence them was that the king recognised this relationship.

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

12. my bones and my flesh] See note on ch. 2Sa_5:1. Bones should be, as there, bone.

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

Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh,.... Being of the same tribe, and therefore he should deal gently with them, as if they were parts of his body; and not be severe upon them, for the hand they had in the conspiracy, as they might fear:

and wherefore then are ye the last to bring the king back? since they were so nearly related to him, and he so ready to forgive them.

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

My bones and my flesh; of the same tribe, and some of you of the same family, with myself; and therefore if I should revenge myself of you, which perhaps you may fear I will do when I have fully regained my power, I should but tear my own flesh in pieces, and hate my own body which nature and interest obligeth every man to preserve.

Wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king? this delay doth not suit with the relation you have, and the affection you owe to me.

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

The Pulpit Commentary

My bones; Hebrew, my bone and my flesh, so nearly related as to be part of my own self. (Gen_2:23)

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

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

While the messages of all Yisroel are coming to the king. All this was part of the message he was charged to bring [to the elders].

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 11 words (10 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʼachărôwn (“behind”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word ʼachărôwn carries the sense “behind.” How does it shape the verse?
Genesis 33:2 shares the word «behind» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“you” 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 «תִהְי֛וּ» is Qal Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 7 words in this verse.
“you” occurs 2× in this single verse.
10 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 11 words in this verse.