2 Samuel 2:11

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) 2 Samuel 2:11 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
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2 Samuel 2:11 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/2-samuel/2/11.

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English Translation
The time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
World English Bible · Public Domain
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Compare translations 3

The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.

Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.

Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    The time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And the number of the days that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).

Versions to compare (up to 4)

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Show all 18 translations

Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    The time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    And the length of time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    And the length of time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    (And the time which Dauid reigned in Hebron ouer the house of Iudah, was seuen yeere and sixe moneths)
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    And the number of the days that David abode, reigning in Hebron over the house of Juda, was seven years and six months.
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    And the number of the days that David hath been king in Hebron, over the house of Judah, is seven years and six months.
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    And the number of the days that David has been king in Hebron, over the house of Judah, is seven years and six months.
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    The time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And the number of the days that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    The time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    And the time that David was king in Hebron, over the house of Judah, was seven years and six months.
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    David ruled in Hebron as king over the people of Judah for seven years and six months.
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    And the time when David was king in Hebron over the people of Judah was seven years and six months.
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).

Word by word

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בְּחֶבְר֖וֹן
Chebrôwn
H2275
“in/at · Hebron”
Preposition + Noun, Proper
Part of Speech
Preposition + Noun
Type
Proper
Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H2267

TWOT: 598i

Hebron = "association" - a city in south Judah approx 20 south of Jerusalem and approx 20 miles (30 kilometers) north of Beersheba and near where Abraham built an altar (noun proper locative) - the 3rd son of Kohath and grandson of Levi (noun proper masculine) - a descendant of Caleb (noun proper masculine)
  1. וַֽיְהִי֙ hâyâh H1961 “and · to be” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  2. מִסְפַּ֣ר miçpâr H4557 “number of” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
  3. הַיָּמִ֔ים yôwm H3117 “the · days” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute
  4. אֲשֶׁר֩ ʼăsher H834 “which” Particle, Relative
  5. הָיָ֨ה hâyâh H1961 “to be” Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  6. דָוִ֥ד Dâvid H1732 “David” Noun, Proper
  7. מֶ֛לֶךְ melek H4428 “king” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  8. עַל ʻal H5921 “upon” Preposition
  9. בֵּ֣ית bayith H1004 “house of” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
  10. יְהוּדָ֑ה Yᵉhûwdâh H3063 “Judah” Noun, Proper
  11. שֶׁ֥בַע shebaʻ H7651 “seven” Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
  12. שָׁנִ֖ים shâneh H8141 “years” Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute
  13. וְשִׁשָּׁ֥ה shêsh H8337 “and · six” Conjunction + Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  14. חֳדָשִֽׁים chôdesh H2320 “months” Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute

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 →

15
words
14
distinct lemmas
Historical
section

Grammatical profile

  • 2 verbs
  • 9 nouns
  • 2 adjectives
  • 1 preposition
  • 1 particle

Verb forms

  • וַֽיְהִי֙ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
  • הָיָ֨ה Qal · Perfect

Repetition

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

  • וַֽיְהִי֙ to be H1961 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 19 words from the Hebrew and 19 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.

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 15 Hebrew tokens and 18 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

4

Topical passages linked to 2 Samuel 2:11 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 2:11 The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty-three years reigned he in Jerusalem.
  • 2 Samuel 5:4–5 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
  • 1 Chronicles 3:4 six were born to him in Hebron; and there he reigned seven years and six months. In Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years;
  • 1 Chronicles 29:27 The time that he reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three [years] reigned he in Jerusalem.

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 2:11 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַֽיְהִי֙ מִסְפַּ֣ר הַיָּמִ֔ים אֲשֶׁר֩ הָיָ֨ה דָוִ֥ד מֶ֛לֶךְ בְּחֶבְר֖וֹן עַל בֵּ֣ית יְהוּדָ֑ה שֶׁ֥בַע שָׁנִ֖ים וְשִׁשָּׁ֥ה חֳדָשִֽׁים

The time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 2 Samuel 2:11 Septuagint · lemma form

καί γίγνομαι ὁ ἡμέρα ὅς δαυίδ βασιλεύω ἐν χεβρων ἐπί ὁ οἶκος ιουδα ἑπτά ἔτος καί ἕξ μήν

And the days which David reigned in Chebron over the house of Juda were seven years and six months.

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)

1

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.

  1. Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)
    וַהֲוָה מִנְיַין יוֹמַיָא דַהֲוָה דָוִד מַלְכָּא בְּחֶבְרוֹן עַל דְבֵית יְהוּדָה שְׁבַע שְׁנִין וְשִׁיתָּא יַרְחִין:

    (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 2:11 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 2:11 And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

Ver. 11. Seven years and six months.] So long the Lord kept him off the full sovereignty, for the further trial and exercise of his faith and patience. Look we for the like, and bear up.

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

After this time was expired, he reigned over all the country 33 years, 2 Sam. 5:5.

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

John Gill's Exposition

And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah,.... And over them only:

was seven years and six months; to which being added thirty three years he reigned over all Israel in Jerusalem, made forty years and six months; and which, for the roundness of the number, is usually called forty years. See Sa2 5:4.

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

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 15 words (14 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Chebrôwn (“Hebron”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. How does “Hebron” (Chebrôwn) shape what this verse is saying?
  2. How does 1 Kings 2:11, which shares this passage’s theme, read alongside this verse?
  3. What does the repetition of “to be” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
  4. These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
  5. «וַֽיְהִי֙» is a Qal Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
  6. Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

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Old Testament edition

Read the OT as the Masoretic Hebrew (MT) or the Greek Septuagint (LXX).

English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

Comparing translations? Open the Compare panel on any verse page to stack up to four side by side.