2 Samuel 3:14

And David sent messengers to Ishbosheth Saul’s son, saying, Deliver me my wife Michal, which I espoused to me for an hundred foreskins of the Philistines.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
David	דָּוִד֙ da.Vid	H1732	David · proper noun, a man's name
sent	וַיִּשְׁלַ֤ח vai.yish.Lach	H7971	to send away · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
messengers	מַלְאָכִ֔ים mal.'a.Khim	H4397	a messenger · noun, common masculine plural absolute
Ish-bosheth	אִֽישׁ 'ish-	H378	Ish-Bosheth · proper noun, a man's name
Saul’s	שָׁא֖וּל sha.'Ul	H7586	Shaul · proper noun, a man's name
son	בֶּן ben-	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct
saying	לֵאמֹ֑ר le.Mor	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
Deliver	תְּנָ֤ה te.Nah	H5414	to give · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + paragogic he
wife	אִשְׁתִּי֙ 'ish.Ti	H802	a woman · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
Michal	מִיכַ֔ל mi.Khal	H4324	Mikal · proper noun, a woman's name
espoused	אֵרַ֣שְׂתִּי 'e.Ras.ti	H781	to engage for matrimony · verb, piel perfect, 1st person common singular
hundred	בְּמֵאָ֖ה be.me.'Ah	H3967	a hundred · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
foreskins	עָרְל֥וֹת a.re.Lot	H6190	the prepuce · noun, common feminine plural construct
Philistines	פְּלִשְׁתִּֽים pe.lish.Tim	H6430	a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

1 Samuel 18:27 Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gav…
1 Samuel 18:25 And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of th…
2 Samuel 2:10 Ish-bosheth Saul’s son was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 3:7-21

Here, I. Abner breaks with Ish-bosheth, and deserts his interest, upon a little provocation which Ish-bosheth unadvisedly gave him. God can serve his own purposes by the sins and follies of men. 1. Ish-bosheth accused Abner of no less a crime than debauching one of his father's concubines, Sa2 3:7. Whether it was so or no does not appear, nor what ground he had for the suspicion: but, however it was, it would have been Ish-bosheth's prudence to be silent, considering how much it was his interest not to disoblige Abner. If the thing was false, and his jealousy groundless, it was very disingenuous and ungrateful to entertain unjust surmises of one who had ventured his all for him, and was cert…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Samuel 3:12

Abner sent messengers to David--Though his language implied a secret conviction, that in supporting Ish-bosheth he had been laboring to frustrate the divine purpose of conferring the sovereignty of the kingdom on David, this acknowledgment was no justification either of the measure he was now adopting, or of the motives that prompted it. Nor does it seem possible to uphold the full integrity and honor of David's conduct in entertaining his secret overtures for undermining Ish-bosheth, except we take into account the divine promise of the kingdom, and his belief that the secession of Abner was a means designed by Providence for accomplishing it. The demand for the restoration of his wife Mich…

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Adam Clarke on 2 Samuel 3:14

Deliver me my wife - It is supposed that he meant to screen Abner; and to prevent that violence which he might have used in carrying off Michal.

John Gill on 2 Samuel 3:14

And David sent messengers to Ishbosheth, Saul's son,.... When Abner's messengers returned to him, and acquainted him with the condition of David's entering into a league with him, it is highly probable that Abner sent them or others to David, to let him know that he could not do this of himself; that it was advisable for him to write to Ishbosheth, whose sister she was, and demand her of him; and that then he would use his interest with Ishbosheth to grant it, and this method David took: saying, deliver me my wife Michal, which I espoused to me for an hundred foreskins of the Philistines; two arguments he made use of to enforce his demand; one is, that it was his wife he required, to whom h…

The Church Fathers

It appears harsh to you that after adultery, spouse should be reconciled to spouse. If faith is present, it will not be harsh. Why do we still regard as adulterers those who we believe have either been cleansed by baptism or have been healed by penance? Under the old law of God, no sacrifices wiped away these crimes, which, without a doubt, are cleansed by the blood of the new covenant. Therefore, in former times, it was forbidden in every way to take back to oneself a woman sullied by another man, although David, as a figure of the New Testament, took back, without any hesitation, the daughter of Saul, whom the father of the same woman had given to another after her separation from David. But now, afterwards, Christ says to the adulteress, "Neither will I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on sin no more." Who fails to understand that it is the duty of the husband to forgive what he knows the Lord of both has forgiven, and that he should not now call her an adulteress whose sin he believes to have been eradicated by the mercy of God as a result of her penance?
— Augustine of Hippo, ADULTEROUS MARRIAGES 5

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Espouse — (2 Sam. 3:14), to betroth. The espousal was a ceremony of betrothing, a formal agreement between the parties then coming under obligation for the purpose of marriage. Espousals are in the East…
Fast — The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Lev. 23:26-32. It is called “the fast” (Acts 27:9). The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old…
Michal — Rivulet, or who as God?, the younger of Saul’s two daughters by his wife Ahinoam (1 Sam. 14:49, 50). “Attracted by the graces of his person and the gallantry of his conduct, she fell in love with…
Abner · Alienation of, from the house of Saul — Alienation of, from the house of Saul
Circumcision · Sometimes performed on slain enemies — Sometimes performed on slain enemies
Conspiracy · .Abner, against Ish-bosheth — .Abner, against Ish-bosheth
Ish-Bosheth · Restores Michal (David’s first wife) to David — Restores Michal (David’s first wife) to David
Michal · David recovers, to himself — David recovers, to himself
Treason · .Of Abner against Ish-bosheth — .Of Abner against Ish-bosheth

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

2 Samuel 3:14

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 3:7-21

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Samuel 3:12

Adam Clarke on 2 Samuel 3:14

John Gill on 2 Samuel 3:14

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

2 Samuel 3:14

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 3:7-21

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Samuel 3:12

Adam Clarke on 2 Samuel 3:14

John Gill on 2 Samuel 3:14

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Samuel 3:6–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 2 Samuel 3:14

Rashi on 2 Samuel 3:13