2 Samuel 14:17

17 Then thine handmaid said, The word of my lord the king shall now be comfortable:^[a] for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad: therefore the LORD thy God will be with thee.

2 Samuel 14:17 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 14:17

Then thine handmaid said, the word of my lord the king shall
now be comfortable
Or, "for rest" ^F17; what will give ease and satisfaction not only to her, but to all the people of Israel, when they shall hear of the king's intention and resolution to bring back Absalom:

for as an angel of God, so [is] my lord the king;
as they are very wise, knowing, and understanding creatures, so was David:

to discern good and bad;
to hear both the one and the other, and to discern the difference between them, and choose and pursue what is right, as in all other things, so in the present case:

therefore the Lord thy God shall be with thee;
as to counsel and advise, so to assist in performance, and to prosper and succeed; the Targum is,

``the Word of the Lord thy God shall be for thine help.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 (hxnml) "ad requiem", Pagninus, Montanus; "ad tranquillitatem", Tigurine version; "ad quietem", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

2 Samuel 14:17 In-Context

15 Now therefore that I am come to speak of this thing unto my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid: and thy handmaid said, I will now speak unto the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his handmaid.

16 For the king will hear, to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of the man that would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God.

17 Then thine handmaid said, The word of my lord the king shall now be comfortable: for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad: therefore the LORD thy God will be with thee.

18 Then the king answered and said unto the woman, Hide not from me, I pray thee, the thing that I shall ask thee. And the woman said, Let my lord the king now speak.

19 And the king said, Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this? And the woman answered and said, As thy soul liveth, my lord the king, none can turn to the right hand or to the left from ought that my lord the king hath spoken: for thy servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all these words in the mouth of thine handmaid:

Footnotes

• [a]. comfortable: Heb. for rest