2 Samuel 19:21

21 And Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, answered and said, Whether Shimei, that cursed the christ of the Lord, shall not be slain for these words? (And Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, answered to him and said, Should not Shimei, who cursed the Lord's anointed, be killed for those words?)

2 Samuel 19:21 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 19:21

But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said
The same person that would have taken off the head of Shimei at the time he cursed David, if he would have given him leave, ( 2 Samuel 16:9 ) ;

shall not Shimei be put to death for this?
this humiliation and acknowledgment he has made, shall he be forgiven on that account? shall so small a matter as this atone for so great a crime he has been guilty of, as that he shall not die?

because
or "though" ^F12

he cursed the Lord's anointed;
is asking pardon sufficient to expiate so foul an offence, for which according to the law he ought to die? or for this action which he has done, as the Arabic version, in cursing the Lord's anointed.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 (yk) , "quamvis, vel cum tamen", Piscator.

2 Samuel 19:21 In-Context

19 and said to the king, My lord the king, areckon thou not wickedness to me, neither have thou mind of the wrongs of thy servant in the day (nor remember the wrongs of thy servant on the day), in which thou, my lord the king, wentest out of Jerusalem, neither set thou, king, those wrongs in thine heart;

20 for I thy servant acknowledge my sin; and therefore today I came the first of all the house of Joseph, and I came down into the meeting of my lord the king (and I came down to meet my lord the king).

21 And Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, answered and said, Whether Shimei, that cursed the christ of the Lord, shall not be slain for these words? (And Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, answered to him and said, Should not Shimei, who cursed the Lord's anointed, be killed for those words?)

22 And David said, What is (it) to me and to you, ye sons of Zeruiah? Why be ye made to me today into Satan, that is, (an) adversary? Therefore whether a man shall be slain today in Israel? Whether I know not (that) me (am) made king today on Israel? (And David said, What is it to me or to you, ye sons of Zeruiah? Why be ye made into my adversaries today? Should any man be put to death on this day in Israel? The day that I am made king upon Israel? Nay!)

23 And the king said to Shimei, Thou shalt not die; and the king swore to him.