2 Samuel 19:36

36 Thy servant will go a little way over the Jordan with the king; and why should the king recompense it to me with this reward?

2 Samuel 19:36 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 19:36

Thy servant will go a little way over Jordan with the king,
&c.] That is, go a little way after he was over Jordan with him, and then return to his own city:

and why should the king recompense it with such a reward?
the sense is, why should the king recompense so trifling a thing as I have done, and which was but my duty, with such a reward, as to maintain me in so grand a manner at his court?

2 Samuel 19:36 In-Context

34 And Barzillai said to the king, How many are the days of the years of my life, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?

35 I am this day eighty years old: can I discern between good and bad? can thy servant taste what I eat and what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? and why should thy servant be yet a burden to my lord the king?

36 Thy servant will go a little way over the Jordan with the king; and why should the king recompense it to me with this reward?

37 Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back again, that I may die in mine own city, by the grave of my father and of my mother. But behold thy servant Chimham: let him go over with my lord the king; and do to him what seems good to thee.

38 And the king said, Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which seems good to thee; and whatsoever thou shalt require of me, that will I do for thee.

Footnotes

• [a] Or 'time.'