2 Samuel 18:12

12 The man said to Joab, "Even if I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I would not put out my hand against the king's son; for ¹in our hearing the king charged you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, 'Protect for me the young man Absalom!'

2 Samuel 18:12 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 18:12

And the man said unto Joab
Disdaining his proposal:

though I should receive a thousand [shekels] of silver in mine hand;
or such a sum should be offered to me; the Arabic version is a million;

[yet] would I not put forth my hand against the king's son;
to smite him, and slay him:

for in our hearing the king charged thee, and Abishai, and Ittai;
his three generals:

saying, beware that none [touch] the young man Absalom;
so as to slay him; they were charged to abstain from it themselves, and to watch and observe others, and keep them from doing it.

2 Samuel 18:12 In-Context

10 When a certain man saw it, he told Joab and said, "Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak."

11 Then Joab said to the man who had told him, "Now behold, you saw him! Why then did you not strike him there to the ground? And I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a belt."

12 The man said to Joab, "Even if I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I would not put out my hand against the king's son; for in our hearing the king charged you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, 'Protect for me the young man Absalom!'

13 "Otherwise, if I had dealt treacherously against his life (and there is nothing hidden from the king ), then you yourself would have stood aloof ."

14 Then Joab said, "I will not waste time here with you." So he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.

Cross References

• 1. 2 Samuel 18:5

Footnotes

• [a]. So with some mss and the ancient versions; M.T. "Take care whoever" you are "of"