Then all Israel gathered to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then all Israel gathered themselves to David to Hebron, saying, “Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.
- KJV Then all Israel gathered themselves to David unto Hebron, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh.
- BSB Then all Israel came together to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood.
- NKJV Then all Israel came together to David at Hebron, saying, “Indeed we are your bone and your flesh.
- NLT Then all Israel gathered before David at Hebron and told him, “We are your own flesh and blood.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
All Israel gathered to David at Hebron and acknowledged him as their kinsman and rightful king. The nation united under God's chosen ruler.
Overview
After Saul's death, the whole nation comes to David, confessing 'we are your bone and your flesh,' a covenant kinship formula. The Chronicler skips David's earlier years reigning only over Judah and presents an idealized, united Israel embracing its God-given king. This anticipates the gathering of God's people, both Jew and Gentile, to Christ, who shares our flesh and blood as our brother and King.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Deut 17:15you shall surely set him king over yourselves, whom Yahweh your God chooses. You shall set as king over you one from among your brothers. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.
- 1 Chr 12:23–40These are the numbers of the heads of those who were armed for war, who came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to Yahweh’s word.
- 1 Kgs 2:11The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.
- 2 Sam 15:10But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, ‘Absalom is king in Hebron!’”
- Gen 29:14Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” He lived with him for a month.
- 2 Sam 5:1–16Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and spoke, saying, “Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.
- Judg 9:2“Please speak in the ears of all the men of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that all the sons of Jerubbaal, who are seventy persons, rule over you, or that one rule over you?’ Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.”
- 2 Sam 19:12–13You are my brothers. You are my bone and my flesh. Why then are you the last to bring back the king?’
- Eph 5:30because we are members of his body, of his flesh and bones.
- Num 13:22They went up by the South, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
- 2 Sam 2:1After this, David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?” Yahweh said to him, “Go up.” David said, “Where shall I go up?” He said, “To Hebron.”
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Christ at the center
The genealogies and the everlasting covenant with David trace the single thread of promise running through the generations straight to the Christ in whom the line reaches its goal.
How 1 Chronicles 11:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.