2 Samuel 16:21

Ahithophel advises Absalom to take David's concubines publicly, making reconciliation impossible and rallying his followers. It is a deliberate, shameful act meant to harden the rebellion.

Cross-references · 17

• 2 Sam 20:3David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in custody, and provided them with sustenance, but didn’t go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood.
• 2 Sam 15:16The king went out, and all his household after him. The king left ten women, who were concubines, to keep the house.
• 2 Sam 2:7Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant; for Saul your lord is dead, and also the house of Judah have anointed me king over them.”
• Lev 18:8“‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife. It is your father’s nakedness.
• Zech 8:13It shall come to pass that, as you were a curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Don’t be afraid. Let your hands be strong.”
• 1 Sam 27:12Achish believed David, saying, “He has made his people Israel utterly to abhor him. Therefore he will be my servant forever.”
• Gen 49:3–4“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength; excelling in dignity, and excelling in power.
• Gen 6:4The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
• Gen 38:16He turned to her by the way, and said, “Please come, let me come in to you,” for he didn’t know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?”
• 1 Cor 5:1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that one has his father’s wife.
• 1 Sam 13:4All Israel heard that Saul had struck the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel was considered an abomination to the Philistines. The people were gathered together after Saul to Gilgal.
• 2 Sam 12:11“This is what Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.
• Gen 34:30Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house.”
• 1 Kgs 2:17He said, “Please speak to Solomon the king (for he will not tell you ‘no’), that he give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife.”
• Lev 20:11“‘The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
• 1 Kgs 2:22King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.”
• Gen 35:22While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.

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.