And as he yelled curses, Shimei said, “Get out, get out, you worthless man of bloodshed!
Parallel translations
- WEB Shimei said when he cursed, “Be gone, be gone, you man of blood, and base fellow!
- KJV And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial:
- NKJV Also Shimei said thus when he cursed: “Come out! Come out! You bloodthirsty man, you rogue!
- NASB This is what Shimei said when he cursed: “Go away, go away, you man of bloodshed and worthless man!
- NLT “Get out of here, you murderer, you scoundrel!” he shouted at David.
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
Shimei curses David as a worthless man of blood. He blames David for bloodshed connected to Saul's house.
Overview
Shimei's curses brand David a murderer and scoundrel, accusing him of shedding the blood of Saul's family. The charges are unjust, since David had repeatedly spared Saul and mourned his death. The false accusation against the suffering king foreshadows the unjust reproaches heaped upon Christ, who also bore reviling without retaliation (1 Peter 2:23).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 51:14Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness.
- Deut 13:13that wicked men have arisen from among you and have led the people of their city astray, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” (which you have not known),
- 2 Sam 11:15–17In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.”
- 2 Sam 12:9Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own, for you have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites.
- 1 Sam 2:12Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD
- 1 Sam 25:17Now consider carefully what you must do, because disaster looms over our master and all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that nobody can speak to him!”
- 2 Sam 3:37So on that day all the troops and all Israel were convinced that the king had no part in the murder of Abner son of Ner.
- Ps 5:6You destroy those who tell lies; the LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.
- 1 Kgs 21:10But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify, ‘You have cursed both God and the king!’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”
- 1 Kgs 21:13And the two scoundrels came in and sat opposite Naboth, and these men testified against him before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king!” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
God's covenant with David — a son whose throne and kingdom would last forever (7:12–16) — finds its yes in Jesus, the Son of David who reigns without end.
How 2 Samuel 16:7 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.