How much more should I reward evil men who have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed? Shouldn’t I hold you responsible for his blood and rid the earth of you?”
Parallel translations
- WEB How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house on his bed, should I not now require his blood from your hand, and rid the earth of you?”
- KJV How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? shall I not therefore now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?
- BSB How much more, when wicked men kill a righteous man in his own house and on his own bed, shall I not now require his blood from your hands and remove you from the earth!”
- NKJV How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous person in his own house on his bed? Therefore, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and remove you from the earth?”
- NASB How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood from your hands and eliminate you both from the earth?”
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
David reasons that murdering a righteous man in his own bed deserves far greater punishment. He vows to require Ishbosheth's blood from their hands.
Overview
David argues from the lesser to the greater: if the Amalekite died for claiming to slay Saul, how much more must these men die for assassinating an innocent man asleep in his home. By calling Ishbosheth righteous in this context, David affirms the murder of a defenseless person as a grievous crime. His resolve to rid the earth of such bloodguilt reflects God's own concern for justice and the sanctity of innocent blood.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Ps 9:12For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn’t forget the cry of the afflicted.
- Prov 2:22But the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.
- Gen 9:5–6I will surely require your blood of your lives; at the hand of every animal I will require it. At the hand of man, even at the hand of every man’s brother, I will require the life of man.
- Num 35:31–34“‘Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death; but he shall surely be put to death.
- Jer 10:11“You shall say this to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.’”
- Gen 7:23Every living thing was destroyed that was on the surface of the ground, including man, livestock, creeping things, and birds of the sky. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ship.
- Hab 1:12Aren’t you from everlasting, Yahweh my God, my Holy One? We will not die. Yahweh, you have appointed him for judgment. You, Rock, have established him to punish.
- Gen 4:11Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
- Gen 6:13God said to Noah, “I will bring an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them and the earth.
- Exod 9:15For now I would have stretched out my hand, and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth;
- 2 Sam 3:27When Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the middle of the gate to speak with him quietly, and struck him there in the body, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.
- Exod 21:12“One who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death,
- Prov 25:26Like a muddied spring, and a polluted well, so is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.
- 1 Jn 3:12unlike Cain, who was of the evil one, and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
- Hab 1:4Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.
- 1 Kgs 2:32Yahweh will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David didn’t know it: Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah.
- Ps 109:15Let them be before Yahweh continually, that he may cut off their memory from the earth;
- 2 Sam 3:39I am weak today, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me. May Yahweh reward the evildoer according to his wickedness.”
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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.
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