2 Samuel 19:19 - Printer Friendly

ESV: and said to the king, "Let not my lord hold me guilty or remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. Do not let the king take it to heart.

NIV: and said to him, "May my lord not hold me guilty. Do not remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. May the king put it out of his mind.

NASB: And he said to the king, 'May my lord not consider me guilty, nor call to mind what your servant did wrong on the day when my lord the king went out from Jerusalem, so that the king would take it to heart.

CSB: and said to him, "My lord, don’t hold me guilty, and don’t remember your servant’s wrongdoing on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. May the king not take it to heart.

NLT: My lord the king, please forgive me,' he pleaded. 'Forget the terrible thing your servant did when you left Jerusalem. May the king put it out of his mind.

KJV: And said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.

NKJV: Then he said to the king, “Do not let my lord impute iniquity to me, or remember what wrong your servant did on the day that my lord the king left Jerusalem, that the king should take it to heart.

Second Samuel 19:16–23 begins David's work of personal reconciliation. When David fled Jerusalem, the Benjaminite Shimei cursed him and threw stones (2 Samuel 16:5–8). Now, he arrives with a thousand men to help David's people cross the Jordan and return home. David forgives him. Ziba, Mephibosheth's property manager, also comes. Soon, Mephibosheth will tell David Ziba betrayed him, and David will restore half his land (2 Samuel 19:24–30). When Solomon is king, he'll have reason to execute Shimei (1 Kings 2:36–46).

David comes home after a tragic and costly rebellion. His son Absalom is dead, and rebel fighters have fled back home (2 Samuel 18). David falls into self-indulgent grief until Joab reminds him of his soldiers' honor. On the journey back to the Jordan, David reconciles with Shimei, Mephibosheth, and the elders of Judah, and blesses Barzillai. The elders of the northern tribes arrive and argue with Judah over who loves the king more—the king they tried to kill. The first chance they get, the men from Israel leave and try to start another rebellion (2 Samuel 20:1–2).

David's son, Absalom, manipulated the elders of the tribes, convincing them that he would make a better king than David (2 Samuel 15—17). During the one-day civil war, Joab killed Absalom, against David's orders (2 Samuel 18). David falls into a very public expression of mourning until Joab tells him to honor his living servants, not his dead, traitorous son. On the way to Jerusalem, David tries to forgive his enemies. The elders of Israel claim to welcome him back. But after squabbling with the elders from Judah, they join a new rebellion (2 Samuel 10:1–2).

Second Samuel continues the story of David, who will become king over Judah. The other tribes of Israel are resistant, eventually sparking a civil war. David wins and makes Jerusalem his capital. Early success is followed by moral failure and controversy in David's house. The book of 1 Kings will begin by detailing David's decline and death.