8
So the king got up and sat in the gate, and all the people were told: “Behold, the king is sitting in the gate.” So they all came before the king. Meanwhile, the Israelites had fled, each man to his home.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ham·me·leḵ way·yā·qām way·yê·šeḇ baš·šā·‘ar ū·lə·ḵāl- hā·‘ām hig·gî·ḏū lê·mōr hin·nêh ham·me·leḵ yō·wō·šêḇ baš·ša·‘ar hā·‘ām ḵāl way·yā·ḇō lip̄·nê ham·me·leḵ wə·yiś·rā·’êl nās ’îš lə·’ō·hā·lāw
Word by word21 · parsed
√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular
√ qûwm — to rise (in various applications, literal, figurative, intensive and causative)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
qûwm — to rise (Qal consecutive imperfect) The narrative hinge of the whole unit. David has been on the ground weeping over Absalom; Joab's brutal speech ends, and the next word is that he rose. Henry, unwilling to excuse either man, notes both sides at once: Joab spoke without “proper respect and deference to his sovereign,” yet David “took the reproof and the counsel, prudently and mildly.”
√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
yâshab — to sit down, specifically as judge (Qal) Strong's gives the judicial sense inside the verb itself. Poole reads it exactly so: David “appeared in public on the seat of judgment, at the gate of the city.” The mourning father becomes the seated judge again in one verb.
√ shaʻar — an opening, iPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular
shaʻar — an opening, a gate Not a location but an office. Cambridge: the gate is where “kings and rulers were accustomed to give audience to their subjects.” Absalom had stolen the kingdom precisely here, standing beside the gate to intercept litigants (2 Samuel 15:2, cited by Cambridge); the throne is recovered at the spot where it was first stolen.
√ kôl — properly, the wholeConjunctive waw, Preposition-lNounmasculine singular construct
√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)ArticleNounmasculine singular
√ nâgad — properly, to front, iVerbHifilPerfectthird person common plural
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
√ hinnêh — lo!Interjection
hinnêh — lo! The herald's word, presenting a fact to the eye.
√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular
√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
√ shaʻar — an opening, iPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular
√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)ArticleNounmasculine singular
ʻam — a people as a congregated unit This is the loyal remnant, David's own troops. The same noun in v. 9 will mean the whole nation, including the rebels. The unit turns on which “people” is meant in which sentence, and Barnes, JFB and K&D each stop to make the distinction.
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Preposition-lNouncommon plural construct
√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
√ nûwç — to flit, iVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
nûwç — to flit, to flee A singular verb for a collective noun. The rebel body does not scatter as individuals here: “Israel” flees as one thing, and only in the last two words does it break into “each man.”
√ ʼîysh — a man as an individual or a male personNounmasculine singular
√ ʼôhel — a tent (as clearly conspicuous from a distance)Preposition-lNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular
ʼôhel — a tent (as clearly conspicuous from a distance) Israel has no camp left to return to, so each man goes to his own tent. It is the end of an army and, for one verse, the end of a nation: no king, no muster, no cause. Everything in vv. 9 to 15 is the work of stitching that dispersal back into a body.