1
Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
kāl- šiḇ·ṭê yiś·rā·’êl way·yā·ḇō·’ū ’el- dā·wiḏ ḥeḇ·rō·w·nāh way·yō·mə·rū lê·mōr hin·nū ’ă·nā·ḥə·nū ū·ḇə·śā·rə·ḵā ‘aṣ·mə·ḵā
Word by word13 · parsed
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
√ shêbeṭ — a scion, iNounmasculine plural construct
shêbeṭ — a scion, i.e. rod, shaft, tribe The word for tribe is the word for a cut branch or a ruler's staff. What arrives at Hebron is the whole bundle of staves, every branch of Jacob, and the point of their coming is to lay their staves at the feet of one man. Ellicott insists the delegation was more than the elders of v. 3, taking in the warrior musters of 1 Chronicles 12:23-40; Cambridge calls it the “congregation of Israel,” the national assembly.
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
bôwʼ — to go or come Qal consecutive imperfect, third masculine plural: the narrative verb of arrival. It recurs identically at v. 3 (way·yā·ḇō·’ū), so the unit records two comings, the tribes' and the elders', which K&D treats as one event told twice.
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
√ Dâvid — David, the youngest son of JesseNounpropermasculine singular
√ Chebrôwn — Chebron, a place in Palestine, also the name of two IsraelitesNounproperfeminine singularthird person feminine singular
Chebrôwn — Hebron The place, not the palace, is the subject of the sentence's motion. Hebron is Abraham's burial ground and Judah's southern hill town; it is where David has already reigned seven and a half years (v. 5) and where, a generation later, Absalom will go to have himself proclaimed (2 Samuel 15:10).
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
√ hên — lo!Interjectionfirst person common plural
hên — lo! A presentation particle with a suffix: behold us. It is the posture of a petitioner, not a negotiator.
√ ʼănachnûw — wePronounfirst person common plural
ʼănachnûw — we The redundant independent pronoun, piled on the suffix already in hin·nū, throws the weight onto the speakers themselves.
√ bâsâr — flesh (from its freshness)Conjunctive wawNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular
bâsâr — flesh (from its freshness) The same noun that will name what the Word assumes. Gill's gloss on the claim is genealogical rather than sentimental: “though he was of the tribe of Judah, yet as all the tribes sprung from one man, they were all one bone, flesh, and blood.”
√ ʻetsem — a bone (as strong)Nounfeminine singular constructsecond person masculine singular
ʻetsem — a bone (as strong) The kinship formula of Genesis 29:14 and Judges 9:2, argued here as a qualification for office: Deuteronomy 17:15 requires a king from among the brothers, and JFB, Cambridge and Benson all read this clause as the tribes satisfying that law before they satisfy themselves.