2 Samuel 4:11

Justice

⁹ But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress,

¹⁰ when someone told me, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was a bearer of good news, I seized him and put him to death at Ziklag. That was his reward for his news!

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!”

¹² So David commanded his young men, and they killed Rechab and Baanah. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies by the pool in Hebron, but they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

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!”
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?
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?”
ASV: How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed, shall I not now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?
DARBY: how much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? and should I not now demand his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?
BLB: how much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous person in his own house on his bed, shall I not now seek his blood from your⁺ hands and remove you⁺ from the earth?”

ÅB: hvor meget mere nå, da ugudelige menn har myrdet en rettferdig mann i hans hus og på hans leie - skulle jeg ikke nå kreve hans blod av deres hånd og utrydde dere av landet?
OTB: Hvor mye mer, når onde menn har drept en rettferdig mann i hans eget hus på hans seng, skal jeg nå ikke kreve hans blod fra deres hender og eliminere dere fra jorden?"
B1930: hvor meget mere nu, da ugudelige menn har myrdet en rettferdig mann i hans hus og på hans leie - skulde jeg ikke nu kreve hans blod av eders hånd og utrydde eder av landet?

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Psalms 9:12
For the Avenger of bloodshed remembers; He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.
Read in context
Proverbs 2:22
but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be uprooted.
Read in context
Genesis 9:5–6
And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man:
Read in context
Numbers 35:31–34
You are not to accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who deserves to die; he must surely be put to death.
Read in context
Habakkuk 1:4
Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
Read in context
Psalms 109:15
May their sins always remain before the LORD, that He may cut off their memory from the earth.
Read in context
2 Samuel 3:39
And I am weak this day, though anointed as king, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too fierce for me. May the LORD repay the evildoer according to his evil!”
Read in context
1 John 3:12
Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.
Read in context