2 Samuel 4:11

Justice

⁹ And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said unto them, As the LORD liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity,

¹⁰ When one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good tidings, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, who thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings:

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?

¹² And David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up over the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth, and buried it in the sepulchre of Abner 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
When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.
Read in context
Proverbs 2:22
But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
Read in context
Genesis 9:5–6
And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.
Read in context
Numbers 35:31–34
Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death.
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Habakkuk 1:4
Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
Read in context
Psalms 109:15
Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
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2 Samuel 3:39
And I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah be too hard for me: the LORD shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness.
Read in context
1 John 3:12
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
Read in context