📖WEB · 2 Samuel 18:13
What does 2 Samuel 18:13 mean?
"Otherwise if I had dealt falsely against his life (and there is no matter hidden from the king), then you yourself would have set yourself against me.”"
— 2 Samuel 18:13 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
A certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, “Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.”
Joab said to the man who told him, “Behold, you saw it, and why didn’t you strike him there to the ground? I would have given you ten pieces of silver, and a sash.”
The man said to Joab, “Though I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I still wouldn’t stretch out my hand against the king’s son; for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, ‘Beware that no one touch the young man Absalom.’
Otherwise if I had dealt falsely against his life (and there is no matter hidden from the king), then you yourself would have set yourself against me.”
Then Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this with you.” He took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the middle of the oak.
Ten young men who bore Joab’s armor surrounded and struck Absalom, and killed him.
Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel; for Joab held the people back.
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