Bible Strands
2 Samuel 11:26
When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the moment after Joab’s messenger delivers the false report of Uriah’s death to his wife. She receives the news and immediately enters the customary period of widowhood.
The words — The verb תִּשְׁמַע (tish.ma') marks her reception of the report, while תִּסְפֹּד (tis.pod) denotes her formal mourning observance. These terms establish the sequence from hearing the news to performing the ritual.
The thread — The text places this mourning period alongside other biblical accounts of managed grief, including 2 Samuel 3:31 and 2 Samuel 14:2. These references show how prescribed mourning windows function as narrative pivots for subsequent action.
Why it lands — The verse states the exact duration of the mourning period before David brings her to his house. It requires the reader to observe how the text uses a legally mandated pause to enable David’s next transgression.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.
Cross-references
- Genesis 27:41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
- 2 Samuel 3:31 Then David ordered Joab and all the people with him, “Tear your clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner.” And King David himself walked behind the funeral bier.
- 2 Samuel 14:2 So Joab sent to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, “Please pretend to be a mourner; put on clothes for mourning and do not anoint yourself with oil. Act like a woman who has mourned for the dead a long time.