Bible Strands
2 Samuel 13:39
And King David longed to go to Absalom, for he had been consoled over Amnon’s death.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records King David’s internal shift after Absalom’s three-year exile in Geshur. The moment captures the immediate aftermath of prolonged mourning and the beginning of David’s desire to bridge the rupture.
The words — נִחַם (ni.Cham) literally means “he was comforted,” marking the conclusion of a grief cycle. תְּכַל (te.Khal) means “it completed,” structurally tying the end of mourning to David’s subsequent longing to go out to Absalom.
The thread — The text’s comfort terminology runs parallel to Genesis 24:67, Genesis 37:35, and Genesis 38:12, where biblical authors measure mourning by its duration and the willingness to accept consolation.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that emotional recovery must precede relational pursuit, without guaranteeing that David’s desire will successfully restore the broken covenant.
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 the soul of king David longed to go forth unto Absalom: for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.
Cross-references
- Genesis 24:67 And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah as his wife. And Isaac loved her and was comforted after his mother’s death.
- Genesis 37:35 All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.
- Genesis 38:12 After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah.
- Genesis 31:30 Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?”
- Deuteronomy 28:32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, while your eyes grow weary looking for them day after day, with no power in your hand.
- 2 Samuel 12:19 When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he perceived that the child was dead. So he asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” “He is dead,” they replied.
- Psalms 84:2 My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
- Psalms 119:20 My soul is consumed with longing for Your judgments at all times.
- Philippians 2:26 For he has been longing for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill.