2 Samuel 14:11

“Please,” she replied, “may the king invoke the LORD your God to prevent the avenger of blood from increasing the devastation, so that my son may not be destroyed!” “As surely as the LORD lives,” he vowed, “not a hair of your son’s head will fall to the ground.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The anonymous woman in Tekoa addresses King David immediately after he promises her personal safety for approaching him. She petitions for his royal intervention to stop a blood avenger from killing her remaining son.

The words — The supplied lexicon highlights יִזְכָּר־ (yiz.kor-) meaning "let him remember" and מֵ/הַרְבַּת (me./har.vit) meaning "from increasing." These terms frame her plea as a request for the king to actively recall his authority to halt escalating violence.

The thread — The appeal invokes the "avenger of blood" (Numbers 35:19) and mirrors the crowd's oath that Jonathan "shall not be put to death" (1 Samuel 14:45). David's guarantee that "not a hair of your son’s head will fall" aligns with the protective imagery in Matthew 10:30.

Why it lands — The text records a strategic negotiation where a petitioner secures a binding royal oath of protection. It requires the reader to observe how human political power and divine preservation operate together to safeguard life.

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

Then said she, I pray thee, let the king remember the Lord thy God, that thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they destroy my son. And he said, As the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth.

Cross-references

1 Samuel 14:45 But the people said to Saul, “Must Jonathan die—he who accomplished such a great deliverance for Israel? Never! As surely as the LORD lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for with God’s help he has accomplished this today.” So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die.
Numbers 35:19 The avenger of blood is to put the murderer to death; when he finds him, he is to kill him.
Matthew 10:30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Numbers 35:21 or if in hostility he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must surely be put to death; he is a murderer. When the avenger of blood finds the murderer, he is to kill him.
Deuteronomy 19:4 Now this is the situation regarding the manslayer who flees to one of these cities to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally, without intending to harm him:
1 Kings 1:52 And Solomon replied, “If he is a man of character, not a single hair of his will fall to the ground. But if evil is found in him, he will die.”
Acts 27:34 So for your own preservation, I urge you to eat something, because not a single hair of your head will be lost.”
Genesis 14:22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the LORD God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,
Genesis 24:2 So Abraham instructed the chief servant of his household, who managed all he owned, “Place your hand under my thigh,
Genesis 31:50 If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, although no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.”