Bible Strands
2 Samuel 15:19
Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the new king, since you are both a foreigner and an exile from your homeland.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David, fleeing Jerusalem, tells Ittai the Gittite to return and serve the new king because Ittai is a foreigner and exile. The words — The Hebrew לָ֧/מָּה (La/mah) asks "why?" and תֵלֵ֛ךְ (te/Lekh) means "will you go," framing the king’s question as a direct challenge to Ittai’s commitment. The thread — David’s reasoning echoes Naomi’s question in Ruth 1:11, while Ittai’s eventual command of David’s troops appears in 2 Samuel 18:2. Why it lands — The text demands a reader to recognize that David tests loyalty by offering an honorable exit to a foreign ally, who then must choose whether to stay or depart.
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 the king to Ittai the Gittite, Wherefore goest thou also with us? return to thy place, and abide with the king: for thou art a stranger, and also an exile.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 18:2 He sent out the troops, a third under Joab, a third under Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the troops, “I will surely march out with you as well.”
- Ruth 1:11 But Naomi replied, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb to become your husbands?