Bible Strands
2 Samuel 15:4
And he would add, “If only someone would appoint me judge in the land, then everyone with a grievance or dispute could come to me, and I would give him justice.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Absalom addresses Israelites approaching him for legal resolution, positioning himself as an alternative judicial authority to King David.
The words — The text isolates יְשִׂמֵנִי (ye.si.Me./ni) for “will he make me” and שֹׁפֵט (sho.Fet) for “a judge,” while keeping וְעָלַי (ve./'a.La/i) meaning “and to me” and יָבֹא (ya.Vo') meaning “he will come” as distinct terms.
The thread — This claim to judicial authority parallels Abimelech’s political maneuvering in Judges 9:29 and Judges 9:1, while intersecting with the warning against self-exaltation in Proverbs 25:6.
Why it lands — The verse requires readers to distinguish between offered justice and political ambition before accepting any claim to authority.
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
Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice!
Cross-references
- Judges 9:29 If only this people were under my authority, I would remove Abimelech; I would say to him, ‘Muster your army and come out!’”
- Judges 9:1 Now Abimelech son of Jerubbaal went to his mother’s brothers at Shechem and said to them and to all the clan of his mother,
- Proverbs 25:6 Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king, and do not stand in the place of great men;
- Proverbs 27:2 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth—a stranger, and not your own lips.
- Luke 14:8 “When you are invited to a wedding banquet, do not sit in the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited.
- 2 Peter 2:19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves to depravity. For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.