Bible Strands
2 Samuel 16:6
He threw stones at David and at all the servants of the king, though the troops and all the mighty men were on David’s right and left.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Shimei son of Gera hurls stones at David and the king’s courtiers while David flees through Bahurim, with David’s troops positioned on both flanks.
The words — וַיְסַקֵּל (va-yə-saqqēl) translates “and he stoned,” directly paired with בָּ/אֲבָנִים (bā-ʾăḇānîm), “with stones,” to describe the physical action.
The thread — The physical assault on a fleeing ruler continues the narrative of David’s exposure during his flight, which the surrounding verses frame with Shimei’s vocal curses and David’s restrained response.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of a king’s sudden vulnerability to public violence, leaving the reader to assess the tension between royal authority and earthly powerlessness.
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 he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David: and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left.