Bible Strands
2 Samuel 17:4
This proposal seemed good to Absalom and all the elders of Israel.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator reports that Absalom and the elders of Israel received Ahithophel’s military proposal favorably, immediately before Absalom summons Hushai for a second opinion.
The words — The phrase וַיִּישַׁר הַדָּבָר (va-yi-shar ha-davar) literally renders “and the word was pleasing,” describing the council’s acceptance of the plan.
The thread — This pattern of a plan pleasing a ruler and his assembly appears in 1 Samuel 18:20, 1 Samuel 23:21, and 2 Chronicles 30:4.
Why it lands — The text records a political consensus without endorsing the strategy, requiring the reader to track how collective approval shapes subsequent events.
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 saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 18:20 Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David, and when this was reported to Saul, it pleased him.
- 1 Samuel 23:21 “May you be blessed by the LORD,” replied Saul, “for you have had compassion on me.
- 2 Chronicles 30:4 This plan pleased the king and the whole assembly.
- Esther 1:21 The king and his princes were pleased with this counsel; so the king did as Memucan advised.
- Esther 5:14 His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, “Have them build a gallows fifty cubits high, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and enjoy yourself.” The advice pleased Haman, and he had the gallows constructed.
- Romans 1:32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.