Bible Strands
2 Samuel 19:12
You are my brothers, my own flesh and blood. So why should you be the last to restore the king?’
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David’s messengers address the elders of Judah, commanding them to lead the king’s return to his palace instead of lagging behind the rest of Israel.
The words — The text states אַתֶּם עַצְמִי וּ/בְשָׂרִי (atem atzmi u-vsar-i) as “you are my bone and my flesh,” a literal Hebrew idiom for immediate kinship.
The thread — This phrasing repeats the tribes’ declaration to David at Hebron (2 Samuel 5:1) and mirrors the marital union language of Genesis 2:23, while Judges 9:2 uses identical terminology to probe tribal allegiance.
Why it lands — The verse demands that Judah act on the plain reality of their blood tie to David, treating familial obligation as the immediate reason to restore the king without delay.
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
Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh: wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king?
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 5:1 Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood.
- Genesis 2:23 And the man said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man she was taken.”
- Judges 9:2 “Please ask all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or just one man?’ Remember that I am your own flesh and blood.”
- Ephesians 5:30 For we are members of His body.