Bible Strands
2 Samuel 19:34
But Barzillai replied, “How many years of my life remain, that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Barzillai speaks to King David at the Jordan crossing as David prepares to return to Jerusalem. He answers the king’s invitation to reside in the capital by questioning his own remaining lifespan.
The words — כַּמָּה יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיַּי (kaMah yemei shenei chayai) literally renders "how many days of the years of my life [remain]." The phrasing compresses time into a diminishing count to stress physical decline.
The thread — The question mirrors Genesis 47:8, where Pharaoh asks Jacob for his age, and parallels the New Testament treatment of life’s brevity in James 4:14 and 1 Corinthians 7:29.
Why it lands — The text states that Barzillai refuses royal honor by citing his advanced age and failing senses. It asks a reader to weigh the pursuit of status against the practical reality of human limitation.
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 Barzillai said unto the king, How long have I to live, that I should go up with the king unto Jerusalem?
Cross-references
- 1 Corinthians 7:29 What I am saying, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none;
- James 4:14 You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
- Genesis 47:8 “How many years have you lived?” Pharaoh asked.
- Job 14:14 When a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, until my renewal comes.
- Psalms 39:5 You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah