Bible Strands
2 Samuel 19:37
Please let your servant return, that I may die in my own city near the tomb of my father and mother. But here is your servant Chimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king, and do for him what is good in your sight.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Barzillai addresses King David as the royal court prepares to cross back from the east bank of the Jordan following Absalom’s rebellion.
The words — וְאָמֻת (ve./'a.Mut) = so I may die and קֶבֶר (Ke.ver) = [the] grave. The text states the speaker’s explicit request to depart and die in his own city near the graves of his father and mother.
The thread — The narrative continues in 2 Samuel 19:40 when Chimham crosses over with the king. The promise to honor Barzillai’s household appears in 1 Kings 2:7, and the location Geruth Chimham is recorded in Jeremiah 41:17.
Why it lands — The text records a practical transfer of duty and a request for honorable discharge. It asks the reader to acknowledge the limits of human loyalty and the necessity of delegating service without romanticizing aging or obligation.
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
Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back again, that I may die in mine own city, and be buried by the grave of my father and of my mother. But behold thy servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king; and do to him what shall seem good unto thee.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 2:7 But show loving devotion to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, because they stood by me when I fled from your brother Absalom.
- Jeremiah 41:17 And they went and stayed in Geruth Chimham, near Bethlehem, in order to proceed into Egypt
- 2 Samuel 19:40 Then the king crossed over to Gilgal, and Chimham crossed over with him. All the troops of Judah and half the troops of Israel escorted the king.
- Genesis 47:30 but when I lie down with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me with them.” Joseph answered, “I will do as you have requested.”
- Genesis 48:21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “Look, I am about to die, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers.
- Genesis 49:29 Then Jacob instructed them, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.
- Genesis 50:13 They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.
- Joshua 23:14 Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know with all your heart and soul that not one of the good promises the LORD your God made to you has failed. Everything was fulfilled for you; not one promise has failed.
- 1 Kings 13:22 but you went back and ate bread and drank water in the place where He told you not to do so, your body shall never reach the tomb of your fathers.’”
- Luke 2:29 “Sovereign Lord, as You have promised, You now dismiss Your servant in peace.