Bible Strands
2 Samuel 19:4
But the king covered his face and cried out at the top of his voice, “O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David speaks alone after the battle, weeping over the gate following Absalom’s death. The moment follows the army’s quiet return to the city and precedes Joab’s confrontation.
The words — לָאַט (la.'At) means "he covered," and קֹל גָּדוֹל (kol gadol) translates to "a great voice." These terms describe the king’s physical posture and the volume of his lament.
The thread — The motif of a covered face and public weeping appears in 2 Samuel 15:30 during David’s flight from Jerusalem, while the repeated cry for Absalom echoes 2 Samuel 18:33. This pattern tracks David’s grief across the rebellion and its aftermath.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of a ruler’s private mourning clashing with public duty. It requires the reader to observe how personal loss complicates political survival.
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
But the king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 15:30 But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went up. His head was covered, and he was walking barefoot. And all the people with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went.
- 2 Samuel 18:33 The king was shaken and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he walked, he cried out, “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”