Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, November 23rd, 2025
the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
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Read the Bible

Easy-to-Read Version

2 Samuel 19:3

The people came into the city quietly as if they were the ones who had been defeated in battle.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Absalom;   David;   Joab;   Parents;   Reproof;   Sorrow;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Joab;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Prophet;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Samuel, Books of;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Hebrew Monarchy, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Crime;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Absalom;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
So they returned to the city quietly that day like troops come in when they are humiliated after fleeing in battle.
Hebrew Names Version
The people got them by stealth that day into the city, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.
King James Version
And the people gat them by stealth that day into the city, as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.
Lexham English Bible
The army came secretly into the city on that day because the army was disgraced when they fled in the battle,
English Standard Version
And the people stole into the city that day as people steal in who are ashamed when they flee in battle.
New Century Version
The people came into the city quietly that day. They were like an army that had been defeated in battle and had run away.
New English Translation
That day the people stole away to go to the city the way people who are embarrassed steal away in fleeing from battle.
Amplified Bible
The people stole into the city [of Mahanaim] that day, as people who are humiliated and ashamed steal away when they retreat in battle.
New American Standard Bible
And the people entered the city surreptitiously that day, just as people who are humiliated surreptitiously flee in battle.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And the people went that day into the citie secretly, as people confounded hide them selues when they flee in battell.
Legacy Standard Bible
So the people stole away to enter into the city that day, as people who are dishonored steal away when they flee in battle.
Contemporary English Version
The troops were sneaking into Mahanaim, just as if they had run away from a battle and were ashamed.
Complete Jewish Bible
Thus the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the people, for the people heard it said that day that the king was grieving for his son;
Darby Translation
And the people stole away that day into the city, as people steal away when ashamed of fleeing in battle.
George Lamsa Translation
And the people concealed themselves as they entered into the city that day, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee from battle.
Good News Translation
They went back into the city quietly, like soldiers who are ashamed because they are running away from battle.
Literal Translation
And the people stole away on that day to go into the city, as the people steal away who are ashamed as they flee in battle.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And ye people stale awaye the same daye, so that they came not in to the cite: as a people that is put to shame, pycketh them selues awaye, whan they are fled in a battayll.
American Standard Version
And the people gat them by stealth that day into the city, as people that are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.
Bible in Basic English
And the people made their way back to the town quietly and secretly, as those who are shamed go secretly when they go in flight from the war.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the people went that day into the citie by stealth, as people confounded to conuey themselues when they flee in battell.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the victory that day was turned into mourning unto all the people; for the people heard say that day: 'The king grieveth for his son.'
King James Version (1611)
And the people gate them by stealth that day into the citie, as people beeing ashamed steale away when they flee in battell.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the people stole away that day to go into the city, as people steal away when they are ashamed as they flee in the battle.
English Revised Version
And the people gat them by stealth that day into the city, as people that are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.
Berean Standard Bible
So they returned to the city quietly that day, as people steal away in humiliation after fleeing a battle.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the puple eschewide to entre in to the citee in that dai, as the puple turned and fleynge fro batel is wont to bowe awey.
Young's Literal Translation
And the people stealeth away, on that day, to go in to the city, as the people steal away, who are ashamed, in their fleeing in battle;
Update Bible Version
And the people went by stealth that day into the city, as people that are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.
Webster's Bible Translation
And the people withdrew by stealth that day into the city, as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.
World English Bible
The people got them by stealth that day into the city, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.
New King James Version
And the people stole back into the city that day, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.
New Living Translation
They crept back into the town that day as though they were ashamed and had deserted in battle.
New Life Bible
So the people were quiet as they went in secret into the city that day. They acted like people who are ashamed when they run away from a battle.
New Revised Standard
The troops stole into the city that day as soldiers steal in who are ashamed when they flee in battle.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And the people stole away, on that day, to go into the city, - as people steal away who are put to shame, when they flee in battle.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And the people shunned the going into the city that day as a people would do that hath turned their backs, and fled away from the battle.
Revised Standard Version
And the people stole into the city that day as people steal in who are ashamed when they flee in battle.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
So the people went by stealth into the city that day, as people who are humiliated steal away when they flee in battle.

Contextual Overview

1 People told Joab what had happened, "Look, the king is crying and mourning for Absalom." 2 So the joy of victory turned to sadness for everyone. It was a very sad day because the people heard, "The king is mourning for his son." 3 The people came into the city quietly as if they were the ones who had been defeated in battle. 4 The king had covered his face and was crying loudly, "O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!" 5 Joab came into the king's palace and said to the king, "You are humiliating every one of your officers! Look, they saved your life today and the lives of your sons and daughters and your wives and slave women. 6 It seems that you love those who hate you, and you hate those who love you! Today you have made it clear to your officers and men that they mean nothing to you. It appears as if you would have been perfectly happy if Absalom had lived and the rest of us had been killed today! 7 Now get up and go encourage your officers. I swear by the Lord , if you don't go out and do that right now, not one man will be with you tonight. And that will be worse for you than all the trouble you have had since you were a child." 8 So the king went to the city gate. The news spread that the king was at the gate, so all the people came to see him, except for the Israelites who had run away to their homes.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

into the city: 2 Samuel 19:32, 2 Samuel 17:24

steal: Genesis 31:27

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 19:8 - for Israel 2 Samuel 19:41 - stolen

Cross-References

Genesis 19:6
Lot went outside and closed the door behind him.
Genesis 19:8
Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man before. I will give my daughters to you. You can do anything you want with them. But please don't do anything to these men. They have come to my house, and I must protect them."
Genesis 19:28
Abraham looked down into the valley toward the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He saw clouds of smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
Genesis 19:29
God destroyed the cities in the valley, but he remembered what Abraham had said. So God sent Lot away from those cities before destroying them.
Genesis 21:8
Isaac continued to grow, and soon he was old enough to begin eating solid food. So Abraham gave a big party.
Exodus 12:15
For this festival you will eat bread made without yeast for seven days. On the first day, you will remove all the yeast from your houses. No one should eat any yeast for the full seven days of this festival. Anyone who eats yeast must be separated from the rest of Israel.
Exodus 12:39
The people did not have time to put yeast in their bread or make any special food for their journey. So they had to bake their bread without yeast.
Judges 6:19
So Gideon went in and cooked a young goat in boiling water. He also took about 20 pounds of flour and made bread without yeast. Then he put the meat into a basket and the broth from the meat into a pot. He brought out the meat, the broth, and the bread without yeast and gave them to the Lord under the oak tree.
1 Samuel 28:24
The woman had a calf that she had been fattening. She quickly killed the calf. She took some flour and pressed it with her hands. Then she baked some bread without yeast.
2 Kings 4:8
One day Elisha went to Shunem, where an important woman lived. She asked Elisha to stop and eat at her house. So every time Elisha went through that place, he stopped there to eat.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the people got them by stealth that day into the city,.... Did not march into it in companies, in a public and triumphant manner, as conquerors used to do; but entered in a private manner, one by one, or a very few together, not caring to be seen or known, at least by the king, as fearing they had incurred his displeasure: but

as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle; as if they had been conquered, and not conquerors; nay, had acted a cowardly part, and ran away; and so cared not to be seen, lest they should be reproached, or suffer for their cowardice.


 
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