2 Samuel 18:21

JPS Old Testament

Then said Joab to the Cushite: 'Go tell the king what thou hast seen.' And the Cushite bowed down unto Joab, and ran.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Joab then said to a Cushite, “Go tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed to Joab and took off running.

Hebrew Names Version
Then said Yo'av to the Kushite, Go, tell the king what you have seen. The Kushite bowed himself to Yo'av, and ran.

King James Version
Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushi bowed himself unto Joab, and ran.

Lexham English Bible
Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen"; then the Cushite bowed down to Joab and ran off.

English Standard Version
Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." The Cushite bowed before Joab, and ran.

New Century Version
Then Joab said to a man from Cush, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." The Cushite bowed to Joab and ran to tell David.

New English Translation
Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go and tell the king what you have seen." After bowing to Joab, the Cushite ran off.

Amplified Bible
Then Joab said to the Cushite (Ethiopian), "Go, tell the king what you have seen." And the Cushite bowed to Joab and ran.

New American Standard Bible
Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." So the Cushite bowed to Joab and ran.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then said Ioab to Cushi, Goe, tel the king, what thou hast seene. And Cushi bowed himselfe vnto Ioab, and ran.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." So the Cushite bowed to Joab and ran.

Contemporary English Version
Someone from Ethiopia was standing there, and Joab told him, "Go and tell the king what you have seen." The man knelt down in front of Joab and then got up and started running.

Complete Jewish Bible
Then Yo'av said to the Ethiopian, "Go, tell the king what you saw." The Ethiopian bowed to Yo'av, then ran off.

Darby Translation
Then said Joab to the Cushite, Go, tell the king what thou hast seen. And the Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran.

Easy-to-Read Version
Then Joab said to a man from Ethiopia, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." So the Ethiopian bowed to Joab and ran to tell David.

George Lamsa Translation
Then Joab said to Cushi, Go tell the king what you have seen; and he ran.

Good News Translation
Then he said to his Ethiopian slave, "Go and tell the king what you have seen." The slave bowed and ran off.

Literal Translation
And Joab said to Cushi, Go, tell the king that which you have seen. And Cushi bowed to Joab, and ran.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But vnto Chusi sayde Ioab: Go thou thy waye, and tell the kynge what thou hast sene. And Chusi did his obeysauce vnto Ioab, and ranne.

American Standard Version
Then said Joab to the Cushite, Go, tell the king what thou hast seen. And the Cushite bowed himself unto Joab, and ran.

Bible in Basic English
Then Joab said to the Cushite, Go and give the king word of what you have seen. And the Cushite, making a sign of respect to Joab, went off running.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Then sayd Ioab to Chusi: Go and tell the kyng what thou hast seene. And Chusi bowed him selfe vnto Ioab, and ranne.

King James Version (1611)
Then said Ioab to Cushi, Goe tell the King what thou hast seene. And Cushi bowed himselfe vnto Ioab, and ranne.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Joab said to Chusi, Go, report to the king all that thou hast seen. And Chusi did obeisance to Joab, and went out.

English Revised Version
Then said Joab to the Cushite, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And the Cushite bowed himself unto Joab, and ran.

Berean Standard Bible
So Joab said to a Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." The Cushite bowed to Joab and took off running.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Joab seide to Chusi, Go thou, and telle to the kyng tho thingis that thou hast seyn. Chusi worschypide Joab, and ran.

Young's Literal Translation
And Joab saith to Cushi, `Go, declare to the king that which thou hast seen;' and Cushi boweth himself to Joab, and runneth.

Update Bible Version
Then Joab said to the Cushite, Go, tell the king what you have seen. And the Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran.

Webster's Bible Translation
Then said Joab to Cushi, Go, tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushi bowed himself to Joab, and ran.

World English Bible
Then said Joab to the Cushite, Go, tell the king what you have seen. The Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran.

New King James Version
Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." So the Cushite bowed himself to Joab and ran.

New Living Translation
Then Joab said to a man from Ethiopia, "Go tell the king what you have seen." The man bowed and ran off.

New Life Bible
Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go and tell the king what you have seen." So the Cushite bowed to Joab and ran.

New Revised Standard
Then Joab said to a Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." The Cushite bowed before Joab, and ran.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then said Joab to a Cushite, Go tell the king, what thou hast seen. And the Cushite bowed himself down to Joab, and ran.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And Joab said to Chusai: Go, and tell the king what thou hast seen. Chusai bowed down to Joab, and ran.

Revised Standard Version
Then Jo'ab said to the Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." The Cushite bowed before Jo'ab, and ran.

THE MESSAGE
Then Joab ordered a Cushite, "You go. Tell the king what you've seen." "Yes sir," said the Cushite, and ran off.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." So the Cushite bowed to Joab and ran.

Contextual Overview

¹⁹ Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok: 'Let me now run, and bear the king tidings, how that the LORD hath avenged him of his enemies.' ²⁰ And Joab said unto him: 'Thou shalt not be the bearer of tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day; but this day thou shalt bear no tidings, forasmuch as the king's son is dead.' ²¹ Then said Joab to the Cushite: 'Go tell the king what thou hast seen.' And the Cushite bowed down unto Joab, and ran. ²² Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab: 'But come what may, let me, I pray thee, also run after the Cushite.' And Joab said: 'Wherefore wilt thou run, my son, seeing that thou wilt have no reward for the tidings?' ²³ 'But come what may, [said he,] I will run.' And he said unto him: 'Run.' Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and overran the Cushite. ²⁴ Now David sat between the two gates; and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate unto the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold a man running alone. ²⁵ And the watchman cried, and told the king. And the king said: 'If he be alone, there is tidings in his mouth.' And he came apace, and drew near. ²⁶ And the watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called unto the porter, and said: 'Behold another man running alone.' And the king said: 'He also bringeth tidings.' ²⁷ And the watchman said: 'I think the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.' And the king said: 'He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings.' ²⁸ And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king: 'All is well.' And he bowed down before the king with his face to the earth, and said: 'Blessed be the LORD thy God, who hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king.'

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cross-References

Genesis 11:5
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

Genesis 11:7
Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.'

Genesis 18:1
And the LORD appeared unto him by the terebinths of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;

Genesis 18:24
Peradventure there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt Thou indeed sweep away and not forgive the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

Exodus 3:8
and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

Exodus 33:5
And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Say unto the children of Israel: Ye are a stiffnecked people; if I go up into the midst of thee for one moment, I shall consume thee; therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.'

Deuteronomy 8:2
And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that He might afflict thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or no.

Deuteronomy 13:3
and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke unto thee--saying: 'Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them';

Joshua 22:22
'God, God, the LORD, God, God, the LORD, He knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in treachery against the LORD--save Thou us not this day--

Job 34:22
There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then said Joab to Cushi,.... The Ethiopian, or blackamoor; who either was an Ethiopian by birth and proselyted, or he was an Israelite of a black complexion, and therefore so called; and was judged a proper person by the general to carry such dismal news to the king, as he knew it would be. Some Jewish writers a take him to be the same with Cush the Benjaminite, in the title of the seventh psalm, Psalms 7:1; and that he is the same that told Joab he saw Absalom hanging in an oak, and declared that, if a thousand shekels of silver were offered him, he would not have put forth his hand against him, 2 Samuel 18:10; though some think this was one of the ten young men that waited on Joab, and by his orders slew Absalom; but it would have been dangerous for one of these to have carried the tidings, had he been known by David to have done it:

go tell the king what thou hast seen: by which it should seem that he was present when Absalom was killed:

and Cushi bowed himself unto Joab; in reverence to him as his general, and in thankfulness for sending him on this errand:

and ran; as fast as he could.

a Pirke Eliezer, c. 53.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Cushi - “The Cushite,” a foreign slave, perhaps of Joab’s, whom he did not scruple to expose to David’s anger. If, however, it is a name, it must be rendered “Haccushi.” In the title to Psalms 7:0, “Cush, the Benjamite,” cannot mean this Cushi, since the contents of the Psalm are not suitable to this occasion.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Samuel 18:21. Tell the king what thou hast seen — At this time the death of Absalom was not publicly known; but Joab had given Cushi private information of it. This Ahimaaz had not, for he could not tell the king whether Absalom were dead. To this Joab seems to refer, 2 Samuel 18:22: "Thou hast no tidings ready."