2 Samuel 1:16

16 For David had said to him, “Your blood be on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’ ”

2 Samuel 1:16 in Other Translations

16 And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain the LORD'S anointed.

16 And David said to him, "Your blood be on your head, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, 'I have killed the LORD's anointed.'"

16 “You have condemned yourself,” David said, “for you yourself confessed that you killed the LORD ’s anointed one.”

16 "You asked for it," David told him. "You sealed your death sentence when you said you killed God's anointed king."

16 And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain Jehovah's anointed.

16 while David said, "You are responsible for spilling your own blood. You testified against yourself when you said, 'I killed the LORD's anointed king.'"

16 For David had said to the Amalekite, "Your blood is on your own head because your own mouth testified against you by saying, 'I killed the Lord's anointed.' "

16 That's because David had said to him, "Anything that happens to you will be your own fault. What your own mouth has spoken is a witness against you. You said, 'I killed the LORD's anointed king.' "

2 Samuel 1:16 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 1:16

And David said unto him, thy blood [be] upon thy head
The blood that he had shed, let him suffer for it; for as he had shed blood, his blood ought to be shed, according to the law of God; and for proof of this, that he had so done, he appeals to his own confession:

for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain the
Lord's anointed;
and what might serve to confirm the truth of what he had said were the crown and bracelet which he brought along with him; and besides he was an Amalekite, of a nation that was devoted to destruction; and, as Abarbinel thinks, David might suppose that he killed Saul to take vengeance on him for what he had done to their nation; but, after all, both he and Maimonides ^F14 allow the punishment of him was not strictly according to law, but was a temporary decree, an extraordinary case, and an act of royal authority; for in common cases a man was not to be condemned and put to death upon his own confession, since it is possible he may not be in his right mind ^F15; but David chose to exercise severity in this case, partly to show his respect to Saul, and to ingratiate himself into the favour of his friends, and partly to deter men from attempting to assassinate princes, who himself was now about to ascend the throne.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 Hilchot Sanhedrin, c. 18. sect. 6.
F15 T. Bab. Yehamot, fol. 25. 2. Maimon. ibid.

2 Samuel 1:16 In-Context

14 David asked him, “Why weren’t you afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?”

15 Then David called one of his men and said, “Go, strike him down!” So he struck him down, and he died.

16 For David had said to him, “Your blood be on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’ ”

17 David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan,

18 and he ordered that the people of Judah be taught this lament of the bow (it is written in the Book of Jashar):

Cross References

• 1. S Leviticus 20:9; 2 Samuel 3:28-29; 1 Kings 2:32; Matthew 27:24-25; Acts 18:6