2 Kings 17:1
And Achitophel said to Absalom: I will choose me twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night.
Open 2 Kings 17:1 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Dixit ergo Achitophel ad Absalom : Eligam mihi duodecim millia virorum, et consurgens persequar David hac nocte.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Καὶ εἶπεν Ἀχειτόφελ πρὸς Ἀβεσσαλώμ Ἐπιλέξω δὴ ἐμαυτῷ δώδεκα χιλιάδας ἀνδρῶν, καὶ ἀναστήσομαι καὶ καταδιώξω ὀπίσω Δαυεὶδ τὴν νύκτα.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֲחִיתֹ֖פֶל אֶל אַבְשָׁלֹ֑ם אֶבְחֲרָ֣ה נָּ֗א שְׁנֵים עָשָׂ֥ר אֶ֨לֶף֙ אִ֔ישׁ וְאָק֛וּמָה וְאֶרְדְּפָ֥ה אַחֲרֵי דָוִ֖ד הַלָּֽיְלָה
Haydock's commentary
This night. Achitophel has a mind to shew that he is not only an able statesman, but a good general. (Haydock)
On such occasions, expedition is of the utmost consequence, that the people may not have time to enter into themselves, or to concentrate about their lawful king. "Nothing is more delightful than haste in civil discord, where action is more requisite than consultation." By delays, "he would give the wicked an opportunity to repent, and the good would unite together. Crimes are confirmed by rushing on; good counsels by deliberation." Scelera impetu; bona consilia mora valescere. (Tacitus, Hist. i.)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, Philippians 2:1-4
I will now, if you wish, give you examples of all these qualities. For these things which are contraries, seem in some way to be placed near together, as the tares to the wheat, and the thorns to the rose. But while babes might easily be deceived, they who are men in truth, and are skilled in spiritual husbandry, know how to separate what is really good from the bad. Let me then lay before you examples of these qualities from the Scriptures. What is flattery, and meanness, and adulation? Ziba flattered David out of season, and falsely slandered his master. ( 2 Sam. xvi. 1-3 .) Much more did Ahitophel flatter Absalom. ( 2 Sam. xvii. 1-4 .) But David was not so, but he was humble. For the deceitful are flatterers, as when they say, “O king, live for ever.” ( Dan. ii. 4 .) Again, what flatterers the magicians are.
St Jerome The Letters of St. Jerome, To Paula
4. Why should I not mourn, you say? Jacob put on sackcloth for Joseph, and when all his family gathered round him, refused to be comforted. “I will go down,” he said, “into the grave unto my son mourning.” David also mourned for Absalom, covering his face, and crying: “O my son, Absalom…my son, Absalom! Would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son!” Moses, too, and Aaron, and the rest of the saints were mourned for with a solemn mourning. The answer to your reasoning is simple. Jacob, it is true, mourned for Joseph, whom he fancied slain, and thought to meet only in the grave (his words were: “I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning”), but he only did so because Christ had not yet broken open the door of paradise, nor quenched with his blood the flaming sword and the whirling of the guardian cherubim. …