2 Samuel 23 · Verse 5

2 Samuel 23:5

Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.
2 Samuel 23:5, King James Version

2 Samuel 23:5 in other translations

BSBIs not my house right with God? For He has established with me an everlasting covenant, ordered and secured in every part. Will He not bring about my full salvation and my every desire?
WEBIsn’t my house so with God? Yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, for it is all my salvation and all my desire. Won’t he make it grow?
ASVVerily my house is not so with God; Yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, Ordered in all things, and sure: For it is all my salvation, and all my desire, Although he maketh it not to grow.
YLTFor--not so is my house with God; For--a covenant age-during He made with me, Arranged in all things, and kept; For--all my salvation, and all desire, For--He hath not caused it to spring up.
DARBYAlthough my house be not so before God, Yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, Ordered in every way and sure; For this is all my salvation, and every desire, Although he make it not to grow.
BBEFor is not my house so with God? For he has made with me an eternal agreement, ordered in all things and certain: as for all my salvation and all my desire, will he not give it increase?
WebsterAlthough my house is not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he maketh it not to grow.

What does 2 Samuel 23:5 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
5. Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure--"the light of the morning," that is, the beginning of David's kingdom, was unlike the clear brilliant dawn of an Eastern day but was overcast by many black and threatening clouds; neither he nor his family had been like the tender grass springing up from the ground and flourishing by the united influences of the sun and rain; but rather like the grass that withereth and is prematurely cut down. The meaning is: although David's house had not flourished in an uninterrupted course of worldly prosperity and greatness, according to his hopes; although great crimes and calamities had beclouded his family history; some of the most promising branches of the royal tree had been cut down in his lifetime and many of his successors should suffer in like manner for their personal sins; although many reverses and revolutions may overtake his race and his kingdom, yet it was to him a subject of the highest joy and thankfulness that God will inviolably maintain His covenant with his family, until the advent of his greatest Son, the Messiah, who was the special object of his desire, and the author of his salvation.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 5 Although my house be not so with God - Instead of כן ken, so, read כן kun, established; and let the whole verse be considered as an interrogation, including a positive assertion; and the sense will be at once clear and consistent: "for is not my house (family) established with God; because he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all, and preserved? For this (He) is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it (or him) not to spring up." All is sure relative to my spiritual successor, though he do not as yet appear; the covenant is firm, and it will spring forth in due time. See the observations at the end of the chapter, 2Sam 23:39note).

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on 2 Samuel 23:1-7

These words of David are very worthy of regard. Let those who have had long experience of God's goodness, and the pleasantness of heavenly wisdom, when they come to finish their course, bear their testimony to the truth of the promise. David avows his Divine inspiration, that the Spirit of God spake by him. He, and other holy men, spake and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. In many things he had his own…

Read the full comment on 2 Samuel 23:1-7 →

2 Samuel 23:5 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

כִּֽי\־ki-forH3588
לֹא\־lo'-notH3808
כֵ֥ןkhenthusH3651
בֵּיתִ֖יbei.Ti[is] house? myH1004
עִם\־'im-withH5973
אֵ֑ל'ElGodH410
כִּי֩kiforH3588
בְרִ֨יתve.Rita covenant ofH1285
עוֹלָ֜םo.LamperpetuityH5769
שָׂ֣םsamhe has madeH7760
לִ֗יLito <the> me
עֲרוּכָ֤ה'a.ru.KhaharrangedH6186
בַכֹּל֙va.Kolin <the> everythingH3605
וּשְׁמֻרָ֔הu.she.mu.Rahand preservedH8104
כִּֽי\־ki-forH3588
כָל\־khol-allH3605
יִשְׁעִ֥יyish.'Isalvation myH3468
וְכָל\־ve.kholand everyH3605
חֵ֖פֶץChe.fetzdesireH2656
כִּֽי\־ki-forH3588
לֹ֥אlo'notH3808
יַצְמִֽיחַ\׃yatz.Mi.achwill he make grow?H6779

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for 2 Samuel 23:5

  • Isaiah 55:3

    Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

  • Isaiah 9:6-7

    For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

  • 2 Samuel 7:14-16

    I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.

  • Jeremiah 32:40

    And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.

  • Psalms 89:28-29

    My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.

  • Hebrews 6:19

    Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

  • Amos 9:11

    In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:

  • Isaiah 27:6

    He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.

  • Ezekiel 37:26

    Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.

  • Isaiah 11:1

    And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

  • Hebrews 13:20

    Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

  • 1 Chronicles 17:11-14

    And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build me an house, and I will stablish his throne for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee: But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne shall be established for evermore.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Although.
7:18; 12:10; 13:14,28; 18:14; 1Ki 1:5; 2:24,25; 11:6-8; 12:14
he hath made.
7:14-16; 1Ch 17:11-14; Ps 89:3,28; Isa 9:6,7; 55:3; 61:8; Jer 32:40
Jer 33:25,26; Eze 37:26; Heb 13:20
and sure.
1Sa 2:35; 25:28; 1Ki 11:38; Ac 13:34; Heb 6:19
all my salvation.
Ps 62:2; 119:81
desire.
Ps 27:4; 63:1-3; 73:25,26
to grow.
Isa 4:2; 7:14; 9:6,7; 11:1; 27:6; Am 9:11; 1Co 3:6,7

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • 2 Samuel 23:4

    And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.

  • 2 Samuel 23:5

    Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.

  • 2 Samuel 23:6

    But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands:

Read all of 2 Samuel 23

2 Samuel 23:5 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
No así mi casa para con Dios: sin embargo él ha hecho conmigo pacto perpetuo, ordenado en todas las cosas, y será guardado; bien que toda esta mi salud, y todo mi deseo no lo haga él florecer todavía.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Quoique ma maison ne soit pas ainsi avec ✶Dieu, cependant il a établi avec moi une alliance éternelle, à tous égards bien ordonnée et assurée, car c’est là tout mon salut et tout mon plaisir, quoiqu’il ne la fasse pas germer.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Obwohl mein Haus nicht also ist bei Gott, so hat er mir doch einen ewigen Bund gesetzt, geordnet in allem und verwahrt; denn dies ist all meine Rettung und all mein Begehr, obwohl er es nicht sprossen läßt!
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Nec tanta est domus mea apud Deum, ut pactum æternum iniret mecum, firmum in omnibus atque munitum. Cuncta enim salus mea, et omnis voluntas, nec est quidquam ex ea quod non germinet.