Verse Lens · Concise explanation
2 Samuel 14:26 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 26. 26And when he polled his head, (for it was at every year’s end that he polled it: because the hair was heavy on him, therefore he polled it:) he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels after the king’s weight.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence: “And when he polled his head, (for it was at every year’s end that he polled it: because….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Absalom's Appearance and Children Are Recorded.”
Beauty and hair are public facts, not virtues
This verse is one part of that explanation in 2 Samuel 14:25–27. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- 2 Samuel 14:25–27
Read 2 Samuel 14:26 with 14:25–27. The wording “And when he polled his head, (for it was at every year’s end that he polled it: because…” supplies one step in the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: The narrator praises Absalom's beauty and hair and names his sons and daughter Tamar within his restored Jerusalem household.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Absalom's Appearance and Children Are Recorded,” 2 Samuel 14:26 advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence through the wording “And when he polled his head, (for it was at every year’s end that he polled it: because….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 2 Samuel 14:21–24 establishes this prior movement: David authorizes Joab to bring Absalom back but confines him to his own house without royal access. 2 Samuel 14:25–27 continues the narrative consequence; that demonstrated relationship, rather than sequence alone, explains its placement.
What Remains True
Power remains accountable for the people it exposes, takes, silences, injures, or kills; truthful memory keeps their bodies, testimony, agency, and cost visible. In this unit, that truth is tested by the concrete movement: The narrator praises Absalom's beauty and hair and names his sons and daughter Tamar within his restored Jerusalem household. In 2 Samuel 14:26, the concrete line “And when he polled his head, (for it was at every year’s end that he polled it: because…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read 2 Samuel 14:25–27 — Absalom's Appearance and Children Are RecordedSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: 2 Samuel 14:25-27, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Samuel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, repeated verbs, names, syntax, and the base text behind translation and textual discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Sam.xml, 14:25-27
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 2 Samuel with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Unit-bounded wording, older-English clarification, textual witnesses, syntax, names, numbers, and major historical or literary notes actually printed for these verses.
Exact location: NET Bible 2 Samuel PDF, printed pp. 562–563, translation and all translator notes attached to 14:25-27
Open source ↗