Verse Lens · Concise explanation
2 Samuel 16:20 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 20. 20Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse opens the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech: “Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do.” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Absalom Publicly Violates the Concubines.”
Read It With
- 2 Samuel 16:20–23
Read 2 Samuel 16:20 with 16:20–23. The wording “Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do” supplies one opening in the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Ahithophel advises Absalom to use the ten women publicly as a succession claim, and the court enacts the counsel on the roof.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Absalom Publicly Violates the Concubines,” 2 Samuel 16:20 opens the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech through the wording “Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do.” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 2 Samuel 16:15–19 establishes this prior movement: Hushai greets Absalom as king and uses ambiguous loyalty language to survive scrutiny and begin the countermission. 2 Samuel 16:20–23 escalates the unresolved danger and its human cost; 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: Ahithophel advises Absalom to use the ten women publicly as a succession claim, and the court enacts the counsel on the roof. In 2 Samuel 16:20, the concrete line “Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do.” Respond to sexual coercion or assault by protecting the person harmed, preserving their choices and testimony, involving qualified independent support, and holding the person who used power accountable. This response follows from the unit's own pattern—Ahithophel advises Absalom to use the ten women publicly as a succession claim, and the court enacts the counsel on the roof.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 2 Samuel 16:20–23 — Absalom Publicly Violates the ConcubinesSources 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 16:20-23, 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, 16:20-23
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. 565–566, translation and all translator notes attached to 16:20-23
Open source ↗