Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
2 Samuel 20:3 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 3. 3And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
The assaulted concubines are confined for life as living widows; the text reports provision and restriction, not repair or restored agency.
Read It With
- 2 Samuel 20:1–3
Read 2 Samuel 20:3 with 20:1–3. The wording “And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom…” supplies one closing in the thought unit with its stated result or transition; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Sheba rejects Davidic share, Israel follows him, Judah stays with David, and the ten women are kept under guard in living widowhood.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Sheba Revolts and the Concubines Are Confined,” 2 Samuel 20:3 closes the thought unit with its stated result or transition through the wording “And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 2 Samuel 19:41–43 establishes this prior movement: Israel challenges Judah's control of the crossing, Judah answers with kinship, Israel asserts a larger share, and Judah's words prevail harshly. 2 Samuel 20:1–3 escalates the unresolved danger and its human cost; that demonstrated relationship, rather than sequence alone, explains its placement.
Follow the Context
- Opening movement: Sheba rejects Davidic share, Israel follows him, Judah stays with David.
- Developing movement or outcome: the ten women are kept under guard in living widowhood.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom…”
In plain language: The assaulted concubines are confined for life as living widows; the text reports provision and restriction, not repair or restored agency.
2 Samuel 20:3 closes the thought unit with its stated result or transition by recording “And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom….” This line matters because the assaulted concubines are confined for life as living widows; the text reports provision and restriction, not repair or restored agency.
Why it matters: This wording carries a material textual, literary, historical, royal-power, violence, consent, trauma, covenant, reception, or misuse boundary.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
2 Samuel 20:3 does not permit the wording “And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. This verse does not excuse sexual coercion, erase consent, blame the person harmed, or turn prophecy, household status, or royal power into moral permission.
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: Sheba rejects Davidic share, Israel follows him, Judah stays with David, and the ten women are kept under guard in living widowhood. In 2 Samuel 20:3, the concrete line “And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom….” 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—Sheba rejects Davidic share, Israel follows him, Judah stays with David, and the ten women are kept under guard in living widowhood.
Teach It Back
Explain 2 Samuel 20:3's role in 20:1–3. Paraphrase “And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom…”, name the ancient royal or household horizon, state one material uncertainty, keep one vulnerable or affected person visible, and identify one conclusion the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 2 Samuel 20:1–3 — Sheba Revolts and the Concubines Are ConfinedSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
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 20:1-3, 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, 20:1-3
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. 572–573, translation and all translator notes attached to 20:1-3
Open source ↗