Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
2 Samuel 24:17 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 17. 17And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s house.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
David finally names the people as sheep and asks that judgment fall on him and his house, acknowledging the unequal cost of royal action.
Seventy thousand die from Dan to Beersheba
This verse is one part of that explanation in 2 Samuel 24:15–17. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- 2 Samuel 24:15–17
Read 2 Samuel 24:17 with 24:15–17. The wording “And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo…” supplies one closing in the thought unit with its stated result or transition; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: The pestilence kills seventy thousand, the angel reaches Jerusalem, the LORD relents, and David asks that judgment fall on him and his house rather than the people he calls sheep.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Plague Kills Seventy Thousand before Relenting,” 2 Samuel 24:17 closes the thought unit with its stated result or transition through the wording “And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: The plague is the public consequence toward which the incitement, census, objection, confession, and offered judgments have moved. Divine relenting and David's intercession begin inside that consequence rather than reversing away from it.
Follow the Context
- Opening movement: The pestilence kills seventy thousand, the angel reaches Jerusalem, the LORD relents.
- Developing movement or outcome: David asks that judgment fall on him and his house rather than the people he calls sheep.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo…”
In plain language: David finally names the people as sheep and asks that judgment fall on him and his house, acknowledging the unequal cost of royal action.
2 Samuel 24:17 closes the thought unit with its stated result or transition by recording “And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo….” This line matters because David finally names the people as sheep and asks that judgment fall on him and his house, acknowledging the unequal cost of royal action.
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 24:17 does not permit the wording “And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. This narrative line does not make ordinary people expendable for a ruler's decision, turn mass death into scenery, or supply a reusable formula for identifying the cause of disaster.
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 pestilence kills seventy thousand, the angel reaches Jerusalem, the LORD relents, and David asks that judgment fall on him and his house rather than the people he calls sheep. In 2 Samuel 24:17, the concrete line “And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
Teach It Back
Explain 2 Samuel 24:17's role in 24:15–17. Paraphrase “And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo…”, 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
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 24:15–17 — Plague Kills Seventy Thousand before RelentingSources 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 24:15-17, 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, 24:15-17
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. 582–583, translation and all translator notes attached to 24:15-17
Open source ↗