2 Samuel 3:6–11, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
2 Samuel 3:6–11
The Rizpah Accusation Breaks Abner from Ishbosheth
Ishbosheth accuses Abner about Rizpah
While the war continues, Abner makes himself strong for the house of Saul. Saul had a concubine named Rizpah, daughter of Aiah. Ishbosheth says to Abner, Why have you gone in unto my father's concubine? Access to a dead king's concubine is being treated as a claim on the royal house. The accusation is a political charge dressed as a sexual one.
Rizpah is named and then silent. The narrator does not report her voice, her consent, or what, if anything, happened between her and Abner. She is a woman inside royal household politics whose body and reputation are used in a quarrel between men. The text does not establish the fact of the charge.
Abner breaks, and Ishbosheth cannot answer him
Abner is very angry. He asks whether he is a dog's head, who this day shows kindness to the house of Saul, his brethren, and his friends, and has not delivered Ishbosheth into David's hand, that he should be charged today with a fault concerning this woman. He swears that he will do for David as the LORD has sworn, to translate the kingdom from the house of Saul and to set up David's throne over Israel and over Judah, from Dan to Beersheba.
Ishbosheth cannot answer another word, because he fears Abner. The commander who made the king now threatens to unmake him. Loyal-service rhetoric and a woman's name are both instruments in Abner's rage. Dan to Beersheba is this land's conventional span, not a later nationalist slogan.
How this should shape us
Do not use an absent person's alleged sexual relationship as leverage in a leadership fight. Protect her privacy, seek her testimony without coercion if a real question of harm exists, and separate evidence from political advantage. A commander's anger is not proof, and a fearful king is not a court.
Teach it back
Explain 2 Samuel 3:6–11 in your own words. Include its narrative movement, one source-supported detail, one material uncertainty, one person or cost power can obscure, and one use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters differ over source layers, chronology, historicity, characterization, textual readings, and whether the court story mainly legitimates, indicts, or holds David in sustained tension. The package states the received movement first and labels reconstructions.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
2 Samuel 3:6-11, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, repeated verbs, names, syntax, and the base text behind translation and textual discussion.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Sam.xml, 3:6-11
Supports: Unit-bounded wording, older-English clarification, textual witnesses, syntax, names, numbers, and major historical or literary notes actually printed for these verses.
NET Bible 2 Samuel PDF, printed pp. 547–550, translation and all translator notes attached to 3:6-11
Supports: Current publisher-visible controls for textual plurality, historical and archaeological limits, David's reception, political power, sexual violence, trauma, and the relationship with Kings and Chronicles; abstract-only chapters carry only their exposed claims.
Oxford Handbook of King David (2026), official Introduction pp. xxiii–xxvii and chapter 3 abstract and bibliographic record, pp. 37–53
Supports: One early-composition and historiographical-optimism proposal, literary structure, source integration, ethical poetics, and the limits of treating the proposal as consensus.
Garsiel, Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 10, article 5 (2010), complete open-access article pp. 1–42, especially the introduction and sections on composition, comparative structure, literary poetics, and historiographical value
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
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 3:6-11, 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, 3:6-11
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. 547–550, translation and all translator notes attached to 3:6-11
Open source ↗modern scholarly handbook limited access
The Oxford Handbook of King David
Edited by Mahri Leonard-Fleckman and Christine Mitchell
Oxford University Press, 2026
Supports: Current publisher-visible controls for textual plurality, historical and archaeological limits, David's reception, political power, sexual violence, trauma, and the relationship with Kings and Chronicles; abstract-only chapters carry only their exposed claims.
Exact location: Oxford Handbook of King David (2026), official Introduction pp. xxiii–xxvii and chapter 3 abstract and bibliographic record, pp. 37–53
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
The Book of Samuel: Its Composition, Structure and Significance as a Historiographical Source
Moshe Garsiel
Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 10, article 5, 2010; published online 2011
Supports: One early-composition and historiographical-optimism proposal, literary structure, source integration, ethical poetics, and the limits of treating the proposal as consensus.
Exact location: Garsiel, Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 10, article 5 (2010), complete open-access article pp. 1–42, especially the introduction and sections on composition, comparative structure, literary poetics, and historiographical value
Open source ↗