2 Samuel 18:21

Complete Jewish Bible

Then Yo'av said to the Ethiopian, "Go, tell the king what you saw." The Ethiopian bowed to Yo'av, then ran off.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Joab then said to a Cushite, “Go tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed to Joab and took off running.

Hebrew Names Version
Then said Yo'av to the Kushite, Go, tell the king what you have seen. The Kushite bowed himself to Yo'av, and ran.

King James Version
Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushi bowed himself unto Joab, and ran.

Lexham English Bible
Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen"; then the Cushite bowed down to Joab and ran off.

English Standard Version
Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." The Cushite bowed before Joab, and ran.

New Century Version
Then Joab said to a man from Cush, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." The Cushite bowed to Joab and ran to tell David.

New English Translation
Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go and tell the king what you have seen." After bowing to Joab, the Cushite ran off.

Amplified Bible
Then Joab said to the Cushite (Ethiopian), "Go, tell the king what you have seen." And the Cushite bowed to Joab and ran.

New American Standard Bible
Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." So the Cushite bowed to Joab and ran.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then said Ioab to Cushi, Goe, tel the king, what thou hast seene. And Cushi bowed himselfe vnto Ioab, and ran.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." So the Cushite bowed to Joab and ran.

Contemporary English Version
Someone from Ethiopia was standing there, and Joab told him, "Go and tell the king what you have seen." The man knelt down in front of Joab and then got up and started running.

Darby Translation
Then said Joab to the Cushite, Go, tell the king what thou hast seen. And the Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran.

Easy-to-Read Version
Then Joab said to a man from Ethiopia, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." So the Ethiopian bowed to Joab and ran to tell David.

George Lamsa Translation
Then Joab said to Cushi, Go tell the king what you have seen; and he ran.

Good News Translation
Then he said to his Ethiopian slave, "Go and tell the king what you have seen." The slave bowed and ran off.

Literal Translation
And Joab said to Cushi, Go, tell the king that which you have seen. And Cushi bowed to Joab, and ran.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But vnto Chusi sayde Ioab: Go thou thy waye, and tell the kynge what thou hast sene. And Chusi did his obeysauce vnto Ioab, and ranne.

American Standard Version
Then said Joab to the Cushite, Go, tell the king what thou hast seen. And the Cushite bowed himself unto Joab, and ran.

Bible in Basic English
Then Joab said to the Cushite, Go and give the king word of what you have seen. And the Cushite, making a sign of respect to Joab, went off running.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Then sayd Ioab to Chusi: Go and tell the kyng what thou hast seene. And Chusi bowed him selfe vnto Ioab, and ranne.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Then said Joab to the Cushite: 'Go tell the king what thou hast seen.' And the Cushite bowed down unto Joab, and ran.

King James Version (1611)
Then said Ioab to Cushi, Goe tell the King what thou hast seene. And Cushi bowed himselfe vnto Ioab, and ranne.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Joab said to Chusi, Go, report to the king all that thou hast seen. And Chusi did obeisance to Joab, and went out.

English Revised Version
Then said Joab to the Cushite, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And the Cushite bowed himself unto Joab, and ran.

Berean Standard Bible
So Joab said to a Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." The Cushite bowed to Joab and took off running.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Joab seide to Chusi, Go thou, and telle to the kyng tho thingis that thou hast seyn. Chusi worschypide Joab, and ran.

Young's Literal Translation
And Joab saith to Cushi, `Go, declare to the king that which thou hast seen;' and Cushi boweth himself to Joab, and runneth.

Update Bible Version
Then Joab said to the Cushite, Go, tell the king what you have seen. And the Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran.

Webster's Bible Translation
Then said Joab to Cushi, Go, tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushi bowed himself to Joab, and ran.

World English Bible
Then said Joab to the Cushite, Go, tell the king what you have seen. The Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran.

New King James Version
Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." So the Cushite bowed himself to Joab and ran.

New Living Translation
Then Joab said to a man from Ethiopia, "Go tell the king what you have seen." The man bowed and ran off.

New Life Bible
Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go and tell the king what you have seen." So the Cushite bowed to Joab and ran.

New Revised Standard
Then Joab said to a Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." The Cushite bowed before Joab, and ran.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then said Joab to a Cushite, Go tell the king, what thou hast seen. And the Cushite bowed himself down to Joab, and ran.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And Joab said to Chusai: Go, and tell the king what thou hast seen. Chusai bowed down to Joab, and ran.

Revised Standard Version
Then Jo'ab said to the Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." The Cushite bowed before Jo'ab, and ran.

THE MESSAGE
Then Joab ordered a Cushite, "You go. Tell the king what you've seen." "Yes sir," said the Cushite, and ran off.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." So the Cushite bowed to Joab and ran.

Contextual Overview

¹⁹ Then Achima‘atz the son of Tzadok said, "Let me run now and bring news to the king that Adonai has judged in his favor by releasing him from his enemies." ²⁰ Yo'av said to him, "You are not to be the one to bring the news today; you can convey news another day; but today you will not bring news, because the king's son is dead." ²¹ Then Yo'av said to the Ethiopian, "Go, tell the king what you saw." The Ethiopian bowed to Yo'av, then ran off. ²² But Achima‘atz the son of Tzadok said again to Yo'av, "Come what may, please let me also run after the Ethiopian." Yo'av answered, "Why do you want to run, my son? You won't receive any reward for bringing the news." ²³ "I don't care — whatever happens, I want to run." So he said to him, "Run." Then Achima‘atz ran by the road through the desert flats and outran the Ethiopian. ²⁴ David was sitting between the two gates. A watchman went up to the roof of the gate and out onto the wall, raised his eyes, looked, and saw there a man running by himself. ²⁵ The watchman cried out and told the king. The king said, "If he's alone, he has good news to tell." As he ran along and came close, ²⁶ the watchman saw another man running and called to the gatekeeper, "There's another man running by himself." The king said, "He too must have good news." ²⁷ The watchman said, "The first one runs like Achima‘atz the son of Tzadok." The king said, "He's a good man, he comes with good news." ²⁸ Achima‘atz called to the king, "Shalom," prostrated himself before the king with his face to the ground and said, "Blessed be Adonai your God, who has handed over the men who rebelled against my lord the king."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cross-References

Genesis 11:5
Adonai came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.

Genesis 11:7
Come, let's go down and confuse their language, so that they won't understand each other's speech."

Genesis 18:1
Adonai appeared to Avraham by the oaks of Mamre as he sat at the entrance to the tent during the heat of the day.

Genesis 18:24
Maybe there are fifty righteous people in the city; will you actually sweep the place away, and not forgive it for the sake of the fifty righteous who are there?

Exodus 3:8
I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that country to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the place of the Kena‘ani, Hitti, Emori, P'rizi, Hivi and Y'vusi.

Exodus 33:5
Adonai said to Moshe, "Tell the people of Isra'el, ‘You are a stiffnecked people! If I were to go up with you for even one moment, I would exterminate you! Now, keep your ornaments off; then I will decide what to do to you.'"

Deuteronomy 8:2
You are to remember everything of the way in which Adonai led you these forty years in the desert, humbling and testing you in order to know what was in your heart — whether you would obey his mitzvot or not.

Deuteronomy 13:3
and the sign or wonder comes about as he predicted when he said, ‘Let's follow other gods, which you have not known; and let us serve them,'

Joshua 22:22
"The Mighty One, God, is Adonai ! He knows, and Isra'el will know — if we acted in rebellion or treachery against Adonai , don't vindicate us today!

Job 34:22
There is no darkness, no death-like gloom, where wrongdoers can hide;

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then said Joab to Cushi,.... The Ethiopian, or blackamoor; who either was an Ethiopian by birth and proselyted, or he was an Israelite of a black complexion, and therefore so called; and was judged a proper person by the general to carry such dismal news to the king, as he knew it would be. Some Jewish writers a take him to be the same with Cush the Benjaminite, in the title of the seventh psalm, Psalms 7:1; and that he is the same that told Joab he saw Absalom hanging in an oak, and declared that, if a thousand shekels of silver were offered him, he would not have put forth his hand against him, 2 Samuel 18:10; though some think this was one of the ten young men that waited on Joab, and by his orders slew Absalom; but it would have been dangerous for one of these to have carried the tidings, had he been known by David to have done it:

go tell the king what thou hast seen: by which it should seem that he was present when Absalom was killed:

and Cushi bowed himself unto Joab; in reverence to him as his general, and in thankfulness for sending him on this errand:

and ran; as fast as he could.

a Pirke Eliezer, c. 53.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Cushi - “The Cushite,” a foreign slave, perhaps of Joab’s, whom he did not scruple to expose to David’s anger. If, however, it is a name, it must be rendered “Haccushi.” In the title to Psalms 7:0, “Cush, the Benjamite,” cannot mean this Cushi, since the contents of the Psalm are not suitable to this occasion.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Samuel 18:21. Tell the king what thou hast seen — At this time the death of Absalom was not publicly known; but Joab had given Cushi private information of it. This Ahimaaz had not, for he could not tell the king whether Absalom were dead. To this Joab seems to refer, 2 Samuel 18:22: "Thou hast no tidings ready."