2 Samuel 17:3

King James Version

And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
and bring all the people back to you. When everyone returns except the man you’re looking for, all the people will be at peace.”

Hebrew Names Version
and I will bring back all the people to you: the man whom you seek is as if all returned: [so] all the people shall be in shalom.

Lexham English Bible
Then I will return all the people to you; when all have returned, the man whom you are seeking will be dead, but all the people will be safe."

English Standard Version
and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man, and all the people will be at peace."

New Century Version
Then I'll bring everyone back to you. If the man you are looking for is dead, everyone else will return safely."

New English Translation
and will bring the entire army back to you. In exchange for the life of the man you are seeking, you will get back everyone. The entire army will return unharmed."

Amplified Bible
and I will bring all the people [who follow David] back to you. The return of everyone depends on the [death of the] man you are seeking; then all the people will be at peace [and accept you as king]."

New American Standard Bible
and I will bring all the people back to you. The return of everyone depends on the man whom you are seeking; then all the people will be at peace."

Geneva Bible (1587)
And I will bring againe all the people vnto thee, and when all shal returne, ( the man whome thou seekest being slaine) all the people shalbe in peace.

Legacy Standard Bible
and I will cause all the people to return to you. The return of everyone depends on the man you seek; then all the people will be at peace."

Contemporary English Version
since he's the one you want to get rid of. Then I'll bring the whole nation back to you like a bride coming home to her husband. This way there won't be a civil war.

Complete Jewish Bible
Then I will bring back to you all the people; and when they have all returned, except the one you are seeking, all the people will be at peace."

Darby Translation
and I will bring back all the people to thee. The man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: all the people shall be in peace.

Easy-to-Read Version
Then I will bring all the people back to you. If David is dead, all the people will come back in peace."

George Lamsa Translation
And I will bring back all the people to you, just as those whom you sought have come back; so all the people shall be in peace.

Good News Translation
and then bring back all his men to you, like a bride returning to her husband. You want to kill only one man; the rest of the people will be safe."

Literal Translation
And I shall bring all the people back to you when all return, except the man whom you are seeking. All the people shall be in peace.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and brynge all the people vnto the agayne. So whan euery man is brought vnto the as thou desyrest, then shal all the people be in peace.

American Standard Version
and I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace.

Bible in Basic English
And I will make all the people come back to you as a bride comes back to her husband: it is the life of only one man you are going after; so all the people will be at peace.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And wil bring againe all the people vnto thee: and when al shall returne, the man whom thou sekest [beyng slayne] all the people shalbe in peace.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
and I will bring back all the people unto thee; when all shall have returned, [save] the man whom thou seekest, all the people will be in peace.'

King James Version (1611)
And I wil bring backe all the people vnto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And I will bring back all the people to thee, as a bride returns to her husband: only thou seekest the life of one man, and all the people shall have peace.

English Revised Version
and I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: [so] all the people shall be in peace.

Berean Standard Bible
and bring all the people back to you. When everyone returns except the man you seek, all the people will be at peace."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Y schal lede ayen al the puple, as o man is wont to turne ayen; for thou sekist o man, and al the puple schal be in pees.

Young's Literal Translation
and I bring back all the people unto thee -- as the turning back of the whole [is] the man whom thou art seeking -- all the people are peace.

Update Bible Version
and I will bring back all the people to you: all the people will return [if] the man you are seeking [is smitten]: all the people shall be in peace.

Webster's Bible Translation
And I will bring back all the people to thee: the man whom thou seekest [is] as if all returned: [so] all the people shall be in peace.

World English Bible
and I will bring back all the people to you: the man whom you seek is as if all returned: [so] all the people shall be in peace.

New King James Version
Then I will bring back all the people to you. When all return except the man whom you seek, all the people will be at peace."

New Living Translation
and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride returns to her husband. After all, it is only one man's life that you seek. Then you will be at peace with all the people."

New Life Bible
and return all the people to you. All will return if the man you want to kill is dead. Then all the people will be at peace."

New Revised Standard
and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man, and all the people will be at peace."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
that I may bring back all the people unto thee, - when all return - save the man whom thou art seeking, all the people, will be at peace.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And I will bring back all the people, as if they were but one man: for thou seekest but one man: and all the people shall be in peace.

Revised Standard Version
and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man, and all the people will be at peace."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
and I will bring back all the people to you. The return of everyone depends on the man you seek; then all the people will be at peace."

Contextual Overview

¹ Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night: ² And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only: ³ And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace. ⁴ And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel. ⁵ Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith. ⁶ And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we do after his saying? if not; speak thou. ⁷ And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at this time. ⁸ For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people. ⁹ Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place: and it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom. ¹⁰ And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with him are valiant men.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I will bring: 2 Samuel 3:21

shall be: Isaiah 48:22, Isaiah 57:21, 1 Thessalonians 5:3

Reciprocal: Judges 4:22 - and I will 2 Samuel 20:21 - his head

Cross-References

Genesis 17:17
Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

Genesis 17:18
And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!

Genesis 17:23
And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.

Genesis 17:24
And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

Exodus 3:6
Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

Numbers 14:5
Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

Numbers 16:22
And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?

Numbers 16:45
Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.

Joshua 5:14
And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant?

Judges 13:20
For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And I will bring back all the people unto thee,.... Meaning not the people only that were with David, that he would make them prisoners, and bring them with him; for he before proposed to let them make their escape; but to reduce all Israel to the obedience of Absalom at once, by executing this scheme which he had formed:

the man whom thou seekest [is] as if all returned; meaning David, whom he speaks of contemptibly, and whose life it seems Absalom sought, as well as his crown; and he being dead, it would be all over at once with the people; they would immediately return to their own habitations, and yield obedience to Absalom as the rightful heir and successor; all depended on his death, he intimates: from whence it appears that Abarbinel is wrong in suggesting that Absalom did not design to take away the life of his father, only to secure the kingdom to himself in his father's lifetime, who he understood had disposed of it by his will to Solomon; but here Ahithophel plainly declares the intention of Absalom, nor would he have proposed in plain terms to take away the king's life, had Absalom been averse to it; and it is plain by what follows that the thing was pleasing to him:

[so] all the people shall be in peace; both parties coalesce under the government of Absalom, and live peaceably under it, and so an entire end of the war.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The man whom thou seekest - namely, David. Ahithophel means to say: “If I can only smite David, there will be no civil war, all the people will peaceably submit.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Samuel 17:3. The man whom thou seekest is as if all returned — Only secure David, and all Israel will be on thy side. He is the soul of the whole; destroy him, and all the rest will submit.