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Tuesday, August 19th, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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Read the Bible

New King James Version

2 Samuel 5:4

David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - David;   Hebron;   Israel;   Judah;   Thompson Chain Reference - Young Men;   Young People;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - David;   Hebron;   Israel;   Judah, tribe and kingdom;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Congregation;   David;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Israel, History of;   Jerusalem;   Samuel, Books of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Israel;   Jerusalem;   Number;   Samuel, Books of;   Solomon;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Numbers (2);   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Forty;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Hebrew Monarchy, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Adonijah;   Reign;   Samuel, Books of;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Forty, the Number;   Samuel, Books of;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
David was thirty years old when he began his reign; he reigned forty years.
Hebrew Names Version
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
King James Version
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
Lexham English Bible
David was thirty years old when he began to reign; he reigned forty years.
English Standard Version
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
New Century Version
David was thirty years old when he became king, and he ruled forty years.
New English Translation
David was thirty years old when he began to reign and he reigned for forty years.
Amplified Bible
David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.
New American Standard Bible
David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty years.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Dauid was thirtie yeere olde when he began to reigne: and hee reigned fortie yeere.
Legacy Standard Bible
Now David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.
Contemporary English Version
David was thirty years old when he became king, and he ruled for forty years.
Complete Jewish Bible
David was thirty years old when he began his rule, and he ruled forty years.
Darby Translation
David was thirty years old when he began to reign; he reigned forty years.
Easy-to-Read Version
David was 30 years old when he began to rule. He was king for 40 years.
George Lamsa Translation
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
Good News Translation
David was thirty years old when he became king, and he ruled for forty years.
Literal Translation
And David was a son of thirty years when he became king; he reigned forty years.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thyrtie yeare olde was Dauid whan he was made kynge, and reigned fortye yeares.
American Standard Version
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
Bible in Basic English
David was thirty years old when he became king, and he was king for forty years,
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Dauid was thirtie yeres olde when he began to raigne, and he raigned fourtie yeres.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
King James Version (1611)
Dauid was thirtie yeeres old when he began to reigne, and he reigned fourtie yeeres.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
English Revised Version
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
Berean Standard Bible
David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Dauid was a sone of thretti yeer, whanne he bigan to regne, and he regnyde fourti yeer in Ebron;
Young's Literal Translation
A son of thirty years [is] David in his being king; forty years he hath reigned;
Update Bible Version
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
Webster's Bible Translation
David [was] thirty years old when he began to reign, [and] he reigned forty years.
World English Bible
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
New Living Translation
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in all.
New Life Bible
David was thirty years old when he became king, and he ruled for forty years.
New Revised Standard
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Thirty years old, was David when he began to reign, - forty years, he reigned:
Douay-Rheims Bible
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
Revised Standard Version
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
THE MESSAGE
David was thirty years old when he became king, and ruled for forty years. In Hebron he ruled Judah for seven and a half years. In Jerusalem he ruled all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.

Contextual Overview

1 1 Chronicles 11:1-3">[xr] Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and spoke, saying, "Indeed we are your bone and your flesh. 2 Also, in time past, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them in; and the LORD said to you, "You shall shepherd My people Israel, and be ruler over Israel."' 3 Therefore all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD. And they anointed David king over Israel. 4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. 5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

thirty: Luke 3:23

forty: 1 Chronicles 26:31, 1 Chronicles 29:27

Reciprocal: Genesis 41:46 - years 2 Samuel 2:11 - time 1 Kings 1:1 - old 1 Kings 2:11 - reigned over 1 Chronicles 3:4 - there he reigned Hebrews 11:33 - through

Cross-References

Genesis 1:28
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
Genesis 5:1
1 Chronicles 1:1-4; Luke 3:36-38">[xr] This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.
Genesis 5:3
And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
Genesis 5:7
After he begot Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters.
Genesis 5:10
After he begot Cainan, Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and had sons and daughters.
Genesis 5:13
After he begot Mahalalel, Cainan lived eight hundred and forty years, and had sons and daughters.
Genesis 5:19
After he begot Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters.
Genesis 5:22
After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters.
Genesis 5:26
After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had sons and daughters.
Genesis 5:30
After he begot Noah, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years, and had sons and daughters.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

David [was] thirty years old when he began reign,.... Over Judah, which was the age of his antitype Christ, when he entered upon his public ministry, Luke 3:23;

[and] he reigned forty years; and six months, as appears by 2 Samuel 5:5; but the months are not mentioned, only the round number of years given: two reasons the Jews a give for this; the one, that he fled six months from Absalom; the other is, that he was ill in Hebron so long, and therefore are not reckoned.

a Hieron. Trad. Heb. in lib. Reg. fol. 77. I.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The age of David is conclusive as to the fact that the earlier years of Saul’s reign (during which Jonathan grew up to be a man) are passed over in silence, and that the events narrated from 1 Samuel 13:0 to the end of the book did not occupy more than 10 years. If David was 20 years old at the time he killed Goliath, four years in Saul’s service, four years of wandering from place to place, one year and four months in the country of the Philistines, and a few months after Saul’s death, would make up the 10 years necessary to bring him to the age of 30.


 
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