2 Samuel 15:7

What’s In Your Bible: 2 Samuel 15:7 40 or 4?

And it came to pass after 40 years, that Absalom said unto the king, I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed unto the LORD...

What we are looking at is the number 40.

What do the new versions say?

NIV At the end of 4 years

ESV 4 years (The note gives the translations of Septuagint and Syriac as being its authority) Not the Hebrew.

NASV 40 years. The note says “Some ancient versions render 4” Meaning, translations of the Hebrew.

NWT: 40 years! But the NEW- NWT has 4.

All Reformation Bibles have 40 years

ALL HEBREW TEXTS HAVE 40 years.

ALL of them. NOT ONE has 4 years.

This is an instance where the new translations use interpretation instead of translation.

They claim 40 years has to be a scribal error because they misinterpret what the 40 represents.

40 years could mean after his father David was originally anointed to be king, 2 Samuel 2:4 & 3:1

It could be that 40 years refers to the time that the people loved David.

Verse 6 says Absalom had won the hearts of the people.

It could be that after 40 years of the people loving David, Absalom stole their hearts.

A third possibility is 40 years refers back to the time when David invaded the Geshurites and slaughtered everyone before he was anointed King.

Absalom's mother was the daughter of the king of the Geshurites

2 Samuel 3:3 lists the sons of David "and the 3rd, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur.")

Is it possible that Absalom was taking revenge on David on behalf of his mother?

Absalom said “let me go and pay my vow" that he had taken while he lived at Geshur.

David smote the land, leaving neither man nor woman alive. He took the sheep, oxen, asses, camels, and clothes, stripping it clean." 1 Samuel 27:8-9

Absalom unalived his brother Amnon because he of what he did to his sister Tamar and because King David didn’t do anything about it.

The New translation Textual support for 4 years:

Josephus, Syriac Peshitta and supposedly a Septuagint (which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew).

Do we go with the Hebrew, or translations of the Hebrew?

Thanks to Will Kinney!

Dr. Steven A. Hite