2 Samuel 14:7 (KJV)

What does 2 Samuel 14:7 mean?

2 Samuel 14:7 describes a widow’s plea to King David. Her relatives want her surviving son put to death because he killed his brother. She fears that losing her last son will end her husband’s family line and leave no heir.

After describing the fight between her sons in verse 6, the woman calls the surviving son her last “coal.” The image pictures a fire whose last glowing piece is about to be extinguished. She speaks as David’s “handmaid,” a respectful way of addressing the king.

The Hebrew behind 2 Samuel 14:7

• “family” — מִשְׁפָּחָה (mishpachah): This word can refer to a wider group of relatives, or a clan. The woman describes a group of kin acting together against her.

• “remainder” — שְׁאֵרִית (she’erit): This word means what is left or remains. Here it points to the people who would carry on her husband’s family line.

Why 2 Samuel 14:7 matters

• The woman presents the demand as both a matter of justice and a threat to the family’s future. Her relatives seek the surviving son’s death “for the life of his brother,” while she calls attention to the loss of “the heir also.”

• The woman’s story is part of a planned appeal. Joab had arranged for her to speak to David (2 Samuel 14:1–3), and she later connects her plea to David’s treatment of his banished son Absalom (14:13–14).

• The verse does not settle the circumstances of the killing. The woman has described the brothers fighting with no one there to separate them (14:6), but the family calls for the surviving brother’s death.