2 Samuel 12:17 (DRB)

Passage

And the ancients of his house came, to make him rise from the ground: but he would not, neither did he eat meat with them.

Nearby Context

2 Samuel 12:15 And Nathan returned to his house. The Lord also struck the child which the wife of Urias had borne to David, and his life was despaired of.

2 Samuel 12:16 And David besought the Lord for the child: and David kept a fast, and going in by himself lay upon the ground.

2 Samuel 12:17 And the ancients of his house came, to make him rise from the ground: but he would not, neither did he eat meat with them.

2 Samuel 12:18 And it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died: and the servants of David feared to tell him, that the child was dead. For they said: Behold when the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he would not hearken to our voice: how much more will he afflict himself if we tell him that the child is dead?

2 Samuel 12:19 But when David saw his servants whispering, he understood that the child was dead: and he said to his servants: Is the child dead? They answered him He is dead.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "ancients", "house", "came", "make", "rise", "ground", "neither", and "meat". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "ancients" and "house", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 16's "And David besought the Lord for the..." into verse 18's "And it came to pass on the...", so "ancients" and "house" belong inside that flow. In 2 Samuel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "ancients" and "house" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.