2nd Samuel Chapter 15 verse 28 Holy Bible
See, I will tarry at the fords of the wilderness, until there come word from you to certify me.
read chapter 15 in ASV
See, I will be waiting at the way across the river, in the waste land, till I get news from you.
read chapter 15 in BBE
See, I will stop in the plains of the desert, until there come word from you to inform me.
read chapter 15 in DARBY
See, I will tarry in the plain of the wilderness, until there come word from you to certify me.
read chapter 15 in KJV
See, I will tarry in the plain of the wilderness, until word shall come from you to certify me.
read chapter 15 in WBT
Behold, I will stay at the fords of the wilderness, until word comes from you to inform me."
read chapter 15 in WEB
see ye, I am tarrying in the plains of the wilderness till the coming in of a word from you to declare to me.'
read chapter 15 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 28. - In the plain of the wilderness. The Revised Version has "at the fords of the wilderness," that is, it rightly keeps to the written Hebrew text (the K'tib), while the Authorized Version adopts a conjecture of the Massorites (the K'ri). This conjecture is the substitution of arboth for abroth, and they have made the same alteration at 2 Samuel 17:16. But the substitution is uncalled for and mischievous; for David would not halt indefinitely in the plain, the Arabah (of which Arboth is the plural), but would press on to the fords, where some delay must take place, and where the king's presence would be important in giving instructions for what was by no means an easy operation (comp. 2 Samuel 19:18). At the river, moreover, David could be assailed only in front, where his "mighties" would make a strong defence, while in the Arabah they might be surrounded; and, encumbered as they were with women, their line must be so extended as to be weakened. We find, too, in Judges 3:28 that the fords of the Jordan formed a good military position. In 2 Samuel 17:22 it is expressly said that the fording of the river did not take place until Jonathan and Ahimaaz came with their reports; and their words there, in ver, 21, show that David was on the bank when they arrived, with his preparations so complete, that, in the next few hours, all his company were safely carried over to the other side. Ahimaaz was a famous runner (see 2 Samuel 18:27), and, if David was ready, the time gained by him upon any body of troops leaving Jerusalem at the same hour, would have enabled the king to get his people across; but if he had still some miles to march, with a number of women and children, Ahimaaz's fleetness would have been rendered useless.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(28) The plain of the wilderness.--This is the reading of the Hebrew margin here and at 2Samuel 17:16, and is followed by the ancient versions. It is used for the wide valley of the Jordan in which Jericho is situated; but in both places the Hebrew text is better, the fords, both as a more definite place where messengers would find David, and also as a place of strategic importance where a retreat across the Jordan was open at any moment.
