2 Samuel 3:29

let it rest Let it fall. The Heb. word is a forcible one, expressing the energy of David's indignation. It is used in Jeremiah 23:19; Jeremiah 30:23, of the whirlwind of God's wrath falling upon the head of the wicked.

one that hath an issue, or that is a leper Pining away miserably with incurable diseases, which not only made life a burden, but rendered their victim ceremonially unclean, and excluded him from the congregation of the Lord (Leviticus 13:46).

that leaneth on a staff A cripple, lame, or blind. The word translated staffmeans elsewhere distaff(Proverbs 31:19), and the phrase may also be rendered as it is in the Vulgate "distaff holder" (tenens fusum). This would signify -a weak, effeminate man, unfit for war," as "Hercules with the distaff" was the type of unmanly feebleness among the Greeks. But this explanation seems forced, and the E. V. is supported by the Sept. and Targum.

that falleth on the sword Render, " by the sword." The E. V. suggests the idea of suicide, but untimely death in battle or by the hand of an assassin is meant.