But Ittai answered the king, “As surely as the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be!”
Here is, I. The notice brought to David of Absalom's rebellion, Sa2 15:13. The matter was bad enough, and yet it seems to have been made worse to him (as such things commonly are) than really it was; for he was told that the hearts of the men of Israel (that is, the generality of them, at least the leading men) were after Absalom.
Commenting on 2 Samuel 15:13-23
And Ittai answered the king, and said,.... With an oath, as follows: as the Lord liveth, and as my lord the king liveth; which he took to confirm what he after says, and to put an end to the debate between them: surely, in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be; signifying...
2Sa 15:21 But Ittai replied with a solemn oath, “Assuredly at the place where my lord the king shall be (stay),whether for death or life, there will thy servant be.” אם כּי means “only,” as in Gen 40:14, Job 42:8; here, in a declaration on oath, it is equivalent to assuredly (vid., Ewald, §356, b.).