2 Samuel 15:10-13

15:10 Then Absalom sent spies through all the tribes of Israel who said, “When you hear the sound of the horn, you may assume ¹  that Absalom rules in Hebron.” 15:11 Now two hundred men had gone with Absalom from Jerusalem. Since they were invited, they went naively and were unaware of what Absalom was planning. ²  15:12 While he was offering sacrifices, Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s adviser, ³  to come from his city, Giloh. ⁴  The conspiracy was gaining momentum, and the people were starting to side with Absalom.

David Flees from Jerusalem

15:13 Then a messenger came to David and reported, “The men of Israel are loyal to Absalom!” ⁵ 

2 Samuel 15:1

Absalom Leads an Insurrection against David

15:1 Some time later Absalom managed to acquire ⁶  a chariot and horses, as well as fifty men to serve as his royal guard. ⁷ 

1 Samuel 19:11-17

19:11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to guard it and to kill him in the morning. Then David’s wife Michal told him, “If you do not save yourself ⁸  tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!” 19:12 So Michal lowered David through the window, and he ran away and escaped.

19:13 Then Michal took a household idol ⁹  and put it on the bed. She put a quilt ¹⁰  made of goat’s hair over its head ¹¹  and then covered the idol with a garment. 19:14 When Saul sent messengers to arrest David, she said, “He’s sick.”

19:15 Then Saul sent the messengers back to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me on his bed so I can kill him.” 19:16 When the messengers came, they found only the idol on the bed and the quilt made of goat’s hair at its head.

19:17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me this way by sending my enemy away? Now he has escaped!” Michal replied to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Help me get away or else I will kill you!’” ¹² 

1 Samuel 23:26-27

23:26 Saul went on one side of the mountain, while David and his men went on the other side of the mountain. David was hurrying to get away from Saul, but Saul and his men were surrounding David and his men so they could capture them. 23:27 But a messenger came to Saul saying, “Come quickly, for the Philistines have raided the land!”

Mazmur 18:18-19

18:18 They confronted ¹³  me in my day of calamity,

but the Lord helped me. ¹⁴ 

18:19 He brought me out into a wide open place;

he delivered me because he was pleased with me. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 118:10-13

118:10 All the nations surrounded me. ¹⁶ 

Indeed, in the name of the Lord ¹⁷  I pushed them away. ¹⁸ 

118:11 They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me.

Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.

118:12 They surrounded me like bees.

But they disappeared as quickly ¹⁹  as a fire among thorns. ²⁰ 

Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.

118:13 “You aggressively attacked me ²¹  and tried to knock me down, ²² 

but the Lord helped me.

Matius 27:39-44

27:39 Those ²³  who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads 27:40 and saying, “You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! ²⁴  If you are God’s Son, come down ²⁵  from the cross!” 27:41 In ²⁶  the same way even the chief priests – together with the experts in the law ²⁷  and elders ²⁸  – were mocking him: ²⁹  27:42 “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is the king of Israel! If he comes down ³⁰  now from the cross, we will believe in him! 27:43 He trusts in God – let God, if he wants to, deliver him now ³¹  because he said, ‘I am God’s Son’!” 27:44 The ³²  robbers who were crucified with him also spoke abusively to him. ³³ 

[15:10]  ¹ tn Heb “say.”

[15:11]  ² tn Heb “being invited and going naively and they did not know anything.”

[15:12]  ³ tn Traditionally, “counselor,” but this term is more often associated with psychological counseling today, so “adviser” was used in the translation instead.

[15:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, the adviser of David, from his city, from Giloh, while he was sacrificing.” It is not entirely clear who (Absalom or Ahithophel) was offering the sacrifices.

[15:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “the heart of the men of Israel is with Absalom.”

[15:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “acquired for himself.”

[15:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “to run ahead of him.”

[19:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “your life.”

[19:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “teraphim” (also a second time in this verse and once in v. 16). These were statues that represented various deities. According to 2 Kgs 23:24 they were prohibited during the time of Josiah’s reform movement in the seventh century. The idol Michal placed under the covers was of sufficient size to give the mistaken impression that David lay in the bed, thus facilitating his escape.

[19:13]  ¹⁰ tn The exact meaning of the Hebrew word כָּבִיר (kavir) is uncertain; it is found in the Hebrew Bible only here and in v. 16. It probably refers to a quilt made of goat’s hair, perhaps used as a fly net while one slept. See HALOT 458 s.v. *כָּבִיר. Cf. KJV, TEV “pillow”; NLT “cushion”; NAB, NRSV “net.”

[19:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “at the place of its head.”

[19:17]  ¹² tn Heb “Send me away! Why should I kill you?” The question has the force of a threat in this context. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 325, 26.

[18:18]  ¹³ tn The same verb is translated “trapped” in v. 5. In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not imperfect.

[18:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “became my support.”

[18:19]  ¹⁵ tn Or “delighted in me.”

[118:10]  ¹⁶ sn The reference to an attack by the nations suggests the psalmist may have been a military leader.

[118:10]  ¹⁷ tn In this context the phrase “in the name of the Lord” means “by the Lord’s power.”

[118:10]  ¹⁸ tn Traditionally the verb has been derived from מוּל (mul, “to circumcise”) and translated “[I] cut [them] off” (see BDB 557-58 s.v. II מוּל). However, it is likely that this is a homonym meaning “to fend off” (see HALOT 556 s.v. II מול) or “to push away.” In this context, where the psalmist is reporting his past experience, the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite. The phrase also occurs in vv. 11, 12.

[118:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “were extinguished.”

[118:12]  ²⁰ tn The point seems to be that the hostility of the nations (v. 10) is short-lived, like a fire that quickly devours thorns and then burns out. Some, attempting to create a better parallel with the preceding line, emend דֹּעֲכוּ (do’akhu, “they were extinguished”) to בָּעֲרוּ (ba’aru, “they burned”). In this case the statement emphasizes their hostility.

[118:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “pushing, you pushed me.” The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following verbal idea. The psalmist appears to address the nations as if they were an individual enemy. Some find this problematic and emend the verb form (which is a Qal perfect second masculine singular with a first person singular suffix) to נִדְחֵיתִי (nidkheti), a Niphal perfect first common singular, “I was pushed.”

[118:13]  ²² tn Heb “to fall,” i.e., “that [I] might fall.”

[27:39]  ²³ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:40]  ²⁴ sn There is rich irony in the statements of those who were passing by, “save yourself!” and “come down from the cross!” In summary, they wanted Jesus to come down from the cross and save his physical life, but it was indeed his staying on the cross and giving his physical life that led to the fact that they could experience a resurrection from death to life.

[27:40]  ²⁵ tc ‡ Many important witnesses (א* A D pc it sy^[s],p) read καί (kai, here with the force of “then”) before κατάβηθι (katabhqi, “come down”). The shorter reading may well be due to homoioarcton, but judging by the diverse external evidence (א² B L W Θ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat) it is equally possible that the shorter reading is original (and is so considered for this translation). NA²⁷ puts the καί in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[27:41]  ²⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[27:41]  ²⁷ tn Or “with the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[27:41]  ²⁸ tn Only “chief priests” is in the nominative case; this sentence structure attempts to capture this emphasis.

[27:41]  ²⁹ tn Grk “Mocking him, the chief priests…said.”

[27:42]  ³⁰ tn Here the aorist imperative καταβάτω (katabatw) has been translated as a conditional imperative. This fits the pattern of other conditional imperatives (imperative + καί + future indicative) outlined by ExSyn 489.

[27:43]  ³¹ sn An allusion to Ps 22:8.

[27:44]  ³² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:44]  ³³ sn Matthew’s wording suggests that both of the criminals spoke abusively to him. If so, one of them quickly changed his attitude toward Jesus (see Luke 23:40-43).