2 Samuel 5:4

5:4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign and he reigned for forty years.

2 Samuel 5:1

David Is Anointed King Over Israel

5:1 All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron saying, “Look, we are your very flesh and blood! ¹ 

2 Samuel 23:1

David’s Final Words

23:1 These are the final words of David:

“The oracle of David son of Jesse,

the oracle of the man raised up as

the ruler chosen by the God of Jacob, ² 

Israel’s beloved ³  singer of songs:

2 Samuel 1:27

1:27 How the warriors have fallen!

The weapons of war ⁴  are destroyed!

2 Samuel 1:1

David Learns of the Deaths of Saul and Jonathan

1:1 After the death of Saul, ⁵  when David had returned from defeating the Amalekites, ⁶  he stayed at Ziklag ⁷  for two days.

Mazmur 90:10

90:10 The days of our lives add up to seventy years, ⁸ 

or eighty, if one is especially strong. ⁹ 

But even one’s best years are marred by trouble and oppression. ¹⁰ 

Yes, ¹¹  they pass quickly ¹²  and we fly away. ¹³ 

[5:1]  ¹ tn Heb “look we are your bone and your flesh.”

[23:1]  ² tn Heb “the anointed one of the God of Jacob.”

[23:1]  ³ tn Or “pleasant.”

[1:27]  ⁴ sn The expression weapons of war may here be a figurative way of referring to Saul and Jonathan.

[1:1]  ⁵ sn This chapter is closely linked to 1 Sam 31. It should be kept in mind that 1 and 2 Samuel were originally a single book, not separate volumes. Whereas in English Bible tradition the books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and Ezra-Nehemiah are each regarded as two separate books, this was not the practice in ancient Hebrew tradition. Early canonical records, for example, counted them as single books respectively. The division into two books goes back to the Greek translation of the OT and was probably initiated because of the cumbersome length of copies due to the Greek practice (unlike that of Hebrew) of writing vowels. The present division into two books can be a little misleading in terms of perceiving the progression of the argument of the book; in some ways it is preferable to treat the books of 1-2 Samuel in a unified fashion.

[1:1]  ⁶ sn The Amalekites were a nomadic people who inhabited Judah and the Transjordan. They are mentioned in Gen 36:15-16 as descendants of Amalek who in turn descended from Esau. In Exod 17:8-16 they are described as having acted in a hostile fashion toward Israel as the Israelites traveled to Canaan from Egypt. In David’s time the Amalekites were viewed as dangerous enemies who raided, looted, and burned Israelite cities (see 1 Sam 30).

[1:1]  ⁷ sn Ziklag was a city in the Negev which had been given to David by Achish king of Gath. For more than a year David used it as a base from which he conducted military expeditions (see 1 Sam 27:5-12). According to 1 Sam 30:1-19, Ziklag was destroyed by the Amalekites while Saul fought the Philistines.

[90:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “the days of our years, in them [are] seventy years.”

[90:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “or if [there is] strength, eighty years.”

[90:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and their pride [is] destruction and wickedness.” The Hebrew noun רֹהַב (rohav) occurs only here. BDB 923 s.v. assigns the meaning “pride,” deriving the noun from the verbal root רהב (“to act stormily [boisterously, arrogantly]”). Here the “pride” of one’s days (see v. 9) probably refers to one’s most productive years in the prime of life. The words translated “destruction and wickedness” are also paired in Ps 10:7. They also appear in proximity in Pss 7:14 and 55:10. The oppressive and abusive actions of evil men are probably in view (see Job 4:8; 5:6; 15:35; Isa 10:1; 59:4).

[90:10]  ¹¹ tn or “for.”

[90:10]  ¹² tn Heb “it passes quickly.” The subject of the verb is probably “their pride” (see the preceding line). The verb גּוּז (guz) means “to pass” here; it occurs only here and in Num 11:31.

[90:10]  ¹³ sn We fly away. The psalmist compares life to a bird that quickly flies off (see Job 20:8).