2 Samuel 1:2

1:2 On the third day a man arrived from the camp of Saul with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. ¹  When he approached David, the man ²  threw himself to the ground. ³ 

2 Samuel 1:4

1:4 David inquired, “How were things going? ⁴  Tell me!” He replied, “The people fled from the battle and many of them ⁵  fell dead. ⁶  Even Saul and his son Jonathan are dead!”

2 Samuel 2:5

2:5 So David sent messengers to the people of Jabesh Gilead and told them, “May you be blessed by the Lord because you have shown this kindness ⁷  to your lord Saul by burying him.

2 Samuel 2:10

2:10 Ish-bosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he began to rule over Israel. He ruled two years. However, the people ⁸  of Judah followed David.

2 Samuel 2:13

2:13 Joab son of Zeruiah and the servants of David also went out and confronted them at the pool of Gibeon. One group stationed themselves on one side of the pool, and the other group on the other side of the pool.

2 Samuel 3:12

3:12 Then Abner sent messengers ⁹  to David saying, “To whom does the land belong? Make an agreement ¹⁰  with me, and I will do whatever I can ¹¹  to cause all Israel to turn to you.”

2 Samuel 3:14

3:14 David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth son of Saul with this demand: ¹²  “Give me my wife Michal whom I acquired ¹³  for a hundred Philistine foreskins.”

2 Samuel 3:19

3:19 Then Abner spoke privately ¹⁴  with the Benjaminites. Abner also went to Hebron to inform David privately ¹⁵  of all that Israel and the entire house of Benjamin had agreed to. ¹⁶ 

2 Samuel 4:9

4:9 David replied to Recab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered my life from all adversity,

2 Samuel 4:12

4:12 So David issued orders to the soldiers and they put them to death. Then they cut off their hands and feet and hung them ¹⁷  near the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth ¹⁸  and buried it in the tomb of Abner ¹⁹  in Hebron. ²⁰ 

2 Samuel 6:2

6:2 David and all the men who were with him traveled ²¹  to ²²  Baalah ²³  in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by the name ²⁴  of the Lord of hosts, who sits enthroned between the cherubim that are on it.

2 Samuel 6:21

6:21 David replied to Michal, “It was before the Lord! I was celebrating before the Lord, who chose me over your father and his entire family ²⁵  and appointed me as leader over the Lord’s people Israel.

2 Samuel 7:8

7:8 “So now, say this to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of hosts says: I took you from the pasture and from your work as a shepherd ²⁶  to make you leader of my people Israel.

2 Samuel 8:2

8:2 He defeated the Moabites. He made them lie on the ground and then used a rope to measure them off. He put two-thirds of them to death and spared the other third. ²⁷  The Moabites became David’s subjects and brought tribute. ²⁸ 

2 Samuel 9:7

9:7 David said to him, “Don’t be afraid, because I will certainly extend kindness to you for the sake of Jonathan your father. You will be a regular guest at my table.” ²⁹ 

2 Samuel 10:18

10:18 The Arameans fled before Israel. David killed 700 Aramean charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers. ³⁰  He also struck down Shobach, the general in command of the army, who died there.

2 Samuel 11:2

11:2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace. ³¹  From the roof he saw a woman bathing. Now this woman was very attractive. ³² 

2 Samuel 11:25

11:25 David said to the messenger, “Tell Joab, ‘Don’t let this thing upset you. ³³  There is no way to anticipate whom the sword will cut down. ³⁴  Press the battle against the city and conquer ³⁵  it.’ Encourage him with these words.” ³⁶ 

2 Samuel 12:1

Nathan the Prophet Confronts David

12:1 So the Lord sent Nathan ³⁷  to David. When he came to David, ³⁸  Nathan ³⁹  said, ⁴⁰  “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.

2 Samuel 12:7

12:7 Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I chose ⁴¹  you to be king over Israel and I rescued you from the hand of Saul.

2 Samuel 12:20

12:20 So David got up from the ground, bathed, put on oil, and changed his clothes. He went to the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then, when he entered his palace, he requested that food be brought to him, and he ate.

2 Samuel 12:30-31

12:30 He took the crown of their king ⁴²  from his head – it was gold, weighed about seventy-five pounds, ⁴³  and held a precious stone – and it was placed on David’s head. He also took from the city a great deal of plunder. 12:31 He removed ⁴⁴  the people who were in it and made them do hard labor with saws, iron picks, and iron axes, putting them to work at the brick kiln. This was his policy ⁴⁵  with all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all the army returned to Jerusalem. ⁴⁶ 

2 Samuel 15:12

15:12 While he was offering sacrifices, Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s adviser, ⁴⁷  to come from his city, Giloh. ⁴⁸  The conspiracy was gaining momentum, and the people were starting to side with Absalom.

2 Samuel 15:14

15:14 So David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, ⁴⁹  “Come on! ⁵⁰  Let’s escape! ⁵¹  Otherwise no one will be delivered from Absalom! Go immediately, or else he will quickly overtake us and bring ⁵²  disaster on us and kill the city’s residents with the sword.” ⁵³ 

2 Samuel 15:30

15:30 As David was going up the Mount of Olives, he was weeping as he went; his head was covered and his feet were bare. All the people who were with him also had their heads covered and were weeping as they went up.

2 Samuel 16:1

David Receives Gifts from Ziba

16:1 When David had gone a short way beyond the summit, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth was there to meet him. He had a couple of donkeys that were saddled, and on them were two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred raisin cakes, a hundred baskets of summer fruit, ⁵⁴  and a container of wine.

2 Samuel 16:5

Shimei Curses David and His Men

16:5 Then King David reached ⁵⁵  Bahurim. There a man from Saul’s extended family named Shimei son of Gera came out, yelling curses as he approached. ⁵⁶ 

2 Samuel 16:10-11

16:10 But the king said, “What do we have in common, ⁵⁷  you sons of Zeruiah? If he curses because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David!’, who can say to him, ‘Why have you done this?’” 16:11 Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “My own son, my very own flesh and blood, ⁵⁸  is trying to take my life. So also now this Benjaminite! Leave him alone so that he can curse, for the Lord has spoken to him.

2 Samuel 16:23

16:23 In those days Ahithophel’s advice was considered as valuable as a prophetic revelation. ⁵⁹  Both David and Absalom highly regarded the advice of Ahithophel. ⁶⁰ 

2 Samuel 17:16-17

17:16 Now send word quickly to David and warn him, ⁶¹  “Don’t spend the night at the fords of the desert ⁶²  tonight. Instead, be sure you cross over, ⁶³  or else the king and everyone who is with him may be overwhelmed.” ⁶⁴ 

17:17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying in En Rogel. A female servant would go and inform them, and they would then go and inform King David. It was not advisable for them to be seen going into the city.

2 Samuel 17:22

17:22 So David and all the people who were with him got up and crossed the Jordan River. ⁶⁵  By dawn there was not one person left who had not crossed the Jordan.

2 Samuel 18:2

18:2 David then sent out the army – a third under the leadership of Joab, a third under the leadership of Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under the leadership of Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the troops, “I too will indeed march out with you.”

2 Samuel 18:9

18:9 Then Absalom happened to come across David’s men. Now as Absalom was riding on his ⁶⁶  mule, it ⁶⁷  went under the branches of a large oak tree. His head got caught in the oak and he was suspended in midair, ⁶⁸  while the mule he had been riding kept going.

2 Samuel 18:24

18:24 Now David was sitting between the inner and outer gates, ⁶⁹  and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate at the wall. When he looked, he saw a man running by himself.

2 Samuel 19:22

19:22 But David said, “What do we have in common, ⁷⁰  you sons of Zeruiah? You are like my enemy today! Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Don’t you realize that today I am king over Israel?”

2 Samuel 19:41

19:41 Then all the men of Israel began coming to the king. They asked the king, “Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, sneak the king away and help the king and his household cross the Jordan – and not only him but all of David’s men as well?”

2 Samuel 20:1

Sheba’s Rebellion

20:1 Now a wicked man ⁷¹  named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, ⁷²  happened to be there. He blew the trumpet ⁷³  and said,

“We have no share in David;

we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!

Every man go home, ⁷⁴  O Israel!”

2 Samuel 20:3

20:3 Then David went to his palace ⁷⁵  in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace and placed them under confinement. ⁷⁶  Though he provided for their needs, he did not have sexual relations with them. ⁷⁷  They remained in confinement until the day they died, living out the rest of their lives as widows.

2 Samuel 20:6

20:6 Then David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba son of Bicri will cause greater disaster for us than Absalom did! Take your lord’s servants and pursue him. Otherwise he will secure ⁷⁸  fortified cities for himself and get away from us.”

2 Samuel 21:7

21:7 The king had mercy on Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, in light of the Lord’s oath that had been taken between David and Jonathan son of Saul.

2 Samuel 21:17

21:17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to David’s aid, striking the Philistine down and killing him. Then David’s men took an oath saying, “You will not go out to battle with us again! You must not extinguish the lamp of Israel!”

2 Samuel 23:8-9

David’s Warriors

23:8 These are the names of David’s warriors:

Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite, was head of the officers. ⁷⁹  He killed eight hundred men with his spear in one battle. ⁸⁰  23:9 Next in command ⁸¹  was Eleazar son of Dodo, ⁸²  the son of Ahohi. He was one of the three warriors who were with David when they defied the Philistines who were assembled there for battle. When the men of Israel retreated, ⁸³ 

2 Samuel 23:16

23:16 So the three elite warriors broke through the Philistine forces and drew some water from the cistern in Bethlehem near the gate. They carried it back to David, but he refused to drink it. He poured it out as a drink offering to the Lord

2 Samuel 24:17

24:17 When he saw the angel who was destroying the people, David said to the Lord, “Look, it is I who have sinned and done this evil thing! As for these sheep – what have they done? Attack me and my family.” ⁸⁴ 

2 Samuel 24:21

24:21 Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David replied, “To buy from you the threshing floor so I can build an altar for the Lord, so that the plague may be removed from the people.”

2 Samuel 24:24

24:24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it from you! I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt sacrifices that cost me nothing.”

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty pieces of silver. ⁸⁵ 

[1:2]  ¹ sn Tearing one’s clothing and throwing dirt on one’s head were outward expressions of grief in the ancient Near East, where such demonstrable reactions were a common response to tragic news.

[1:2]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man mentioned at the beginning of v. 2) has been specified in the translation to avoid confusion as to who fell to the ground.

[1:2]  ³ tn Heb “he fell to the ground and did obeisance.”

[1:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “What was the word?”

[1:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the people.”

[1:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “fell and died.”

[2:5]  ⁷ tn Or “loyalty.”

[2:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “house.”

[3:12]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text adds here, “on his behalf.”

[3:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “cut a covenant.” So also in vv. 13, 21.

[3:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and behold, my hand is with you.”

[3:14]  ¹² tn Heb “to Ish-bosheth son of Saul saying.” To avoid excessive sibilance (especially when read aloud) the translation renders “saying” as “with this demand.”

[3:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “whom I betrothed to myself.”

[3:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “into the ears of.”

[3:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “also Abner went to speak into the ears of David in Hebron.”

[3:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “all which was good in the eyes of Israel and in the eyes of all the house of Benjamin.”

[4:12]  ¹⁷ tn The antecedent of the pronoun “them” (which is not present in the Hebrew text, but implied) is not entirely clear. Presumably it is the corpses that were hung and not merely the detached hands and feet; cf. NIV “hung the (their NRSV, NLT) bodies”; the alternative is represented by TEV “cut off their hands and feet, which they hung up.”

[4:12]  ¹⁸ tc 4QSam^a mistakenly reads “Mephibosheth” here.

[4:12]  ¹⁹ tc The LXX adds “the son of Ner” by conformity with common phraseology elsewhere.

[4:12]  ²⁰ tc Some mss of the LXX lack the phrase “in Hebron.”

[6:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “arose and went.”

[6:2]  ²² tn Heb “from,” but the following context indicates they traveled to this location.

[6:2]  ²³ tn This is another name for Kiriath-jearim (see 1 Chr 13:6).

[6:2]  ²⁴ tc The MT has here a double reference to the name (שֵׁם שֵׁם, shem shem). Many medieval Hebrew mss in the first occurrence point the word differently and read the adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”). This is also the understanding of the Syriac Peshitta (Syr., taman). While this yields an acceptable understanding to the text, it is more likely that the MT dittographic here. The present translation therefore reads שֵׁם only once.

[6:21]  ²⁵ tn Heb “all his house”; CEV “anyone else in your family.”

[7:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and from after the sheep.”

[8:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and he measured [with] two [lengths] of rope to put to death and [with] the fullness of the rope to keep alive.”

[8:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and the Moabites were servants of David, carriers of tribute.”

[9:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and you will eat food over my table continually.”

[10:18]  ³⁰ tn Heb “horsemen” (so KJV, NASB, NCV, NRSV, NLT) but the Lucianic recension of the LXX reads “foot soldiers,” as does the parallel text in 1 Chr 19:18. Cf. NAB, NIV.

[11:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “on the roof of the house of the king.” So also in vv. 8, 9.

[11:2]  ³² tn The disjunctive clause highlights this observation and builds the tension of the story.

[11:25]  ³³ tn Heb “let not this matter be evil in your eyes.”

[11:25]  ³⁴ tn Heb “according to this and according to this the sword devours.”

[11:25]  ³⁵ tn Heb “overthrow.”

[11:25]  ³⁶ tn The Hebrew text does not have “with these words.” They are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[12:1]  ³⁷ tc A few medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta add “the prophet.” The words are included in a few modern English version (e.g., TEV, CEV, NLT).

[12:1]  ³⁸ tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:1]  ³⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Nathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:1]  ⁴⁰ tn The Hebrew text repeats “to him.”

[12:7]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “anointed.”

[12:30]  ⁴² tn Part of the Greek tradition wrongly understands Hebrew מַלְכָּם (malkam, “their king”) as a proper name (“Milcom”). Some English versions follow the Greek here, rendering the phrase “the crown of Milcom” (so NRSV; cf. also NAB, CEV). TEV takes this as a reference not to the Ammonite king but to “the idol of the Ammonite god Molech.”

[12:30]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and its weight [was] a talent of gold.” The weight of this ornamental crown was approximately 75 lbs (34 kg). See P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 313.

[12:31]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “brought out.”

[12:31]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and so he would do.”

[12:31]  ⁴⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[15:12]  ⁴⁷ tn Traditionally, “counselor,” but this term is more often associated with psychological counseling today, so “adviser” was used in the translation instead.

[15:12]  ⁴⁸ 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.

[15:14]  ⁴⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[15:14]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “Arise!”

[15:14]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “let’s flee.”

[15:14]  ⁵² tn Heb “thrust.”

[15:14]  ⁵³ tn Heb “and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”

[16:1]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “a hundred summer fruit.”

[16:5]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “came to.” The form of the verb in the MT is odd. Some prefer to read וַיַּבֹא (vayyavo’), preterite with vav consecutive) rather than וּבָא (uva’), apparently perfect with vav), but this is probably an instance where the narrative offline vÿqatal construction introduces a new scene.

[16:5]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “And look, from there a man was coming out from the clan of the house of Saul and his name was Shimei son of Gera, continually going out and cursing.”

[16:10]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “What to me and to you?”

[16:11]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “who came out from my entrails.” David’s point is that is his own son, his child whom he himself had fathered, was now wanting to kill him.

[16:23]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “And the advice of Ahithophel which he advised in those days was as when one inquires of the word of God.”

[16:23]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “So was all the advice of Ahithophel, also to David, also to Absalom.”

[17:16]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “send quickly and tell David saying.”

[17:16]  ⁶² tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV).

[17:16]  ⁶³ tn That is, “cross over the Jordan River.”

[17:16]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “swallowed up.”

[17:22]  ⁶⁵ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text here or in v. 24, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[18:9]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “the.”

[18:9]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “the donkey.”

[18:9]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “between the sky and the ground.”

[18:24]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “the two gates.”

[19:22]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “what to me and to you.”

[20:1]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”

[20:1]  ⁷² tn The expression used here יְמִינִי (yÿmini) is a short form of the more common “Benjamin.” It appears elsewhere in 1 Sam 9:4 and Esth 2:5. Cf. 1 Sam 9:1.

[20:1]  ⁷³ tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.

[20:1]  ⁷⁴ tc The MT reads לְאֹהָלָיו (lÿ’ohalav, “to his tents”). For a similar idiom, see 19:9. An ancient scribal tradition understands the reading to be לְאלֹהָיו (le’lohav, “to his gods”). The word is a tiqqun sopherim, and the scribes indicate that they changed the word from “gods” to “tents” so as to soften its theological implications. In a consonantal Hebrew text the change involved only the metathesis of two letters.

[20:3]  ⁷⁵ tn Heb “house.”

[20:3]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “and he placed them in a guarded house.”

[20:3]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “he did not come to them”; NAB “has no further relations with them”; NIV “did not lie with them”; TEV “did not have intercourse with them”; NLT “would no longer sleep with them.”

[20:6]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “find.” The perfect verbal form is unexpected with the preceding word “otherwise.” We should probably read instead the imperfect. Although it is possible to understand the perfect here as indicating that the feared result is thought of as already having taken place (cf. BDB 814 s.v. פֶּן 2), it is more likely that the perfect is simply the result of scribal error. In this context the imperfect would be more consistent with the following verb וְהִצִּיל (vÿhitsil, “and he will get away”).

[23:8]  ⁷⁹ tn The Hebrew word is sometimes rendered as “the three,” but BDB is probably correct in taking it to refer to military officers (BDB 1026 s.v. שְׁלִישִׁי). In that case the etymological connection of this word to the Hebrew numerical adjective for “three” can be explained as originating with a designation for the third warrior in a chariot.

[23:8]  ⁸⁰ tc The translation follows some LXX mss (see 1 Chr 11:11 as well) in reading הוּא עוֹרֵר אֶת־חֲנִיתוֹ (hu’ ’orer ’et khanito, “he raised up his spear”) rather than the MT’s הוּא עֲדִינוֹ הָעֶצְנִי (hu’ ’adino ha’etsni [Kethib = הָעֶצְנוֹ, ha’etsno]; “Adino the Ezenite”). The emended text reads literally “he was wielding his spear against eight hundred, [who were] slain at one time.”

[23:9]  ⁸¹ tn Heb “after him.”

[23:9]  ⁸² tc This follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading דֹּדוֹ (dodo) rather than the Kethib of the MT דֹּדַי (dodai; cf. ASV, NIV, NLT). But see 1 Chr 27:4.

[23:9]  ⁸³ tn Heb “went up.”

[24:17]  ⁸⁴ tn Heb “let your hand be against me and against the house of my father.”

[24:24]  ⁸⁵ tn Heb “fifty shekels of silver.” This would have been about 20 ounces (568 grams) of silver by weight.