2 Samuel 1:3

1:3 David asked him, “Where are you coming from?” He replied, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.”

2 Samuel 1:11

1:11 David then grabbed his own clothes ¹  and tore them, as did all the men who were with him.

2 Samuel 1:14-15

1:14 David replied to him, “How is it that you were not afraid to reach out your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?” 1:15 Then David called one of the soldiers ²  and said, “Come here and strike him down!” So he struck him down, and he died.

2 Samuel 1:17

David’s Tribute to Saul and Jonathan

1:17 Then David chanted this lament over Saul and his son Jonathan.

2 Samuel 2:2-3

2:2 So David went up, along with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail, formerly the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. 2:3 David also brought along the men who were with him, each with his family. They settled in the cities ³  of Hebron.

2 Samuel 2:31

2:31 But David’s soldiers had slaughtered the Benjaminites and Abner’s men – in all, 360 men had died!

2 Samuel 3:2

3:2 Now sons were born to David in Hebron. His firstborn was Amnon, born to Ahinoam the Jezreelite.

2 Samuel 6:1

David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem

6:1 David again assembled ⁴  all the best ⁵  men in Israel, thirty thousand in number.

2 Samuel 6:9

6:9 David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, “How will the ark of the Lord ever come to me?”

2 Samuel 6:15

6:15 David and all Israel ⁶  were bringing up the ark of the Lord, shouting and blowing trumpets. ⁷ 

2 Samuel 6:18

6:18 When David finished offering the burnt sacrifices and peace offerings, he pronounced a blessing over the people in the name of the Lord of hosts.

2 Samuel 7:17

7:17 Nathan told David all these words that were revealed to him. ⁸ 

2 Samuel 7:20

7:20 What more can David say to you? You have given your servant special recognition, ⁹  O Lord God!

2 Samuel 8:7-9

8:7 David took the golden shields that belonged to Hadadezer’s servants and brought them to Jerusalem. ¹⁰  8:8 From Tebah ¹¹  and Berothai, Hadadezer’s cities, King David took a great deal of bronze.

8:9 When King Toi ¹²  of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer,

2 Samuel 8:13

8:13 David became famous ¹³  when he returned from defeating the Arameans ¹⁴  in the Valley of Salt, he defeated ¹⁵  18,000 in all.

2 Samuel 8:18

8:18 Benaiah son of Jehoida supervised ¹⁶  the Kerithites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were priests. ¹⁷ 

2 Samuel 9:5

9:5 So King David had him brought ¹⁸  from the house of Makir son of Ammiel in ¹⁹  Lo Debar.

2 Samuel 10:7

10:7 When David heard the news, he sent Joab and the entire army to meet them. ²⁰ 

2 Samuel 11:7

11:7 When Uriah came to him, David asked about how Joab and the army were doing and how the campaign was going. ²¹ 

2 Samuel 11:14

11:14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.

2 Samuel 11:22

11:22 So the messenger departed. When he arrived, he informed David of all the news that Joab had sent with him.

2 Samuel 12:29

12:29 So David assembled all the army and went to Rabbah and fought against it and captured it.

2 Samuel 13:3

13:3 Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah. Jonadab was a very crafty man.

2 Samuel 13:21

13:21 Now King David heard about all these things and was very angry. ²² 

2 Samuel 13:39

13:39 The king longed ²³  to go to Absalom, for he had since been consoled over the death of Amnon. ²⁴ 

2 Samuel 15:13

David Flees from Jerusalem

15:13 Then a messenger came to David and reported, “The men of Israel are loyal to Absalom!” ²⁵ 

2 Samuel 15:33

15:33 David said to him, “If you leave ²⁶  with me you will be a burden to me.

2 Samuel 17:24

17:24 Meanwhile David had gone to Mahanaim, while Absalom and all the men of Israel had crossed the Jordan River.

2 Samuel 18:1

The Death of Absalom

18:1 David assembled the army that was with him. He appointed leaders of thousands and leaders of hundreds.

2 Samuel 21:11

21:11 When David was told what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, Saul’s concubine, had done,

2 Samuel 21:21-22

21:21 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, killed him. 21:22 These four were the descendants of Rapha who lived in Gath; they were killed ²⁷  by David and his soldiers. ²⁸ 

2 Samuel 22:51

22:51 He gives his chosen king magnificent victories; ²⁹ 

he is faithful to his chosen ruler, ³⁰ 

to David and to his descendants forever!”

2 Samuel 23:15

23:15 David was thirsty and said, “How I wish someone would give me some water to drink from the cistern in Bethlehem near the gate!”

2 Samuel 23:23

23:23 He received honor from ³¹  the thirty warriors, though he was not one of the three elite warriors. David put him in charge of his bodyguard.

[1:11]  ¹ tc The present translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading “his garments,” rather than “his garment,” the reading of the Kethib.

[1:15]  ² tn Heb “young men.”

[2:3]  ³ tc The expression “the cities of Hebron” is odd; we would expect the noun to be in the singular, if used at all. Although the Syriac Peshitta has the expected reading “in Hebron,” the MT is clearly the more difficult reading and should probably be retained here.

[6:1]  ⁴ tn The translation understands the verb to be a defective spelling of וַיְּאֱסֹף (vayyÿ’esof) due to quiescence of the letter א (alef). The root therefore is אסף (’sf, “to gather”). The Masoretes, however, pointed the verb as וַיֹּסֶף (vayyosef), understanding it to be a form of יָסַף (yasaf, “to add”). This does not fit the context, which calls for a verb of gathering.

[6:1]  ⁵ tn Or “chosen.”

[6:15]  ⁶ tc Heb “all the house of Israel.” A few medieval Hebrew mss and the Syriac Peshitta lack the words “the house.”

[6:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet).

[7:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “according to all these words and according to all this revelation, so Nathan said to David.”

[7:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “and you know your servant.” The verb here refers to recognizing another in a special way and giving them special treatment (see 1 Chr 17:18). Some English versions take this to refer to the Lord’s knowledge of David himself: CEV “you know my thoughts”; NLT “know what I am really like.”

[8:7]  ¹⁰ tc The LXX includes seventeen words (in Greek) at the end of v. 7 that are not found in the MT. The LXX addition is as follows: “And Sousakim king of Egypt took them when he came up to Jerusalem in the days of Rehoboam the son of Solomon.” This Greek reading now finds Hebrew support in 4QSam^a. For a reconstruction of this poorly preserved Qumran text see E. C. Ulrich, Jr., The Qumran Text of Samuel and Josephus (HSM), 45-48.

[8:7]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Betah” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV), but the name should probably be corrected to “Tebah.” See the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:8.

[8:9]  ¹² tn The name is spelled “Tou” in the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:9. NIV adopts the spelling “Tou” here.

[8:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “made a name.”

[8:13]  ¹⁴ tn So NASB, NCV; NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “Edomites” (see the note on “Aram” in v. 12).

[8:13]  ¹⁵ tn The words “he defeated” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:18]  ¹⁶ tc The translation follows the Syriac Peshitta, Targum, and Vulgate in reading “over,” rather than the simple conjunction that appears in MT. See also the parallel passage in 1 Chr 18:17.

[8:18]  ¹⁷ sn That David’s sons could have been priests, in light of the fact that they were not of the priestly lineage, is strange. One must assume either (1) that the word “priest” (כֹּהֵן, kohen) during this period of time could be used in a broader sense of “chief ruler” (KJV); “chief minister” (ASV, NASB), or “royal adviser” (NIV), perhaps based on the parallel passage in 1 Chr 18:17 which has “the king’s leading officials”, or (2) that in David’s day members of the king’s family could function as a special category of “priests” (cf. NLT “priestly leaders”). The latter option seems to be the more straightforward way of understanding the word in 2 Sam 8:18.

[9:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “sent and took him.”

[9:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “from.”

[10:7]  ²⁰ tn The words “the news” and “to meet them” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.

[11:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “concerning the peace of Joab and concerning the peace of the people and concerning the peace of the battle.”

[13:21]  ²² tc The LXX and part of the Old Latin tradition include the following addition to v. 21, also included in some English versions (e.g., NAB, NRSV, CEV): “But he did not grieve the spirit of Amnon his son, because he loved him, since he was his firstborn.” Note David’s attitude toward his son Adonijah in 1 Kgs 1:6.

[13:39]  ²³ tc The translation follows 4QSam^a in reading רוּחַ הַמֶּלֶךְ (ruakh hammelekh, “the spirit of the king”) rather than the MT דָּוִד הַמֶּלֶךְ (david hammelekh, “David the king”). The understanding reflected in the translation above is that David, though alienated during this time from his son Absalom, still had an abiding love and concern for him. He longed for reconciliation with him. A rather different interpretation of the verse supposes that David’s interest in taking military action against Absalom grew slack with the passing of time, and this in turn enabled David’s advisers to encourage him toward reconciliation with Absalom. For the latter view, see P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 344, and cf. CEV.

[13:39]  ²⁴ tn Heb “was consoled over Amnon, because he was dead.”

[15:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the heart of the men of Israel is with Absalom.”

[15:33]  ²⁶ tn Heb “cross over.”

[21:22]  ²⁷ tn Heb “they fell.”

[21:22]  ²⁸ tn Heb “his servants.”

[22:51]  ²⁹ tc The translation follows the Kethib and the ancient versions in reading מַגְדִּיל (magdil, “he magnifies”) rather than the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss of the MT which read מִגְדּוֹל (migdol, “tower”). See Ps 18:50.

[22:51]  ³⁰ tn Heb “[the one who] does loyalty to his anointed one.”

[23:23]  ³¹ tn Or “more than.”