2 Samuel 1:1

David Learns of the Deaths of Saul and Jonathan

1:1 After the death of Saul, ¹  when David had returned from defeating the Amalekites, ²  he stayed at Ziklag ³  for two days.

2 Samuel 2:22

2:22 So Abner spoke again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me! I do not want to strike you to the ground. ⁴  How then could I show ⁵  my face in the presence of Joab your brother?”

2 Samuel 4:6

4:6 They ⁶  entered the house under the pretense of getting wheat and mortally wounded him ⁷  in the stomach. Then Recab and his brother Baanah escaped.

2 Samuel 5:24-25

5:24 When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the trees, act decisively. For at that moment the Lord is going before you to strike down the army ⁸  of the Philistines.” 5:25 David did just as the Lord commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines from Gibeon all the way to Gezer. ⁹ 

2 Samuel 6:7

6:7 The Lord was so furious with Uzzah, ¹⁰  he ¹¹  killed him on the spot ¹²  for his negligence. ¹³  He died right there beside the ark of God.

2 Samuel 8:1

David Subjugates Nearby Nations

8:1 Later David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. David took Metheg Ammah ¹⁴  from the Philistines. ¹⁵ 

2 Samuel 8:3

8:3 David defeated King Hadadezer son of Rehob of Zobah when he came to reestablish ¹⁶  his authority ¹⁷  over the Euphrates ¹⁸  River.

2 Samuel 8:5

8:5 The Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, but David killed 22,000 of the Arameans.

2 Samuel 11:15

11:15 In the letter he wrote: “Station Uriah in the thick of the battle and then withdraw from him so he will be cut down and killed.”

2 Samuel 13:30

13:30 While they were still on their way, the following report reached David: “Absalom has killed all the king’s sons; not one of them is left!”

2 Samuel 14:6

14:6 Your servant ¹⁹  has two sons. When the two of them got into a fight in the field, there was no one present who could intervene. One of them struck the other and killed him.

2 Samuel 17:2

17:2 When I catch up with ²⁰  him he will be exhausted and worn out. ²¹  I will rout him, and the entire army that is with him will flee. I will kill only the king

2 Samuel 21:16

21:16 Now Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, ²²  had a spear ²³  that weighed three hundred bronze shekels, ²⁴  and he was armed with a new weapon. ²⁵  He had said that he would kill David.

2 Samuel 21:18

21:18 Later there was another battle with the Philistines, this time in Gob. On that occasion Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the descendants of Rapha.

[1:1]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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.

[2:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “Why should I strike you to the ground?”

[2:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “lift.”

[4:6]  ⁶ tc For the MT’s וְהֵנָּה (vÿhennah, “and they,” feminine) read וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and behold”). See the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Targum.

[4:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “and they struck him down.”

[5:24]  ⁸ tn Heb “camp” (so NAB).

[5:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “from Gibeon until you enter Gezer.”

[6:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah.”

[6:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “God.”

[6:7]  ¹² tc Heb “there.” Since this same term occurs later in the verse it is translated “on the spot” here for stylistic reasons.

[6:7]  ¹³ tc The phrase “his negligence” is absent from the LXX.

[8:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the bridle of one cubit.” Many English versions treat this as a place name because the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:1 reads “Gath” (which is used by NLT here). It is possible that “the bridle of one cubit” is to be understood as “the token of surrender,” referring to the Philistine’s defeat rather than a specific place (cf. TEV, CEV).

[8:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “from the hand [i.e., control] of the Philistines.”

[8:3]  ¹⁶ tc The LXX has ἐπιστῆσαι (episthsai, “cause to stand”). See the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:3.

[8:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “hand.”

[8:3]  ¹⁸ tn The MT does not have the name “Euphrates” in the text. It is supplied in the margin (Qere) as one of ten places where the Masoretes believed that something was “to be read although it was not written” in the text as they had received it. The ancient versions (LXX, Syriac Peshitta, Vulgate) include the word. See also the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:3.

[14:6]  ¹⁹ tn Here and elsewhere (vv. 7, 12, 15a, 17, 19) the woman uses a term which suggests a lower level female servant. She uses the term to express her humility before the king. However, she uses a different term in vv. 15b-16. See the note at v. 15 for a discussion of the rhetorical purpose of this switch in terminology.

[17:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and I will come upon him.”

[17:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “exhausted and slack of hands.”

[21:16]  ²² tn This name has the definite article and may be intended to refer to a group of people rather than a single individual with this name.

[21:16]  ²³ tn This is the only occurrence of this Hebrew word in the OT. Its precise meaning is therefore somewhat uncertain. As early as the LXX the word was understood to refer to a “spear,” and this seems to be the most likely possibility. Some scholars have proposed emending the text of 2 Sam 21:16 to כוֹבַעוֹ (khova’o; “his helmet”), but in spite of the fact that the word “helmet” appears in 1 Sam 17:5, there is not much evidence for reading that word here.

[21:16]  ²⁴ tn Either the word “shekels” should be supplied here, or the Hebrew word מִשְׁקַל (mishqal, “weight”) right before “bronze” is a corrupted form of the word for shekel. If the latter is the case the problem probably resulted from another occurrence of the word מִשְׁקַל just four words earlier in the verse.

[21:16]  sn Three hundred bronze shekels would have weighed about 7.5 pounds (3.4 kg).

[21:16]  ²⁵ tn The Hebrew text reads simply “a new [thing],” prompting one to ask “A new what?” Several possibilities have been proposed to resolve the problem: perhaps a word has dropped out of the Hebrew text here; or perhaps the word “new” is the result of misreading a different, less common, word; or perhaps a word (e.g., “sword,” so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, CEV, NLT) is simply to be inferred. The translation generally follows the latter possibility, while at the same time being deliberately nonspecific (“weapon”).