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 1:20

1:20 Don’t report it in Gath,

don’t spread the news in the streets of Ashkelon, ⁴ 

or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice,

the daughters of the uncircumcised will celebrate!

2 Samuel 1:23

1:23 Saul and Jonathan were greatly loved ⁵  during their lives,

and not even in their deaths were they separated.

They were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions.

2 Samuel 2:4

2:4 The men of Judah came and there they anointed David as king over the people ⁶  of Judah.

David was told, ⁷  “The people ⁸  of Jabesh Gilead are the ones who buried Saul.”

2 Samuel 2:7

2:7 Now be courageous ⁹  and prove to be valiant warriors, for your lord Saul is dead. The people of Judah have anointed me as king over them.”

2 Samuel 2:32

2:32 They took Asahel’s body and buried him in his father’s tomb at Bethlehem. ¹⁰  Joab and his men then traveled all that night and reached Hebron by dawn.

2 Samuel 7:18

David Offers a Prayer to God

7:18 King David went in, sat before the Lord, and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, ¹¹  that you should have brought me to this point?

2 Samuel 7:26

7:26 so you may gain lasting fame, ¹²  as people say, ¹³  ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel!’ The dynasty ¹⁴  of your servant David will be established before you,

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 12:7

12:7 Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I chose ¹⁵  you to be king over Israel and I rescued you from the hand of Saul.

2 Samuel 12:21

12:21 His servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? While ¹⁶  the child was still alive, you fasted and wept. Once the child was dead you got up and ate food!”

2 Samuel 13:23

Absalom Has Amnon Put to Death

13:23 Two years later Absalom’s sheepshearers were in Baal Hazor, ¹⁷  near Ephraim. Absalom invited all the king’s sons.

2 Samuel 14:9

14:9 The Tekoan woman said to the king, “My lord the king, let any blame fall on me and on the house of my father. But let the king and his throne be innocent!”

2 Samuel 16:10

16:10 But the king said, “What do we have in common, ¹⁸  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?’”

2 Samuel 16:13

16:13 So David and his men went on their way. But Shimei kept going along the side of the hill opposite him, yelling curses as he threw stones and dirt at them. ¹⁹ 

2 Samuel 18:7

18:7 The army of Israel was defeated there by David’s men. ²⁰  The slaughter there was great that day – 20,000 soldiers were killed.

2 Samuel 19:16

19:16 Shimei son of Gera the Benjaminite from Bahurim came down quickly with the men of Judah to meet King David.

2 Samuel 19:18

19:18 They crossed at the ford in order to help the king’s household cross and to do whatever he thought appropriate.

Now after he had crossed the Jordan, Shimei son of Gera threw himself down before the king.

2 Samuel 19:26

19:26 He replied, “My lord the king, my servant deceived me! I ²¹  said, ‘Let me get my donkey saddled so that I can ride on it and go with the king,’ for I ²²  am lame.

2 Samuel 20:18

20:18 She said, “In the past they would always say, ‘Let them inquire in Abel,’ and that is how they settled things.

2 Samuel 21:19

21:19 Yet another battle occurred with the Philistines in Gob. On that occasion Elhanan the son of Jair ²³  the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, ²⁴  the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

2 Samuel 23:13

23:13 At the time of ²⁵  the harvest three ²⁶  of the thirty leaders went down to ²⁷  David at the cave of Adullam. A band of Philistines was camped in the valley of Rephaim.

[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.”

[1:20]  ⁴ sn The cities of Gath and Ashkelon are mentioned here by synecdoche of part for the whole. As major Philistine cities they in fact represent all of Philistia. The point is that when the sad news of fallen Israelite leadership reaches the Philistines, it will be for these enemies of Israel the occasion of great joy rather than grief.

[1:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “beloved and dear.”

[2:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “house.”

[2:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “and they told David.” The subject appears to be indefinite, allowing one to translate the verb as passive with David as subject.

[2:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “men.”

[2:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “let your hands be strong.”

[2:32]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[7:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “house.”

[7:26]  ¹² tn Heb “and your name might be great permanently.” Following the imperative in v. 23b, the prefixed verbal form with vav conjunctive indicates purpose/result.

[7:26]  ¹³ tn Heb “saying.” The words “as people” are supplied in the translation for clarification and stylistic reasons.

[7:26]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the house.” See the note on “dynastic house” in the following verse.

[12:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “anointed.”

[12:21]  ¹⁶ tc For the MT בַּעֲבוּר (ba’avur, “for the sake of”) we should probably read בְּעוֹד (bÿ’od, “while”). See the Lucianic Greek recension, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Targum.

[13:23]  ¹⁷ map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 D3; Map3 A2; Map4 C1.

[16:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “What to me and to you?”

[16:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and he cursed and threw stones, opposite him, pelting [them] with dirt.” The offline vÿqatal construction in the last clause indicates an action that was complementary to the action described in the preceding clause. He simultaneously threw stones and dirt.

[18:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “servants” (also in v. 9).

[19:26]  ²¹ tn Heb “your servant.”

[19:26]  ²² tn Heb “your servant.”

[21:19]  ²³ tn Heb “Jaare-Oregim,” but the second word, which means “weavers,” is probably accidentally included. It appears at the end of the verse. The term is omitted in the parallel account in 1 Chr 20:5, which has simply “Jair.”

[21:19]  ²⁴ sn The Hebrew text as it stands reads, “Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite.” Who killed Goliath the Gittite? According to 1 Sam 17:4-58 it was David who killed Goliath, but according to the MT of 2 Sam 21:19 it was Elhanan who killed him. Many scholars believe that the two passages are hopelessly at variance with one another. Others have proposed various solutions to the difficulty, such as identifying David with Elhanan or positing the existence of two Goliaths. But in all likelihood the problem is the result of difficulties in the textual transmission of the Samuel passage; in fact, from a text-critical point of view the books of Samuel are the most poorly preserved of all the books of the Hebrew Bible. The parallel passage in 1 Chr 20:5 reads, “Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath.” Both versions are textually corrupt. The Chronicles text has misread “Bethlehemite” (בֵּית הַלַּחְמִי, bet hallakhmi) as the accusative sign followed by a proper name אֶת לַחְמִי (’et lakhmi). (See the note at 1 Chr 20:5.) The Samuel text misread the word for “brother” (אַח, ’akh) as the accusative sign (אֵת, ’et), thereby giving the impression that Elhanan, not David, killed Goliath. Thus in all probability the original text read, “Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath.”

[23:13]  ²⁵ tn The meaning of Hebrew אֶל־קָצִיר (’el qatsir) seems here to be “at the time of harvest,” although this is an unusual use of the phrase. As S. R. Driver points out, this preposition does not normally have the temporal sense of “in” or “during” (S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 366).

[23:13]  ²⁶ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading שְׁלֹשָׁה (shÿloshah, “three”) rather than the Kethib of the MT שְׁלֹשִׁים (shÿloshim, “thirty”). “Thirty” is due to dittography of the following word and makes no sense in the context.

[23:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “went down…and approached.”