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 4:7

4:7 They had entered ⁴  the house while Ish-bosheth ⁵  was resting on his bed in his bedroom. They mortally wounded him ⁶  and then cut off his head. ⁷  Taking his head, ⁸  they traveled on the way of the Arabah all that night.

2 Samuel 10:8

10:8 The Ammonites marched out and were deployed for battle at the entrance of the city gate, while the men from Aram Zobah, Rehob, Ish-tob, and Maacah were by themselves in the field.

2 Samuel 11:20

11:20 if the king becomes angry and asks you, ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you realize they would shoot from the wall?

2 Samuel 12:30

12:30 He took the crown of their king ⁹  from his head – it was gold, weighed about seventy-five pounds, ¹⁰  and held a precious stone – and it was placed on David’s head. He also took from the city a great deal of plunder.

2 Samuel 15:18

15:18 All his servants were leaving with him, ¹¹  along with all the Kerethites, all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites – some six hundred men who had come on foot from Gath. They were leaving with ¹²  the king.

2 Samuel 15:34

15:34 But you will be able to counter the advice of Ahithophel if you go back to the city and say to Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king! Previously I was your father’s servant, and now I will be your servant.’

2 Samuel 21:14

21:14 They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin at Zela in the grave of his father Kish. After they had done everything ¹³  that the king had commanded, God responded to their prayers ¹⁴  for the land.

[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.”

[4:7]  ⁴ tn After the concluding disjunctive clause at the end of v. 6, the author now begins a more detailed account of the murder and its aftermath.

[4:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ish-bosheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “they struck him down and killed him.” The expression is a verbal hendiadys.

[4:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “and they removed his head.” The Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate lack these words.

[4:7]  ⁸ tc The Lucianic Greek recension lacks the words “his head.”

[12:30]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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.

[15:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “crossing over near his hand.”

[15:18]  ¹² tn Heb “crossing over near the face of.”

[21:14]  ¹³ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss have here כְּכֹל (kÿkhol, “according to all”).

[21:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “was entreated.” The verb is an example of the so-called niphal tolerativum, with the sense that God allowed himself to be supplicated through prayer (cf. GKC 137 §51.c).