2 Samuel 1:21

1:21 O mountains of Gilboa,

may there be no dew or rain on you, nor fields of grain offerings! ¹ 

For it was there that the shield of warriors was defiled; ² 

the shield of Saul lies neglected without oil. ³ 

2 Samuel 4:1

Ish-bosheth is killed

4:1 When Ish-bosheth ⁴  the son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he was very disheartened, ⁵  and all Israel was afraid.

2 Samuel 12:9

12:9 Why have you shown contempt for the word of the Lord by doing evil in my ⁶  sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and you have taken his wife as your own! ⁷  You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

2 Samuel 16:21

16:21 Ahithophel replied to Absalom, “Have sex with ⁸  your father’s concubines whom he left to care for the palace. All Israel will hear that you have made yourself repulsive to your father. Then your followers will be motivated to support you.” ⁹ 

2 Samuel 17:8

17:8 Hushai went on to say, “You know your father and his men – they are soldiers and are as dangerous as a bear out in the wild that has been robbed of her cubs. ¹⁰  Your father is an experienced soldier; he will not stay overnight with the army.

2 Samuel 17:17

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 18:28

18:28 Then Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, “Greetings!” ¹¹  He bowed down before the king with his face toward the ground and said, “May the Lord your God be praised because he has defeated ¹²  the men who opposed ¹³  my lord the king!”

2 Samuel 19:28

19:28 After all, there was no one in the entire house of my grandfather ¹⁴  who did not deserve death from my lord the king. But instead you allowed me to eat at your own table! ¹⁵  What further claim do I have to ask ¹⁶  the king for anything?”

2 Samuel 23:17

23:17 and said, “O Lord, I will not do this! ¹⁷  It is equivalent to the blood of the men who risked their lives by going.” ¹⁸  So he refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three elite warriors. ¹⁹ 

[1:21]  ¹ tc Instead of the MT’s “fields of grain offerings” the Lucianic recension of the LXX reads “your high places are mountains of death.” Cf. the Old Latin montes mortis (“mountains of death”).

[1:21]  ² tn This is the only biblical occurrence of the Niphal of the verb גָּעַל (ga’al). This verb usually has the sense of “to abhor” or “loathe.” But here it seems to refer to the now dirty and unprotected condition of a previously well-maintained instrument of battle.

[1:21]  ³ tc It is preferable to read here Hebrew מָשׁוּחַ (mashuakh) with many Hebrew mss, rather than מָשִׁיחַ (mashiakh) of the MT. Although the Syriac Peshitta understands the statement to pertain to Saul, the point here is not that Saul is not anointed. Rather, it is the shield of Saul that lies discarded and is no longer anointed. In ancient Near Eastern practice a warrior’s shield that was in normal use would have to be anointed regularly in order to ensure that the leather did not become dry and brittle. Like other warriors of his day Saul would have carefully maintained his tools of trade. But now that he is dead, the once-cared-for shield of the mighty warrior lies sadly discarded and woefully neglected, a silent but eloquent commentary on how different things are now compared to the way they were during Saul’s lifetime.

[4:1]  ⁴ tn The MT does not specify the subject of the verb here, but the reference is to Ish-bosheth, so the name has been supplied in the translation for clarity. 4QSam^a and the LXX mistakenly read “Mephibosheth.”

[4:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “his hands went slack.”

[12:9]  ⁶ tc So the Qere; the Kethib has “his.”

[12:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “to you for a wife.” This expression also occurs at the end of v. 10.

[16:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “go to”; NAB “have (+ sexual NCV) relations with”; TEV “have intercourse with”; NLT “Go and sleep with.”

[16:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

[17:8]  ¹⁰ tc The LXX (with the exception of the recensions of Origen and Lucian) repeats the description as follows: “Just as a female bear bereft of cubs in a field.”

[18:28]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Peace.”

[18:28]  ¹² tn Heb “delivered over.”

[18:28]  ¹³ tn Heb “lifted their hand against.”

[19:28]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “father.”

[19:28]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and you placed your servant among those who eat at your table.”

[19:28]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to cry out to.”

[23:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Far be it to me, O Lord, from doing this.”

[23:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “[Is it not] the blood of the men who were going with their lives?”

[23:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “These things the three warriors did.”