2 Samuel 1:23

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

and not even in their deaths were they separated.

They were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions.

2 Samuel 2:27

2:27 Joab replied, “As surely as God lives, if you had not said this, it would have been morning before the people would have abandoned pursuit ²  of their brothers!”

2 Samuel 3:9

3:9 God will severely judge Abner ³  if I do not do for David exactly what the Lord has promised him, ⁴ 

2 Samuel 3:13

3:13 So David said, “Good! I will make an agreement with you. I ask only one thing from you. You will not see my face unless you bring Saul’s daughter Michal when you come to visit me.” ⁵ 

2 Samuel 3:37

3:37 All the people and all Israel realized on that day that the killing of Abner son of Ner was not done at the king’s instigation. ⁶ 

2 Samuel 3:39

3:39 Today I am weak, even though I am anointed as king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too much for me to bear! ⁷  May the Lord punish appropriately the one who has done this evil thing!” ⁸ 

2 Samuel 4:6

4:6 They ⁹  entered the house under the pretense of getting wheat and mortally wounded him ¹⁰  in the stomach. Then Recab and his brother Baanah escaped.

2 Samuel 5:11

5:11 King Hiram of Tyre ¹¹  sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs, carpenters, and stonemasons. They built a palace ¹²  for David.

2 Samuel 5:19

5:19 So David asked the Lord, “Should I march up against the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?” The Lord said to David, “March up, for I will indeed ¹³  hand the Philistines over to you.”

2 Samuel 6:22

6:22 I am willing to shame and humiliate myself even more than this! ¹⁴  But with the slave girls whom you mentioned let me be distinguished!”

2 Samuel 7:25-26

7:25 So now, O Lord God, make this promise you have made about your servant and his family a permanent reality. ¹⁵  Do as you promised, ¹⁶  7:26 so you may gain lasting fame, ¹⁷  as people say, ¹⁸  ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel!’ The dynasty ¹⁹  of your servant David will be established before you,

2 Samuel 10:5

10:5 Messengers ²⁰  told David what had happened, ²¹  so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho ²²  until your beards have grown again; then you may come back.”

2 Samuel 11:12

11:12 So David said to Uriah, “Stay here another day. Tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem both that day and the following one. ²³ 

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 ²⁴  you to be king over Israel and I rescued you from the hand of Saul.

2 Samuel 12:13

12:13 Then David exclaimed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord!” Nathan replied to David, “Yes, and the Lord has forgiven ²⁵  your sin. You are not going to die.

2 Samuel 12:23

12:23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Am I able to bring him back? I will go to him, but he cannot return to me!’”

2 Samuel 12:28

12:28 So now assemble the rest of the army ²⁶  and besiege the city and capture it. Otherwise I will capture the city and it will be named for me.”

2 Samuel 13:2

13:2 But Amnon became frustrated because he was so lovesick ²⁷  over his sister Tamar. For she was a virgin, and to Amnon it seemed out of the question to do anything to her.

2 Samuel 13:16

13:16 But she said to him, “No I won’t, for sending me away now would be worse than what you did to me earlier!” ²⁸  But he refused to listen to her.

2 Samuel 13:37

13:37 But Absalom fled and went to King Talmai son of Ammihud of Geshur. And David ²⁹  grieved over his son every day.

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 15:31

15:31 Now David ³⁰  had been told, “Ahithophel has sided with the conspirators who are with Absalom. So David prayed, ³¹  “Make the advice of Ahithophel foolish, O Lord!”

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 16:3

16:3 The king asked, “Where is your master’s grandson?” ³²  Ziba replied to the king, “He remains in Jerusalem, ³³  for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will give back to me my grandfather’s ³⁴  kingdom.’”

2 Samuel 16:8

16:8 The Lord has punished you for ³⁵  all the spilled blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you rule. Now the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. Disaster has overtaken you, for you are a man of bloodshed!”

2 Samuel 16:19

16:19 Moreover, whom should I serve? Should it not be his son? Just as I served your father, so I will serve you.” ³⁶ 

2 Samuel 17:11

17:11 My advice therefore is this: Let all Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba – in number like the sand by the sea! – be mustered to you, and you lead them personally into battle.

2 Samuel 17:27

17:27 When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Makir the son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim

2 Samuel 18:20

18:20 But Joab said to him, “You will not be a bearer of good news today. You will bear good news some other day, but not today, ³⁷  for the king’s son is dead.”

2 Samuel 19:13-14

19:13 Say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my flesh and blood? ³⁸  God will punish me severely, ³⁹  if from this time on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!’”

19:14 He ⁴⁰  won over the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man. Then they sent word to the king saying, “Return, you and all your servants as well.”

2 Samuel 19:39

19:39 So all the people crossed the Jordan, as did the king. After the king had kissed him and blessed him, Barzillai returned to his home. ⁴¹ 

2 Samuel 21:6

21:6 let seven of his male descendants be turned over to us, and we will execute ⁴²  them before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, who was the Lord’s chosen one.” ⁴³  The king replied, “I will turn them over.”

2 Samuel 21:16

21:16 Now Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, ⁴⁴  had a spear ⁴⁵  that weighed three hundred bronze shekels, ⁴⁶  and he was armed with a new weapon. ⁴⁷  He had said that he would kill David.

2 Samuel 21:19

21:19 Yet another battle occurred with the Philistines in Gob. On that occasion Elhanan the son of Jair ⁴⁸  the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, ⁴⁹  the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

2 Samuel 23:5

23:5 My dynasty is approved by God, ⁵⁰ 

for he has made a perpetual covenant with me,

arranged in all its particulars and secured.

He always delivers me,

and brings all I desire to fruition. ⁵¹ 

2 Samuel 24:3

24:3 Joab replied to the king, “May the Lord your God make the army a hundred times larger right before the eyes of my lord the king! But why does my master the king want to do this?”

[1:23]  ¹ tn Heb “beloved and dear.”

[2:27]  ² tn The Hebrew verb נַעֲלָה (na’alah) used here is the Niphal perfect 3rd person masculine singular of עָלָה (’alah, “to go up”). In the Niphal this verb “is used idiomatically, of getting away from so as to abandon…especially of an army raising a siege…” (see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 244).

[3:9]  ³ tn Heb “So will God do to Abner and so he will add to him.”

[3:9]  ⁴ tc Heb “has sworn to David.” The LXX, with the exception of the recension of Origen, adds “in this day.”

[3:13]  ⁵ tn The words “when you come to see my face,” though found in the Hebrew text, are somewhat redundant given the similar expression in the earlier part of the verse. The words are absent from the Syriac Peshitta.

[3:37]  ⁶ tn Heb “from the king.”

[3:39]  ⁷ tn Heb “are hard from me.”

[3:39]  ⁸ tn Heb “May the Lord repay the doer of the evil according to his evil” (NASB similar).

[4:6]  ⁹ tc For the MT’s וְהֵנָּה (vÿhennah, “and they,” feminine) read וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and behold”). See the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Targum.

[4:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and they struck him down.”

[5:11]  ¹¹ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[5:11]  ¹² tn Heb “a house.”

[5:19]  ¹³ tn The infinitive absolute lends emphasis to the following verb.

[6:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and I will shame myself still more than this and I will be lowly in my eyes.”

[7:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and now, O Lord God, the word which you spoke concerning your servant and concerning his house, establish permanently.”

[7:25]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “as you have spoken.”

[7:26]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “saying.” The words “as people” are supplied in the translation for clarification and stylistic reasons.

[7:26]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the house.” See the note on “dynastic house” in the following verse.

[10:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the messengers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:5]  ²¹ tn The words “what had happened” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[10:5]  ²² map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[11:12]  ²³ tn On the chronology involved here see P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 287.

[12:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “anointed.”

[12:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “removed.”

[12:28]  ²⁶ tn Heb “people.” So also in vv. 29, 31.

[13:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and there was distress to Amnon so that he made himself sick.”

[13:16]  ²⁸ tn Heb “No, because this great evil is [worse] than the other which you did with me, by sending me away.” Perhaps the broken syntax reflects her hysteria and outrage.

[13:37]  ²⁹ tc The Hebrew text leaves the word “David” to be inferred. The Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate add the word “David.” Most of the Greek tradition includes the words “King David” here.

[15:31]  ³⁰ tc The translation follows 4QSam^a, part of the Greek tradition, the Syriac Peshitta, Targum, and Vulgate uldavid in reading “and to David,” rather than MT וְדָוִד (vÿdavid, “and David”). As Driver points out, the Hebrew verb הִגִּיד (higgid, “he related”) never uses the accusative for the person to whom something is told (S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 316).

[15:31]  ³¹ tn Heb “said.”

[16:3]  ³² tn Heb “son.”

[16:3]  ³³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[16:3]  ³⁴ tn Heb “my father’s.”

[16:8]  ³⁵ tn Heb “has brought back upon you.”

[16:19]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Just as I served before your father, so I will be before you.”

[18:20]  ³⁷ tn Heb “but this day you will not bear good news.”

[19:13]  ³⁸ tn Heb “my bone and my flesh.”

[19:13]  ³⁹ tn Heb “Thus God will do to me and thus he will add.”

[19:14]  ⁴⁰ tn The referent of “he” is not entirely clear: cf. NCV “David”; TEV “David’s words”; NRSV, NLT “Amasa.”

[19:39]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “to his place.”

[21:6]  ⁴² tn The exact nature of this execution is not altogether clear. The verb יָקַע (yaqa’) basically means “to dislocate” or “alienate.” In Gen 32:26 it is used of the dislocation of Jacob’s thigh. Figuratively it can refer to the removal of an individual from a group (e.g., Jer 6:8; Ezek 23:17) or to a type of punishment the specific identity of which is uncertain (e.g., here and Num 25:4); cf. NAB “dismember them”; NIV “to be killed and exposed.”

[21:6]  ⁴³ tc The LXX reads “at Gibeon on the mountain of the Lord” (cf. 21:9). The present translation follows the MT, although a number of recent English translations follow the LXX reading here (e.g., NAB, NRSV, NLT).

[21:16]  ⁴⁴ 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]  ⁴⁵ 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]  ⁴⁶ 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]  ⁴⁷ 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”).

[21:19]  ⁴⁸ 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]  ⁴⁹ 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.”

[23:5]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “For not thus [is] my house with God?”

[23:5]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “for all my deliverance and every desire, surely does he not make [it] grow?”