2 Samuel 1:4

1:4 David inquired, “How were things going? ¹  Tell me!” He replied, “The people fled from the battle and many of them ²  fell dead. ³  Even Saul and his son Jonathan are dead!”

2 Samuel 4:11

4:11 Surely when wicked men have killed an innocent man as he slept ⁴  in his own house, should I not now require his blood from your hands and remove ⁵  you from the earth?”

2 Samuel 5:23

5:23 So David asked the Lord what he should do. ⁶  This time ⁷  the Lord ⁸  said to him, “Don’t march straight up. Instead, circle around behind them and come against them opposite the trees. ⁹ 

2 Samuel 8:3

8:3 David defeated King Hadadezer son of Rehob of Zobah when he came to reestablish ¹⁰  his authority ¹¹  over the Euphrates ¹²  River.

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 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.” ¹³ 

2 Samuel 18:31

18:31 Then the Cushite arrived and said, ¹⁴  “May my lord the king now receive the good news! The Lord has vindicated you today and delivered you from the hand of all who have rebelled against you!” ¹⁵ 

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 21:14

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 ¹⁶  that the king had commanded, God responded to their prayers ¹⁷  for the land.

2 Samuel 21:19

21:19 Yet another battle occurred with the Philistines in Gob. On that occasion Elhanan the son of Jair ¹⁸  the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, ¹⁹  the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

2 Samuel 23:1

David’s Final Words

23:1 These are the final words of David:

“The oracle of David son of Jesse,

the oracle of the man raised up as

the ruler chosen by the God of Jacob, ²⁰ 

Israel’s beloved ²¹  singer of songs:

[1:4]  ¹ tn Heb “What was the word?”

[1:4]  ² tn Heb “from the people.”

[1:4]  ³ tn Heb “fell and died.”

[4:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “on his bed.”

[4:11]  ⁵ tn See HALOT 146 s.v. II בער. Some derive the verb from a homonym meaning “to burn; to consume.”

[5:23]  ⁶ tn The words “what to do” are not in the Hebrew text.

[5:23]  ⁷ tn The words “this time” are not in the Hebrew text.

[5:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:23]  ⁹ tn Some translate as “balsam trees” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV, NJB, NLT); cf. KJV, NKJV, ASV “mulberry trees”; NAB “mastic trees”; NEB, REB “aspens.” The exact identification of the type of tree or plant is uncertain.

[8:3]  ¹⁰ tc The LXX has ἐπιστῆσαι (episthsai, “cause to stand”). See the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:3.

[8:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “hand.”

[8:3]  ¹² 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.

[16:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “Just as I served before your father, so I will be before you.”

[18:31]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “And look, the Cushite came and the Cushite said.”

[18:31]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “for the Lord has vindicated you today from the hand of all those rising against you.”

[21:14]  ¹⁶ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss have here כְּכֹל (kÿkhol, “according to all”).

[21:14]  ¹⁷ 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).

[21:19]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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.”

[23:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the anointed one of the God of Jacob.”

[23:1]  ²¹ tn Or “pleasant.”