2 Samuel 1:9

1:9 He said to me, ‘Stand over me and finish me off! ¹  I’m very dizzy, ²  even though I’m still alive.’ ³ 

2 Samuel 2:8-9

David’s Army Clashes with the Army of Saul

2:8 Now Abner son of Ner, the general in command of Saul’s army, had taken Saul’s son Ish-bosheth ⁴  and had brought him to Mahanaim. 2:9 He appointed him king over Gilead, the Geshurites, ⁵  Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, and all Israel.

2 Samuel 7:5

7:5 “Go, tell my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord says: Do you really intend to build a house for me to live in?

2 Samuel 9:8

9:8 Then Mephibosheth ⁶  bowed and said, “Of what importance am I, your servant, that you show regard for a dead dog like me?” ⁷ 

2 Samuel 9:12

9:12 Now Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. All the members of Ziba’s household were Mephibosheth’s servants.

2 Samuel 10:7

10:7 When David heard the news, he sent Joab and the entire army to meet them. ⁸ 

2 Samuel 13:7

13:7 So David sent Tamar to the house saying, “Please go to the house of Amnon your brother and prepare some food for him.”

2 Samuel 13:11

13:11 As she brought them to him to eat, he grabbed her and said to her, “Come on! Get in bed with me, ⁹  my sister!”

2 Samuel 14:4-5

14:4 So the Tekoan woman went ¹⁰  to the king. She bowed down with her face to the ground in deference to him and said, “Please help me, ¹¹  O king!” 14:5 The king replied to her, “What do you want?” ¹²  She answered, “I am a widow; my husband is dead.

2 Samuel 14:24

14:24 But the king said, “Let him go over ¹³  to his own house. He may not see my face.” So Absalom went over ¹⁴  to his own house; he did not see the king’s face.

2 Samuel 16:6

16:6 He threw stones at David and all of King David’s servants, as well as all the people and the soldiers who were on his right and on his left.

2 Samuel 16:16

16:16 When David’s friend Hushai the Arkite came to Absalom, Hushai said to him, ¹⁵  “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

2 Samuel 17:22

17:22 So David and all the people who were with him got up and crossed the Jordan River. ¹⁶  By dawn there was not one person left who had not crossed the Jordan.

2 Samuel 20:4

20:4 Then the king said to Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together for me in three days, ¹⁷  and you be present here with them too.”

2 Samuel 20:13

20:13 Once he had removed Amasa ¹⁸  from the path, everyone followed Joab to pursue Sheba son of Bicri.

2 Samuel 22:9

22:9 Smoke ascended from ¹⁹  his nose; ²⁰ 

fire devoured as it came from his mouth; ²¹ 

he hurled down fiery coals. ²² 

2 Samuel 23:7

23:7 The one who touches them

must use an iron instrument

or the wooden shaft of a spear.

They are completely burned up right where they lie!” ²³ 

[1:9]  ¹ tn As P. K. McCarter (II Samuel [AB], 59) points out, the Polel of the verb מוּת (mut, “to die”) “refers to dispatching or ‘finishing off’ someone already wounded and near death.” Cf. NLT “put me out of my misery.”

[1:9]  ² tn Heb “the dizziness has seized me.” On the meaning of the Hebrew noun translated “dizziness,” see P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 59-60. The point seems to be that he is unable to kill himself because he is weak and disoriented.

[1:9]  ³ tn The Hebrew text here is grammatically very awkward (Heb “because all still my life in me”). Whether the broken construct phrase is due to the fact that the alleged speaker is in a confused state of mind as he is on the verge of dying, or whether the MT has sustained corruption in the transmission process, is not entirely clear. The former seems likely, although P. K. McCarter understands the MT to be the result of conflation of two shorter forms of text (P. K. McCarter, II Samuel [AB], 57, n. 9). Early translators also struggled with the verse, apparently choosing to leave part of the Hebrew text untranslated. For example, the Lucianic recension of the LXX lacks “all,” while other witnesses (namely, one medieval Hebrew ms, codices A and B of the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta) lack “still.”

[2:8]  ⁴ sn The name Ish-bosheth means in Hebrew “man of shame.” It presupposes an earlier form such as Ish-baal (“man of the Lord”), with the word “baal” being used of Israel’s God. But because the Canaanite storm god was named “Baal,” that part of the name was later replaced with the word “shame.”

[2:9]  ⁵ tc The MT here reads “the Ashurite,” but this is problematic if it is taken to mean “the Assyrian.” Ish-bosheth’s kingdom obviously was not of such proportions as to extend to Assyria. The Syriac Peshitta renders the word as “the Geshurite,” while the Targum has “of the house of Ashur.” We should probably emend the Hebrew text to read “the Geshurite.” The Geshurites lived in the northeastern part of the land of Palestine.

[9:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Mephibosheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “What is your servant, that you turn to a dead dog which is like me?”

[10:7]  ⁸ tn The words “the news” and “to meet them” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.

[13:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “lie with me” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); NCV “come and have sexual relations with me.”

[14:4]  ¹⁰ tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וַתַּבֹא (vattavo’, “and she went”) rather than the MT וַתֹּאמֶר (vatto’mer, “and she said”). The MT reading shows confusion with וַתֹּאמֶר later in the verse. The emendation suggested here is supported by the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, some mss of the Targum, and Vulgate.

[14:4]  ¹¹ tn The word “me” is left to be inferred in the Hebrew text; it is present in the Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate.

[14:5]  ¹² tn Heb “What to you?”

[14:24]  ¹³ tn Heb “turn aside.”

[14:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “turned aside.”

[16:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to Absalom.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[17:22]  ¹⁶ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text here or in v. 24, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[20:4]  ¹⁷ tn The present translation follows the Masoretic accentuation, with the major mark of disjunction (i.e., the atnach) placed at the word “days.” However, some scholars have suggested moving the atnach to “Judah” a couple of words earlier. This would yield the following sense: “Three days, and you be present here with them.” The difference in meaning is slight, and the MT is acceptable as it stands.

[20:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “within” or “[from] within.” For a discussion of the use of the preposition בְּ (bet) here, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 163-64.

[22:9]  ²⁰ tn Or “in his anger.” The noun אַף (’af) can carry the abstract meaning “anger,” but the parallelism (note “from his mouth”) suggests the more concrete meaning “nose” here (most English versions, “nostrils”). See also v. 16, “the powerful breath of your nose.”

[22:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “fire from his mouth devoured.” In this poetic narrative the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not an imperfect. Note the two perfect verbal forms in the verse.

[22:9]  sn For other examples of fire as a weapon in Old Testament theophanies and ancient Near Eastern portrayals of warring gods and kings, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 165-67.

[22:9]  ²² tn Heb “coals burned from him.” Perhaps the psalmist pictures God’s fiery breath igniting coals (see Job 41:21), which he then hurls as weapons (see Ps 120:4).

[23:7]  ²³ tn Heb “and with fire they are completely burned up in [the place where they] remain.” The infinitive absolute is used before the finite verb to emphasize that they are completely consumed by the fire.