2 Samuel 10:3

10:3 the Ammonite officials said to their lord Hanun, “Do you really think David is trying to honor your father by sending these messengers to express his sympathy? ¹  No, David has sent his servants to you to get information about the city and spy on it so they can overthrow it!” ² 

2 Samuel 12:21

12:21 His servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? While ³  the child was still alive, you fasted and wept. Once the child was dead you got up and ate food!”

2 Samuel 17:20-21

17:20 When the servants of Absalom approached the woman at her home, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman replied to them, “They crossed over the stream.” Absalom’s men ⁴  searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem. ⁵ 

17:21 After the men had left, Ahimaaz and Jonathan ⁶  climbed out of the well. Then they left and informed King David. They advised David, “Get up and cross the stream ⁷  quickly, for Ahithophel has devised a plan to catch you.” ⁸ 

2 Samuel 19:41

19:41 Then all the men of Israel began coming to the king. They asked the king, “Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, sneak the king away and help the king and his household cross the Jordan – and not only him but all of David’s men as well?”

2 Samuel 21:4

21:4 The Gibeonites said to him, “We ⁹  have no claim to silver or gold from Saul or from his family, ¹⁰  nor would we be justified in putting to death anyone in Israel.” David asked, ¹¹  “What then are you asking me to do for you?”

[10:3]  ¹ tn Heb “Is David honoring your father in your eyes when he sends to you ones consoling?”

[10:3]  ² tn Heb “Is it not to explore the city and to spy on it and to overthrow it [that] David has sent his servants to you?”

[12:21]  ³ tc For the MT בַּעֲבוּר (ba’avur, “for the sake of”) we should probably read בְּעוֹד (bÿ’od, “while”). See the Lucianic Greek recension, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Targum.

[17:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “they”; the referents (Absalom’s men) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:20]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[17:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “they”; the referents (Ahimaaz and Jonathan) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “the water.”

[17:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “for thus Ahithophel has devised against you.” The expression “thus” is narrative shorthand, referring to the plan outlined by Ahithophel (see vv. 1-3). The men would surely have outlined the plan in as much detail as they had been given by the messenger.

[21:4]  ⁹ tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading לָנוּ (lanu, “to us”) rather than the MT לִי (li, “to me”). But for a contrary opinion see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 53, 350.

[21:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “house.”

[21:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.