2 Samuel 2:23

2:23 But Asahel ¹  refused to turn aside. So Abner struck him in the abdomen with the back end of his ²  spear. The spear came out his back; Asahel ³  collapsed on the spot and died there right before Abner. ⁴  Everyone who now comes to the place where Asahel fell dead pauses in respect. ⁵ 

2 Samuel 3:27

3:27 When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside at the gate as if to speak privately with him. Joab then stabbed him ⁶  in the abdomen and killed him, avenging the shed blood of his brother Asahel. ⁷ 

2 Samuel 4:7

4:7 They had entered ⁸  the house while Ish-bosheth ⁹  was resting on his bed in his bedroom. They mortally wounded him ¹⁰  and then cut off his head. ¹¹  Taking his head, ¹²  they traveled on the way of the Arabah all that night.

2 Samuel 5:8

5:8 David said on that day, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites must approach the ‘lame’ and the ‘blind’ who are David’s enemies ¹³  by going through the water tunnel.” ¹⁴  For this reason it is said, “The blind and the lame cannot enter the palace.” ¹⁵ 

2 Samuel 5:20

5:20 So David marched against Baal Perazim and defeated them there. Then he said, “The Lord has burst out against my enemies like water bursts out.” So he called the name of that place Baal Perazim. ¹⁶ 

2 Samuel 8:2

8:2 He defeated the Moabites. He made them lie on the ground and then used a rope to measure them off. He put two-thirds of them to death and spared the other third. ¹⁷  The Moabites became David’s subjects and brought tribute. ¹⁸ 

2 Samuel 10:18

10:18 The Arameans fled before Israel. David killed 700 Aramean charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers. ¹⁹  He also struck down Shobach, the general in command of the army, who died there.

2 Samuel 11:21

11:21 Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone ²⁰  down on him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ just say to him, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.’”

2 Samuel 12:9

12:9 Why have you shown contempt for the word of the Lord by doing evil in my ²¹  sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and you have taken his wife as your own! ²²  You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

2 Samuel 13:28

13:28 Absalom instructed his servants, “Look! When Amnon is drunk ²³  and I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon down,’ kill him then and there. Don’t fear! Is it not I who have given you these instructions? Be strong and courageous!” ²⁴ 

2 Samuel 15:14

15:14 So David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, ²⁵  “Come on! ²⁶  Let’s escape! ²⁷  Otherwise no one will be delivered from Absalom! Go immediately, or else he will quickly overtake us and bring ²⁸  disaster on us and kill the city’s residents with the sword.” ²⁹ 

2 Samuel 18:11

18:11 Joab replied to the man who was telling him this, “What! You saw this? Why didn’t you strike him down right on the spot? ³⁰  I would have given you ten pieces of silver ³¹  and a commemorative belt!” ³² 

2 Samuel 20:10

20:10 Amasa did not protect himself from the knife in Joab’s other hand, and Joab ³³  stabbed him in the abdomen, causing Amasa’s ³⁴  intestines to spill out on the ground. There was no need to stab him again; the first blow was fatal. ³⁵  Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bicri.

2 Samuel 21:2

21:2 So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them. (Now the Gibeonites were not descendants of Israel; they were a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had made a promise to ³⁶  them, but Saul tried to kill them because of his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)

2 Samuel 21:17

21:17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to David’s aid, striking the Philistine down and killing him. Then David’s men took an oath saying, “You will not go out to battle with us again! You must not extinguish the lamp of Israel!”

2 Samuel 21:19

21:19 Yet another battle occurred with the Philistines in Gob. On that occasion Elhanan the son of Jair ³⁷  the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, ³⁸  the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

2 Samuel 23:10

23:10 he stood his ground ³⁹  and fought the Philistines until his hand grew so tired that it ⁴⁰  seemed stuck to his sword. The Lord gave a great victory on that day. When the army returned to him, the only thing left to do was to plunder the corpses.

2 Samuel 23:21

23:21 He also killed an impressive-looking Egyptian. ⁴¹  The Egyptian wielded a spear, while Benaiah attacked ⁴²  him with a club. He grabbed the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.

2 Samuel 24:10

24:10 David felt guilty ⁴³  after he had numbered the army. David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly by doing this! Now, O Lord, please remove the guilt of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”

2 Samuel 24:17

24:17 When he saw the angel who was destroying the people, David said to the Lord, “Look, it is I who have sinned and done this evil thing! As for these sheep – what have they done? Attack me and my family.” ⁴⁴ 

[2:23]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Asahel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:23]  ² tn Heb “the.” The article functions here as a possessive pronoun.

[2:23]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Asahel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abner) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “and they stand.”

[3:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he struck him down there [in] the stomach.”

[3:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he [i.e., Abner] died on account of the blood of Asahel his [i.e., Joab’s] brother.”

[4:7]  ⁸ tn After the concluding disjunctive clause at the end of v. 6, the author now begins a more detailed account of the murder and its aftermath.

[4:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ish-bosheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they struck him down and killed him.” The expression is a verbal hendiadys.

[4:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and they removed his head.” The Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate lack these words.

[4:7]  ¹² tc The Lucianic Greek recension lacks the words “his head.”

[5:8]  ¹³ tc There is some confusion among the witnesses concerning this word. The Kethib is the Qal perfect 3cp שָׂנְאוּ (sanÿ’u, “they hated”), referring to the Jebusites’ attitude toward David. The Qere is the Qal passive participle construct plural שְׂנֻאֵי (sÿnu’e, “hated”), referring to David’s attitude toward the Jebusites. 4QSam^a has the Qal perfect 3rd person feminine singular שָׂנְאָה (sanÿ’ah, “hated”), the subject of which would be “the soul of David.” The difference is minor and the translation adopted above works for either the Kethib or the Qere.

[5:8]  ¹⁴ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term has been debated. For a survey of various views, see P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 139-40.

[5:8]  sn If a water tunnel is in view here, it is probably the so-called Warren’s Shaft that extends up from Hezekiah’s tunnel. It would have provided a means for surprise attack against the occupants of the city of David. The LXX seems not to understand the reference here, translating “by the water shaft” as “with a small knife.”

[5:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the house.” TEV takes this as a reference to the temple (“the Lord’s house”).

[5:20]  ¹⁶ tn The name means “Lord of the outbursts.”

[8:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he measured [with] two [lengths] of rope to put to death and [with] the fullness of the rope to keep alive.”

[8:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and the Moabites were servants of David, carriers of tribute.”

[10:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “horsemen” (so KJV, NASB, NCV, NRSV, NLT) but the Lucianic recension of the LXX reads “foot soldiers,” as does the parallel text in 1 Chr 19:18. Cf. NAB, NIV.

[11:21]  ²⁰ sn The upper millstone (Heb “millstone of riding”) refers to the heavy circular stone that was commonly rolled over a circular base in order to crush and grind such things as olives.

[12:9]  ²¹ tc So the Qere; the Kethib has “his.”

[12:9]  ²² tn Heb “to you for a wife.” This expression also occurs at the end of v. 10.

[13:28]  ²³ tn Heb “when good is the heart of Amnon with wine.”

[13:28]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and become sons of valor.”

[15:14]  ²⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[15:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Arise!”

[15:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “let’s flee.”

[15:14]  ²⁸ tn Heb “thrust.”

[15:14]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”

[18:11]  ³⁰ tn Heb “Why did you not strike him down there to the ground.”

[18:11]  ³¹ tn Heb “ten [shekels] of silver.” This would have been about 4 ounces (114 grams) of silver by weight.

[18:11]  ³² tn Heb “and a girdle” (so KJV); NIV “a warrior’s belt”; CEV “a special belt”; NLT “a hero’s belt.”

[20:10]  ³³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:10]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and he did not repeat concerning him, and he died.”

[21:2]  ³⁶ tn Heb “swore an oath to.”

[21:19]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ 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.”

[23:10]  ³⁹ tn Heb “arose.”

[23:10]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “his hand.”

[23:21]  ⁴¹ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading אִישׁ (’ish, “man”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “who”).

[23:21]  ⁴² tn Heb “and he went down to.”

[24:10]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and the heart of David struck him.”

[24:17]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “let your hand be against me and against the house of my father.”