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 4:1

Ish-bosheth is killed

4:1 When Ish-bosheth ⁶  the son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he was very disheartened, ⁷  and all Israel was afraid.

2 Samuel 4:4

4:4 Now Saul’s son Jonathan had a son who was crippled in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan arrived from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but in her haste to get away, he fell and was injured. ⁸  Mephibosheth was his name.

2 Samuel 4:10

4:10 when someone told me that Saul was dead – even though he thought he was bringing good news ⁹  – I seized him and killed him in Ziklag. That was the good news I gave to him!

2 Samuel 5:6

David Occupies Jerusalem

5:6 Then the king and his men advanced to Jerusalem ¹⁰  against the Jebusites who lived in the land. The Jebusites ¹¹  said to David, “You cannot invade this place! Even the blind and the lame will turn you back, saying, ‘David cannot invade this place!’”

2 Samuel 6:12

6:12 David was told, ¹²  “The Lord has blessed the family of Obed-Edom and everything he owns because of the ark of God.” So David went and joyfully brought the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David.

2 Samuel 6:16

6:16 As the ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked out the window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him. ¹³ 

2 Samuel 7:7

7:7 Wherever I moved among all the Israelites, I did not say ¹⁴  to any of the leaders ¹⁵  whom I appointed to care for ¹⁶  my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?”’

2 Samuel 7:19

7:19 And you didn’t stop there, O Lord God! You have also spoken about the future of your servant’s family. ¹⁷  Is this your usual way of dealing with men, ¹⁸  O Lord God?

2 Samuel 9:10

9:10 You will cultivate ¹⁹  the land for him – you and your sons and your servants. You will bring its produce ²⁰  and it will be ²¹  food for your master’s grandson to eat. ²²  But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, will be a regular guest at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

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 14:2

14:2 So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He told her, “Pretend to be in mourning ²⁵  and put on garments for mourning. Don’t anoint yourself with oil. Instead, act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for some time. ²⁶ 

2 Samuel 14:13

14:13 The woman said, “Why have you devised something like this against God’s people? When the king speaks in this fashion, he makes himself guilty, for the king has not brought back the one he has banished.

2 Samuel 15:14

15:14 So David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, ²⁷  “Come on! ²⁸  Let’s escape! ²⁹  Otherwise no one will be delivered from Absalom! Go immediately, or else he will quickly overtake us and bring ³⁰  disaster on us and kill the city’s residents with the sword.” ³¹ 

2 Samuel 17:16

17:16 Now send word quickly to David and warn him, ³²  “Don’t spend the night at the fords of the desert ³³  tonight. Instead, be sure you cross over, ³⁴  or else the king and everyone who is with him may be overwhelmed.” ³⁵ 

2 Samuel 17:21

17:21 After the men had left, Ahimaaz and Jonathan ³⁶  climbed out of the well. Then they left and informed King David. They advised David, “Get up and cross the stream ³⁷  quickly, for Ahithophel has devised a plan to catch you.” ³⁸ 

2 Samuel 18:12

18:12 The man replied to Joab, “Even if ³⁹  I were receiving ⁴⁰  a thousand pieces of silver, ⁴¹  I would not strike ⁴²  the king’s son! In our very presence ⁴³  the king gave this order to you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’ ⁴⁴ 

2 Samuel 18:22

18:22 Ahimaaz the son of Zadok again spoke to Joab, “Whatever happens, let me go after the Cushite.” But Joab said, “Why is it that you want to go, my son? You have no good news that will bring you a reward.”

2 Samuel 18:28

18:28 Then Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, “Greetings!” ⁴⁵  He bowed down before the king with his face toward the ground and said, “May the Lord your God be praised because he has defeated ⁴⁶  the men who opposed ⁴⁷  my lord the king!”

2 Samuel 20:6

20:6 Then David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba son of Bicri will cause greater disaster for us than Absalom did! Take your lord’s servants and pursue him. Otherwise he will secure ⁴⁸  fortified cities for himself and get away from us.”

2 Samuel 20:10

20:10 Amasa did not protect himself from the knife in Joab’s other hand, and Joab ⁴⁹  stabbed him in the abdomen, causing Amasa’s ⁵⁰  intestines to spill out on the ground. There was no need to stab him again; the first blow was fatal. ⁵¹  Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bicri.

2 Samuel 23:9

23:9 Next in command ⁵²  was Eleazar son of Dodo, ⁵³  the son of Ahohi. He was one of the three warriors who were with David when they defied the Philistines who were assembled there for battle. When the men of Israel retreated, ⁵⁴ 

2 Samuel 23:17-18

23:17 and said, “O Lord, I will not do this! ⁵⁵  It is equivalent to the blood of the men who risked their lives by going.” ⁵⁶  So he refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three elite warriors. ⁵⁷ 

23:18 Abishai son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, was head of the three. ⁵⁸  He killed three hundred men with his spear and gained fame among the three. ⁵⁹ 

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.” ⁶⁰ 

2 Samuel 24:24

24:24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it from you! I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt sacrifices that cost me nothing.”

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty pieces of silver. ⁶¹ 

[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.”

[4:1]  ⁶ tn The MT does not specify the subject of the verb here, but the reference is to Ish-bosheth, so the name has been supplied in the translation for clarity. 4QSam^a and the LXX mistakenly read “Mephibosheth.”

[4:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “his hands went slack.”

[4:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “and was lame.”

[4:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he was like a bearer of good news in his eyes.”

[5:6]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:6]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text has “he” rather than “the Jebusites.” The referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. In the Syriac Peshitta and some mss of the Targum the verb is plural rather than singular.

[6:12]  ¹² tn Heb “and it was told to David, saying.”

[6:16]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew text adds “in her heart.” Cf. CEV “she was disgusted (+ with him TEV)”; NLT “was filled with contempt for him”; NCV “she hated him.”

[7:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Did I speak a word?” In the Hebrew text the statement is phrased as a rhetorical question.

[7:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “tribes” (so KJV, NASB, NCV), but the parallel passage in 1 Chr 17:6 has “judges.”

[7:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “whom I commanded to shepherd” (so NIV, NRSV).

[7:19]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and this was small in your eyes, O Lord God, so you spoke concerning the house of your servant for a distance.”

[7:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and this [is] the law of man”; KJV “is this the manner of man, O Lord God?”; NAB “this too you have shown to man”; NRSV “May this be instruction for the people, O Lord God!” This part of the verse is very enigmatic; no completely satisfying solution has yet been suggested. The present translation tries to make sense of the MT by understanding the phrase as a question that underscores the uniqueness of God’s dealings with David as described here. The parallel passage in 1 Chr 17:17 reads differently (see the note there).

[9:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “work.”

[9:10]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew text implies, but does not actually contain, the words “its produce” here.

[9:10]  ²¹ tc The words “it will be,” though present in the MT, are absent from the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate.

[9:10]  ²² tn Heb “and he will eat it.”

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

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

[14:2]  ²⁵ tn The Hebrew Hitpael verbal form here indicates pretended rather than genuine action.

[14:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “these many days.”

[15:14]  ²⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[15:14]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Arise!”

[15:14]  ²⁹ tn Heb “let’s flee.”

[15:14]  ³⁰ tn Heb “thrust.”

[15:14]  ³¹ tn Heb “and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”

[17:16]  ³² tn Heb “send quickly and tell David saying.”

[17:16]  ³³ tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV).

[17:16]  ³⁴ tn That is, “cross over the Jordan River.”

[17:16]  ³⁵ tn Heb “swallowed up.”

[17:21]  ³⁶ tn Heb “they”; the referents (Ahimaaz and Jonathan) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:21]  ³⁷ tn Heb “the water.”

[17:21]  ³⁸ 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.

[18:12]  ³⁹ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וְלוּ (vÿlu, “and if”) rather than MT וְלֹא (vÿlo’, “and not”).

[18:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “weighing out in my hand.”

[18:12]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “a thousand [shekels] of silver.” This would have been about 25 pounds (11.4 kg) of silver by weight.

[18:12]  ⁴² tn Heb “extend my hand against.”

[18:12]  ⁴³ tn Heb “in our ears.”

[18:12]  ⁴⁴ tc The Hebrew text is very difficult here. The MT reads מִי (mi, “who”), apparently yielding the following sense: “Show care, whoever you might be, for the youth Absalom.” The Syriac Peshitta reads li (“for me”), the Hebrew counterpart of which may also lie behind the LXX rendering μοι (moi, “for me”). This reading seems preferable here, since it restores sense to the passage and most easily explains the rise of the variant.

[18:28]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “Peace.”

[18:28]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “delivered over.”

[18:28]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “lifted their hand against.”

[20:6]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “find.” The perfect verbal form is unexpected with the preceding word “otherwise.” We should probably read instead the imperfect. Although it is possible to understand the perfect here as indicating that the feared result is thought of as already having taken place (cf. BDB 814 s.v. פֶּן 2), it is more likely that the perfect is simply the result of scribal error. In this context the imperfect would be more consistent with the following verb וְהִצִּיל (vÿhitsil, “and he will get away”).

[20:10]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:10]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:10]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “and he did not repeat concerning him, and he died.”

[23:9]  ⁵² tn Heb “after him.”

[23:9]  ⁵³ tc This follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading דֹּדוֹ (dodo) rather than the Kethib of the MT דֹּדַי (dodai; cf. ASV, NIV, NLT). But see 1 Chr 27:4.

[23:9]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “went up.”

[23:17]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “Far be it to me, O Lord, from doing this.”

[23:17]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “[Is it not] the blood of the men who were going with their lives?”

[23:17]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “These things the three warriors did.”

[23:18]  ⁵⁸ tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, and Vulgate in reading הַשְּׁלֹשָׁה (hashÿlosa, “the three”) rather than the Kethib of the MT הַשָּׁלִשִׁי (hashalisi, “the third,” or “adjutant”). Two medieval Hebrew mss and the Syriac Peshitta have “thirty.”

[23:18]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “and he was wielding his spear against three hundred, [who were] slain, and to him there was a name among the three.”

[24:17]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “let your hand be against me and against the house of my father.”

[24:24]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “fifty shekels of silver.” This would have been about 20 ounces (568 grams) of silver by weight.