2 Samuel 2:5

2:5 So David sent messengers to the people of Jabesh Gilead and told them, “May you be blessed by the Lord because you have shown this kindness ¹  to your lord Saul by burying him.

2 Samuel 2:27

2:27 Joab replied, “As surely as God lives, if you had not said this, it would have been morning before the people would have abandoned pursuit ²  of their brothers!”

2 Samuel 5:7

5:7 But David captured the fortress of Zion (that is, the city of David).

2 Samuel 7:28

7:28 Now, O sovereign Lord, you are the true God! ³  May your words prove to be true! ⁴  You have made this good promise to your servant! ⁵ 

2 Samuel 10:5

10:5 Messengers ⁶  told David what had happened, ⁷  so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho ⁸  until your beards have grown again; then you may come back.”

2 Samuel 12:19

12:19 When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he ⁹  realized that the child was dead. So David asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” They replied, “Yes, he’s dead.”

2 Samuel 12:28

12:28 So now assemble the rest of the army ¹⁰  and besiege the city and capture it. Otherwise I will capture the city and it will be named for me.”

2 Samuel 13:16

13:16 But she said to him, “No I won’t, for sending me away now would be worse than what you did to me earlier!” ¹¹  But he refused to listen to her.

2 Samuel 13:23

Absalom Has Amnon Put to Death

13:23 Two years later Absalom’s sheepshearers were in Baal Hazor, ¹²  near Ephraim. Absalom invited all the king’s sons.

2 Samuel 13:25

13:25 But the king said to Absalom, “No, my son. We shouldn’t all go. We shouldn’t burden you in that way.” Though Absalom ¹³  pressed ¹⁴  him, the king ¹⁵  was not willing to go. Instead, David ¹⁶  blessed him.

2 Samuel 14:29

14:29 Then Absalom sent a message to Joab asking him to send him to the king, but Joab was not willing to come to him. So he sent a second message to him, but he still was not willing to come.

2 Samuel 15:36

15:36 Furthermore, their two sons are there with them, Zadok’s son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan. You must send them to me with any information you hear.” ¹⁷ 

2 Samuel 18:31

18:31 Then the Cushite arrived and said, ¹⁸  “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!” ¹⁹ 

2 Samuel 19:2

19:2 So the victory of that day was turned to mourning as far as all the people were concerned. For the people heard on that day, “The king is grieved over his son.”

2 Samuel 21:5-7

21:5 They replied to the king, “As for this man who exterminated us and who schemed against us so that we were destroyed and left without status throughout all the borders of Israel – 21:6 let seven of his male descendants be turned over to us, and we will execute ²⁰  them before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, who was the Lord’s chosen one.” ²¹  The king replied, “I will turn them over.”

21:7 The king had mercy on Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, in light of the Lord’s oath that had been taken between David and Jonathan son of Saul.

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, ²² 

Israel’s beloved ²³  singer of songs:

2 Samuel 23:8

David’s Warriors

23:8 These are the names of David’s warriors:

Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite, was head of the officers. ²⁴  He killed eight hundred men with his spear in one battle. ²⁵ 

[2:5]  ¹ tn Or “loyalty.”

[2:27]  ² tn The Hebrew verb נַעֲלָה (na’alah) used here is the Niphal perfect 3rd person masculine singular of עָלָה (’alah, “to go up”). In the Niphal this verb “is used idiomatically, of getting away from so as to abandon…especially of an army raising a siege…” (see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 244).

[7:28]  ³ tn Heb “the God.” The article indicates uniqueness here.

[7:28]  ⁴ tn The translation understands the prefixed verb form as a jussive, indicating David’s wish/prayer. Another option is to take the form as an imperfect and translate “your words are true.”

[7:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “and you have spoken to your servant this good thing.”

[10:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the messengers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:5]  ⁷ tn The words “what had happened” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[10:5]  ⁸ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[12:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “David.” The name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) for stylistic reasons.

[12:28]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “people.” So also in vv. 29, 31.

[13:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “No, because this great evil is [worse] than the other which you did with me, by sending me away.” Perhaps the broken syntax reflects her hysteria and outrage.

[13:23]  ¹² map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 D3; Map3 A2; Map4 C1.

[13:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Absalom) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:25]  ¹⁴ tc Here and in v. 27 the translation follows 4QSam^a ויצפר (vayyitspar, “and he pressed”) rather than the MT וַיִּפְרָץ (vayyiprats, “and he broke through”). This emended reading seems also to underlie the translations of the LXX (καὶ ἐβιάσατο, kai ebiasato), the Syriac Peshitta (we’alseh), and Vulgate (cogeret eum).

[13:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:25]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:36]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and you must send by their hand to me every word which you hear.” Both of the second person verb forms are plural with Zadok, Abiathar, and Hushai being the understood subjects.

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

[18:31]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “for the Lord has vindicated you today from the hand of all those rising against you.”

[21:6]  ²⁰ tn The exact nature of this execution is not altogether clear. The verb יָקַע (yaqa’) basically means “to dislocate” or “alienate.” In Gen 32:26 it is used of the dislocation of Jacob’s thigh. Figuratively it can refer to the removal of an individual from a group (e.g., Jer 6:8; Ezek 23:17) or to a type of punishment the specific identity of which is uncertain (e.g., here and Num 25:4); cf. NAB “dismember them”; NIV “to be killed and exposed.”

[21:6]  ²¹ tc The LXX reads “at Gibeon on the mountain of the Lord” (cf. 21:9). The present translation follows the MT, although a number of recent English translations follow the LXX reading here (e.g., NAB, NRSV, NLT).

[23:1]  ²² tn Heb “the anointed one of the God of Jacob.”

[23:1]  ²³ tn Or “pleasant.”

[23:8]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew word is sometimes rendered as “the three,” but BDB is probably correct in taking it to refer to military officers (BDB 1026 s.v. שְׁלִישִׁי). In that case the etymological connection of this word to the Hebrew numerical adjective for “three” can be explained as originating with a designation for the third warrior in a chariot.

[23:8]  ²⁵ tc The translation follows some LXX mss (see 1 Chr 11:11 as well) in reading הוּא עוֹרֵר אֶת־חֲנִיתוֹ (hu’ ’orer ’et khanito, “he raised up his spear”) rather than the MT’s הוּא עֲדִינוֹ הָעֶצְנִי (hu’ ’adino ha’etsni [Kethib = הָעֶצְנוֹ, ha’etsno]; “Adino the Ezenite”). The emended text reads literally “he was wielding his spear against eight hundred, [who were] slain at one time.”