2 Samuel 3:12

3:12 Then Abner sent messengers ¹  to David saying, “To whom does the land belong? Make an agreement ²  with me, and I will do whatever I can ³  to cause all Israel to turn to you.”

2 Samuel 3:18

3:18 Act now! For the Lord has said to David, ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save ⁴  my people Israel from ⁵  the Philistines and from all their enemies.’”

2 Samuel 5:6

David Occupies Jerusalem

5:6 Then the king and his men advanced to Jerusalem ⁶  against the Jebusites who lived in the land. The Jebusites ⁷  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 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 ⁸  by going through the water tunnel.” ⁹  For this reason it is said, “The blind and the lame cannot enter the palace.” ¹⁰ 

2 Samuel 7:29

7:29 Now be willing to bless your servant’s dynasty ¹¹  so that it may stand permanently before you, for you, O sovereign Lord, have spoken. By your blessing may your servant’s dynasty be blessed on into the future!” ¹² 

2 Samuel 8:10

8:10 he ¹³  sent his son Joram ¹⁴  to King David to extend his best wishes ¹⁵  and to pronounce a blessing on him for his victory over Hadadezer, for Toi had been at war with Hadadezer. ¹⁶  He brought with him various items made of silver, gold, and bronze. ¹⁷ 

2 Samuel 14:11

14:11 She replied, “In that case, ¹⁸  let the king invoke the name of ¹⁹  the Lord your God so that the avenger of blood may not kill! Then they will not destroy my son!” He replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, not a single hair of your son’s head ²⁰  will fall to the ground.”

2 Samuel 14:15

14:15 I have now come to speak with my lord the king about this matter, because the people have made me fearful. ²¹  But your servant said, ‘I will speak to the king! Perhaps the king will do what his female servant ²²  asks.

2 Samuel 14:17

14:17 So your servant said, ‘May the word of my lord the king be my security, for my lord the king is like the angel of God when it comes to deciding between right and wrong! May the Lord your God be with you!’”

2 Samuel 15:2

15:2 Now Absalom used to get up early and stand beside the road that led to the city gate. Whenever anyone came by who had a complaint to bring to the king for arbitration, Absalom would call out to him, “What city are you from?” The person would answer, “I, your servant, ²³  am from one of the tribes of Israel.”

2 Samuel 16:2

16:2 The king asked Ziba, “Why did you bring these things?” ²⁴  Ziba replied, “The donkeys are for the king’s family to ride on, the loaves of bread ²⁵  and the summer fruit are for the attendants to eat, and the wine is for those who get exhausted in the desert.” ²⁶ 

2 Samuel 16:11

16:11 Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “My own son, my very own flesh and blood, ²⁷  is trying to take my life. So also now this Benjaminite! Leave him alone so that he can curse, for the Lord has spoken to him.

2 Samuel 17:16

17:16 Now send word quickly to David and warn him, ²⁸  “Don’t spend the night at the fords of the desert ²⁹  tonight. Instead, be sure you cross over, ³⁰  or else the king and everyone who is with him may be overwhelmed.” ³¹ 

2 Samuel 20:15

20:15 So Joab’s men ³²  came and laid siege against him in Abel of Beth Maacah. They prepared a siege ramp outside the city which stood against its outer rampart. As all of Joab’s soldiers were trying to break through ³³  the wall so that it would collapse,

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 ³⁴  them, but Saul tried to kill them because of his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)

2 Samuel 23:9

23:9 Next in command ³⁵  was Eleazar son of Dodo, ³⁶  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, ³⁷ 

2 Samuel 23:18

23:18 Abishai son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, was head of the three. ³⁸  He killed three hundred men with his spear and gained fame among the three. ³⁹ 

2 Samuel 24:16

24:16 When the angel ⁴⁰  extended his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented from his judgment. ⁴¹  He told the angel who was killing the people, “That’s enough! Stop now!” ⁴²  (Now the Lord’s angel was near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.)

2 Samuel 24:22

24:22 Araunah told David, “My lord the king may take whatever he wishes ⁴³  and offer it. Look! Here are oxen for burnt offerings, and threshing sledges ⁴⁴  and harnesses ⁴⁵  for wood.

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. ⁴⁶ 

[3:12]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text adds here, “on his behalf.”

[3:12]  ² tn Heb “cut a covenant.” So also in vv. 13, 21.

[3:12]  ³ tn Heb “and behold, my hand is with you.”

[3:18]  ⁴ tc The present translation follows the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate in reading “I will save,” rather than the MT “he saved.” The context calls for the 1st person common singular imperfect of the verb rather than the 3rd person masculine singular perfect.

[3:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the hand of.”

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

[5:6]  ⁷ 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.

[5:8]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the house.” TEV takes this as a reference to the temple (“the Lord’s house”).

[7:29]  ¹¹ tn Heb “house” (again later in this verse). See the note on “dynastic house” in v. 27.

[7:29]  ¹² tn Or “permanently”; cf. NLT “it is an eternal blessing.”

[8:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “Toi.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:10]  ¹⁴ tn The name appears as “Hadoram” in the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:10.

[8:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to ask concerning him for peace.”

[8:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and to bless him because he fought with Hadadezer and defeated him, for Hadadezer was a man of battles with Toi.”

[8:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and in his hand were items of silver and items of gold and items of bronze.”

[14:11]  ¹⁸ tn The words “in that case” are not in the Hebrew text, but may be inferred from the context. They are supplied in the translation for the sake of clarification.

[14:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “let the king remember.”

[14:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “of your son.”

[14:15]  ²¹ tc The LXX (ὄψεταί με, opsetai me) has misunderstood the Hebrew יֵרְאֻנִי (yerÿ’uni, Piel perfect, “they have made me fearful”), taking the verb to be a form of the verb רָאָה (ra’ah, “to see”) rather than the verb יָרֵא (yare’, “to fear”). The fact that the Greek translators were working with an unvocalized Hebrew text (i.e., consonants only) made them very susceptible to this type of error.

[14:15]  ²² tn Here and in v. 16 the woman refers to herself as the king’s אָמָה (’amah), a term that refers to a higher level female servant toward whom the master might have some obligation. Like the other term, this word expresses her humility, but it also suggests that the king might have some obligation to treat her in accordance with the principles of justice.

[15:2]  ²³ tn Heb “your servant.” So also in vv. 8, 15, 21.

[16:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “What are these to you?”

[16:2]  ²⁵ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וְהַלֶּחֶם (vÿhallekhem, “and the bread”) rather than וּלְהַלֶּחֶם (ulÿhallekhem, “and to the bread”) of the Kethib. The syntax of the MT is confused here by the needless repetition of the preposition, probably taken from the preceding word.

[16:2]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew text adds “to drink.”

[16:11]  ²⁷ tn Heb “who came out from my entrails.” David’s point is that is his own son, his child whom he himself had fathered, was now wanting to kill him.

[17:16]  ²⁸ tn Heb “send quickly and tell David saying.”

[17:16]  ²⁹ tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV).

[17:16]  ³⁰ tn That is, “cross over the Jordan River.”

[17:16]  ³¹ tn Heb “swallowed up.”

[20:15]  ³² tn Heb “they.” The following context makes it clear that this refers to Joab and his army.

[20:15]  ³³ tc The LXX has here ἐνοοῦσαν (enoousan, “were devising”), which apparently presupposes the Hebrew word מַחֲשָׁבִים (makhashavim) rather than the MT מַשְׁחִיתִם (mashkhitim, “were destroying”). With a number of other scholars Driver thinks that the Greek variant may preserve the original reading, but this seems to be an unnecessary conclusion (but see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 346).

[21:2]  ³⁴ tn Heb “swore an oath to.”

[23:9]  ³⁵ tn Heb “after him.”

[23:9]  ³⁶ 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]  ³⁷ tn Heb “went up.”

[23:18]  ³⁸ 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]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and he was wielding his spear against three hundred, [who were] slain, and to him there was a name among the three.”

[24:16]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “messenger.”

[24:16]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “concerning the calamity.”

[24:16]  ⁴² tn Heb “Now, drop your hand.”

[24:22]  ⁴³ tn Heb “what is good in his eyes.”

[24:22]  ⁴⁴ sn Threshing sledges were heavy boards used in ancient times for loosening grain from husks. On the bottom sides of these boards sharp stones were embedded, and the boards were then dragged across the grain on a threshing floor by an ox or donkey.

[24:22]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “the equipment of the oxen.”

[24:24]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “fifty shekels of silver.” This would have been about 20 ounces (568 grams) of silver by weight.