2 Samuel 3:21

3:21 Abner said to David, “Let me leave so that I may go and gather all Israel to my lord the king so that they may make an agreement ¹  with you. Then you will rule over all that you desire.” So David sent Abner away, and he left in peace.

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 ²  in the abdomen and killed him, avenging the shed blood of his brother Asahel. ³ 

2 Samuel 3:29

3:29 May his blood whirl over ⁴  the head of Joab and the entire house of his father! ⁵  May the males of Joab’s house ⁶  never cease to have ⁷  someone with a running sore or a skin disease or one who works at the spindle ⁸  or one who falls by the sword or one who lacks food!”

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, ⁹  am from one of the tribes of Israel.”

2 Samuel 19:11

19:11 Then King David sent a message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests saying, “Tell the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you delay any further in bringing the king back to his palace, ¹⁰  when everything Israel is saying has come to the king’s attention. ¹¹ 

2 Samuel 19:28

19:28 After all, there was no one in the entire house of my grandfather ¹²  who did not deserve death from my lord the king. But instead you allowed me to eat at your own table! ¹³  What further claim do I have to ask ¹⁴  the king for anything?”

2 Samuel 19:42

19:42 All the men of Judah replied to the men of Israel, “Because the king is our close relative! Why are you so upset about this? Have we eaten at the king’s expense? ¹⁵  Or have we misappropriated anything for our own use?”

[3:21]  ¹ tn After the cohortatives, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.

[3:27]  ² tn Heb “and he struck him down there [in] the stomach.”

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

[3:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “and may they whirl over.” In the Hebrew text the subject of the plural verb is unexpressed. The most likely subject is Abner’s “shed blood” (v. 28), which is a masculine plural form in Hebrew. The verb חוּל (khul, “whirl”) is used with the preposition עַל (’al) only here and in Jer 23:19; 30:23.

[3:29]  ⁵ tc 4QSam^a has “of Joab” rather than “of his father” read by the MT.

[3:29]  ⁶ tn Heb “the house of Joab.” However, it is necessary to specify that David’s curse is aimed at Joab’s male descendants; otherwise it would not be clear that “one who works at the spindle” refers to a man doing woman’s work rather than a woman.

[3:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “and may there not be cut off from the house of Joab.”

[3:29]  ⁸ tn The expression used here is difficult. The translation “one who works at the spindle” follows a suggestion of S. R. Driver that the expression pejoratively describes an effeminate man who, rather than being a mighty warrior, is occupied with tasks that are normally fulfilled by women (S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 250-51; cf. NAB “one unmanly”; TEV “fit only to do a woman’s work”; CEV “cowards”). But P. K. McCarter, following an alleged Phoenician usage of the noun to refer to “crutches,” adopts a different view. He translates the phrase “clings to a crutch,” seeing here a further description of physical lameness (II Samuel [AB], 118). Such an idea fits the present context well and is followed by NIV, NCV, and NLT, although the evidence for this meaning is questionable. According to DNWSI 2:915-16, the noun consistently refers to a spindle in Phoenician, as it does in Ugaritic (see UT 468).

[15:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “your servant.” So also in vv. 8, 15, 21.

[19:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “his house.”

[19:11]  ¹¹ tc The Hebrew text adds “to his house” (= palace), but the phrase, which also appears earlier in the verse, is probably accidentally repeated here.

[19:28]  ¹² tn Heb “father.”

[19:28]  ¹³ tn Heb “and you placed your servant among those who eat at your table.”

[19:28]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to cry out to.”

[19:42]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “from the king.”