2 Samuel 3:22

Abner Is Killed

3:22 Now David’s soldiers ¹  and Joab were coming back from a raid, bringing a great deal of plunder with them. Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, for David ²  had sent him away and he had left in peace.

2 Samuel 12:3

12:3 But the poor man had nothing except for a little lamb he had acquired. He raised it, and it grew up alongside him and his children. ³  It used to ⁴  eat his food, ⁵  drink from his cup, and sleep in his arms. ⁶  It was just like a daughter to him.

2 Samuel 17:6

17:6 So Hushai came to Absalom. Absalom said to him, “Here is what Ahithophel has advised. Should we follow his advice? If not, what would you recommend?”

2 Samuel 18:18

18:18 Prior to this ⁷  Absalom had set up a monument ⁸  and dedicated it to himself in the King’s Valley, reasoning “I have no son who will carry on my name.” He named the monument after himself, and to this day it is known as Absalom’s Memorial.

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 19:6

19:6 You seem to love your enemies and hate your friends! For you have as much as declared today that leaders and servants don’t matter to you. I realize now ⁹  that if ¹⁰  Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, ¹¹  it would be all right with you.

2 Samuel 20:1

Sheba’s Rebellion

20:1 Now a wicked man ¹²  named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, ¹³  happened to be there. He blew the trumpet ¹⁴  and said,

“We have no share in David;

we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!

Every man go home, ¹⁵  O Israel!”

[3:22]  ¹ tn Heb “And look, the servants of David.”

[3:22]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:3]  ³ tn Heb “his sons.”

[12:3]  ⁴ tn The three Hebrew imperfect verbal forms in this sentence have a customary nuance; they describe past actions that were repeated or typical.

[12:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “from his morsel.”

[12:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “and on his chest [or perhaps, “lap”] it would lay.”

[18:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “and.” This disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) describes an occurrence that preceded the events just narrated.

[18:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “a pillar.”

[19:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “today.”

[19:6]  ¹⁰ tc The translation follows the Qere, 4QSam^a, and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading לוּ (lu, “if”) rather than MT לֹא (lo’, “not”).

[19:6]  ¹¹ tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack “today.”

[20:1]  ¹² tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”

[20:1]  ¹³ tn The expression used here יְמִינִי (yÿmini) is a short form of the more common “Benjamin.” It appears elsewhere in 1 Sam 9:4 and Esth 2:5. Cf. 1 Sam 9:1.

[20:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.

[20:1]  ¹⁵ tc The MT reads לְאֹהָלָיו (lÿ’ohalav, “to his tents”). For a similar idiom, see 19:9. An ancient scribal tradition understands the reading to be לְאלֹהָיו (le’lohav, “to his gods”). The word is a tiqqun sopherim, and the scribes indicate that they changed the word from “gods” to “tents” so as to soften its theological implications. In a consonantal Hebrew text the change involved only the metathesis of two letters.