2 Samuel 3:35

3:35 Then all the people came and encouraged David to eat food while it was still day. But David took an oath saying, “God will punish me severely ¹  if I taste bread or anything whatsoever before the sun sets!”

2 Samuel 6:19

6:19 He then handed out to each member of the entire assembly of Israel, ²  both men and women, a portion of bread, a date cake, ³  and a raisin cake. Then all the people went home. ⁴ 

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. ⁵  Is this your usual way of dealing with men, ⁶  O Lord God?

2 Samuel 8:10

8:10 he ⁷  sent his son Joram ⁸  to King David to extend his best wishes ⁹  and to pronounce a blessing on him for his victory over Hadadezer, for Toi had been at war with Hadadezer. ¹⁰  He brought with him various items made of silver, gold, and bronze. ¹¹ 

2 Samuel 13:32

13:32 Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, said, “My lord should not say, ‘They have killed all the young men who are the king’s sons.’ For only Amnon is dead. This is what Absalom has talked about ¹²  from the day that Amnon ¹³  humiliated his sister Tamar.

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 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. ¹⁴  But your servant said, ‘I will speak to the king! Perhaps the king will do what his female servant ¹⁵  asks.

2 Samuel 16:1

David Receives Gifts from Ziba

16:1 When David had gone a short way beyond the summit, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth was there to meet him. He had a couple of donkeys that were saddled, and on them were two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred raisin cakes, a hundred baskets of summer fruit, ¹⁶  and a container of wine.

2 Samuel 20:8

20:8 When they were near the big rock that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to them. Now Joab was dressed in military attire and had a dagger in its sheath belted to his waist. When he advanced, it fell out. ¹⁷ 

2 Samuel 23:18

23:18 Abishai son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, was head of the three. ¹⁸  He killed three hundred men with his spear and gained fame among the three. ¹⁹ 

[3:35]  ¹ tn Heb “Thus God will do to me and thus he will add.”

[6:19]  ² tn Heb “to all the people, to all the throng of Israel.”

[6:19]  ³ tn The Hebrew word used here אֶשְׁפָּר (’espar) is found in the OT only here and in the parallel passage found in 1 Chr 16:3. Its exact meaning is uncertain, although the context indicates that it was a food of some sort (cf. KJV “a good piece of flesh”; NRSV “a portion of meat”). The translation adopted here (“date cake”) follows the lead of the Greek translations of the LXX, Aquila, and Symmachus (cf. NASB, NIV, NLT).

[6:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “and all the people went, each to his house.”

[7:19]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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).

[8:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “Toi.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun in the translation for stylistic reasons.

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

[8:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “to ask concerning him for peace.”

[8:10]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and in his hand were items of silver and items of gold and items of bronze.”

[13:32]  ¹² tn Heb “it was placed on the mouth of Absalom.”

[13:32]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Amnon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:15]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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.

[16:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a hundred summer fruit.”

[20:8]  ¹⁷ sn The significance of the statement it fell out here is unclear. If the dagger fell out of its sheath before Joab got to Amasa, how then did he kill him? Josephus, Ant. 7.11.7 (7.284), suggested that as Joab approached Amasa he deliberately caused the dagger to fall to the ground at an opportune moment as though by accident. When he bent over and picked it up, he then stabbed Amasa with it. Others have tried to make a case for thinking that two swords are referred to – the one that fell out and another that Joab kept concealed until the last moment. But nothing in the text clearly supports this view. Perhaps Josephus’ understanding is best, but it is by no means obvious in the text either.

[23:18]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and he was wielding his spear against three hundred, [who were] slain, and to him there was a name among the three.”