Discovery Box2 Samuel 3:17-22 
Context3:17 Abner advised 1 the elders of Israel, “Previously you were wanting David to be your king. 2 3:18 Act now! For the Lord has said to David, ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save 3 my people Israel from 4 the Philistines and from all their enemies.’”
3:19 Then Abner spoke privately 5 with the Benjaminites. Abner also went to Hebron to inform David privately 6 of all that Israel and the entire house of Benjamin had agreed to. 7 3:20 When Abner, accompanied by twenty men, came to David in Hebron, David prepared a banquet for Abner and the men who were with him. 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 8 with you. Then you will rule over all that you desire.” So David sent Abner away, and he left in peace.
3:22 Now David’s soldiers 9 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 10 had sent him away and he had left in peace.
1 tn Heb “the word of Abner was with.”
2 tn Heb “you were seeking David to be king over you.”
3 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.
4 tn Heb “from the hand of.”
5 tn Heb “into the ears of.”
6 tn Heb “also Abner went to speak into the ears of David in Hebron.”
7 tn Heb “all which was good in the eyes of Israel and in the eyes of all the house of Benjamin.”
8 tn After the cohortatives, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.
9 tn Heb “And look, the servants of David.”
10 tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
