2:8 “Note well, you still have to contend with Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, 6 who tried to call down upon me a horrible judgment when I went to Mahanaim. 7 He came down and met me at the Jordan, and I solemnly promised 8 him by the Lord, ‘I will not strike you down 9 with the sword.’
2:19 So Bathsheba visited King Solomon to speak to him on Adonijah’s behalf. The king got up to greet 10 her, bowed to her, and then sat on his throne. He ordered a throne to be brought for the king’s mother, 11 and she sat at his right hand.
1 tn Heb “said to.”
2 tn Heb “let them seek for my master, the king, a young girl, a virgin.” The third person plural subject of the verb is indefinite (see GKC 460 §144.f). The appositional expression, “a young girl, a virgin,” is idiomatic; the second term specifically defines the more general first term (see IBHS 230 §12.3b).
3 tn Heb “and she will stand before the king.” The Hebrew phrase “stand before” can mean “to attend; to serve” (BDB 764 s.v. עָמַד).
4 tn Heb “and she will lie down in your bosom.” The expression might imply sexual intimacy (see 2 Sam 12:3 [where the lamb symbolizes Bathsheba] and Mic 7:5), though v. 4b indicates that David did not actually have sex with the young woman.
5 tn Heb “and my master, the king, will be warm.”
6 tn Heb “Look, with you is Shimei….”
7 tn Heb “and he cursed me with a horrible curse on the day I went to Mahanaim.”
8 tn Or “swore an oath to.”
9 tn Heb “kill you.”
10 tn Or “meet.”
11 tn Heb “he set up a throne for the mother of the king.”
12 tn Heb “The
13 tn Heb “because he struck down two men more innocent and better than he and he killed them with the sword, and my father David did not know.”
14 tn Heb “sent and summoned.”
15 tn Heb “Is it not [true]…?” In the Hebrew text the statement is interrogative; the rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course it is.”
16 tn Heb “here or there.”
17 tn Heb “good is the word; I have heard.”
18 tn Or “the Wadi of Egypt” (NAB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “the Egyptian Gorge.”
19 tn Heb “Solomon held at that time the festival, and all Israel was with him, a great assembly from Lebo Hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the
20 tn The words “I am taking the kingdom from him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
21 tc This is the reading of the MT; the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate read “he has.”
22 tn Heb “walked in my ways.”
23 tn Heb “by doing what is right in my eyes, my rules and my regulations, like David his father.”
24 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Rehoboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
25 tn Heb “Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter upon us.”
26 tn Heb “My little one is thicker than my father’s hips.” The referent of “my little one” is not clear. The traditional view is that it refers to the little finger. As the following statement makes clear, Rehoboam’s point is that he is more harsh and demanding than his father.
27 tn Or “servants.”
28 tn Or “merciful.” The word used here often means “devoted” or “loyal.” Perhaps the idea is that the Israelite kings are willing to make treaties with other kings.
29 sn Sackcloth was worn as a sign of sorrow and repentance. The precise significance of the ropes on the head is uncertain, but it probably was a sign of submission. These actions were comparable to raising a white flag on the battlefield or throwing in the towel in a boxing match.
30 tn Heb “go out.”
31 tn Heb “While I was talking…, I said…, he said….” Ahab’s explanation is one lengthy sentence in the Hebrew text, which is divided in the English translation for stylistic reasons.
32 tn Heb “to seek the
33 tn Or “hate.”
34 tn The words “his name is” are supplied for stylistic reasons.