4:12 So David issued orders to the soldiers and they put them to death. Then they cut off their hands and feet and hung them 9 near the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth 10 and buried it in the tomb of Abner 11 in Hebron. 12
9:11 Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do everything that my lord the king has instructed his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth was a regular guest 14 at David’s table, 15 just as though he were one of the king’s sons.
17:14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite sounds better than the advice of Ahithophel.” Now the Lord had decided 28 to frustrate the sound advice of Ahithophel, so that the Lord could bring disaster on Absalom.
17:20 When the servants of Absalom approached the woman at her home, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman replied to them, “They crossed over the stream.” Absalom’s men 29 searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem. 30
17:23 When Ahithophel realized that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and returned to his house in his hometown. After setting his household in order, he hanged himself. So he died and was buried in the grave 31 of his father.
18:3 But the soldiers replied, 32 “You should not do this! 33 For if we should have to make a rapid retreat, they won’t be too concerned about us. 34 Even if half of us should die, they won’t be too concerned about us. But you 35 are like ten thousand of us! So it is better if you remain in the city for support.”
19:8 So the king got up and sat at the city gate. When all the people were informed that the king was sitting at the city gate, they 37 all came before him.
But the Israelite soldiers 38 had all fled to their own homes. 39
21:2 So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them. (Now the Gibeonites were not descendants of Israel; they were a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had made a promise to 42 them, but Saul tried to kill them because of his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty pieces of silver. 46
1 tn Heb “after his falling”; NAB “could not survive his wound”; CEV “was too badly wounded to live much longer.”
2 tc The MT lacks the definite article, but this is likely due to textual corruption. It is preferable to read the alef (א) of אֶצְעָדָה (’ets’adah) as a ה (he) giving הַצְּעָדָה (hatsÿ’adah). There is no reason to think that the soldier confiscated from Saul’s dead body only one of two or more bracelets that he was wearing (cf. NLT “one of his bracelets”).
3 sn The claims that the soldier is making here seem to contradict the story of Saul’s death as presented in 1 Sam 31:3-5. In that passage it appears that Saul took his own life, not that he was slain by a passerby who happened on the scene. Some scholars account for the discrepancy by supposing that conflicting accounts have been brought together in the MT. However, it is likely that the young man is here fabricating the account in a self-serving way so as to gain favor with David, or so he supposes. He probably had come across Saul’s corpse, stolen the crown and bracelet from the body, and now hopes to curry favor with David by handing over to him these emblems of Saul’s royalty. But in so doing the Amalekite greatly miscalculated David’s response to this alleged participation in Saul’s death. The consequence of his lies will instead be his own death.
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Asahel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “the.” The article functions here as a possessive pronoun.
6 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Asahel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abner) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 tn Heb “and they stand.”
9 tn The antecedent of the pronoun “them” (which is not present in the Hebrew text, but implied) is not entirely clear. Presumably it is the corpses that were hung and not merely the detached hands and feet; cf. NIV “hung the (their NRSV, NLT) bodies”; the alternative is represented by TEV “cut off their hands and feet, which they hung up.”
10 tc 4QSama mistakenly reads “Mephibosheth” here.
11 tc The LXX adds “the son of Ner” by conformity with common phraseology elsewhere.
12 tc Some
13 tn Heb “and it was told to David, saying.”
14 tn Heb “eating.”
15 tc Heb “my table.” But the first person reference to David is awkward here since the quotation of David’s words has already been concluded in v. 10; nor does the “my” refer to Ziba, since the latter part of v. 11 does not seem to be part of Ziba’s response to the king. The ancient versions are not unanimous in the way that they render the phrase. The LXX has “the table of David” (τῆς τραπέζης Δαυιδ, th" trapezh" Dauid); the Syriac Peshitta has “the table of the king” (patureh demalka’); the Vulgate has “your table” (mensam tuam). The present translation follows the LXX.
16 tn Heb “Is David honoring your father in your eyes when he sends to you ones consoling?”
17 tn Heb “Is it not to explore the city and to spy on it and to overthrow it [that] David has sent his servants to you?”
18 tn The Hebrew Hitpael verbal form here indicates pretended rather than genuine action.
19 tn Heb “these many days.”
20 tn The words “in that case” are not in the Hebrew text, but may be inferred from the context. They are supplied in the translation for the sake of clarification.
21 tn Heb “let the king remember.”
22 tn Heb “of your son.”
23 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
24 tn Heb “Arise!”
25 tn Heb “let’s flee.”
26 tn Heb “thrust.”
27 tn Heb “and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”
28 tn Heb “commanded.”
29 tn Heb “they”; the referents (Absalom’s men) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
30 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
31 tc The Greek recensions of Origen and Lucian have here “house” for “grave.”
32 tn Heb “the people said.”
33 tn Heb “march out.”
34 tn Heb “they will not place to us heart.”
35 tc The translation follows the LXX (except for the Lucianic recension), Symmachus, and Vulgate in reading אָתָּה (’atta, “you”) rather than MT עָתָּה (’atta, “now”).
36 tn Heb “and speak to the heart of.”
37 tn Heb “all the people.”
38 tn The Hebrew text has simply “Israel” (see 18:16-17).
39 tn Heb “had fled, each to his tent.”
40 tn Heb “your servant.”
41 tn Heb “from the king.”
42 tn Heb “swore an oath to.”
43 tc The MT reads “Michal” here, but two Hebrew manuscripts read “Merab,” along with some LXX manuscripts. Cf. 1 Sam 18:19.
44 tn Heb “arose.”
45 tn Heb “his hand.”
46 tn Heb “fifty shekels of silver.” This would have been about 20 ounces (568 grams) of silver by weight.