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 24 searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem. 25
18:33 (19:1) 26 The king then became very upset. He went up to the upper room over the gate and wept. As he went he said, “My son, Absalom! My son, my son, 27 Absalom! If only I could have died in your place! Absalom, my son, my son!” 28
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 After the cohortatives, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.
5 tn Heb “and may they whirl over.” In the Hebrew text the subject of the plural verb is unexpressed. The most likely subject is Abner’s “shed blood” (v. 28), which is a masculine plural form in Hebrew. The verb חוּל (khul, “whirl”) is used with the preposition עַל (’al) only here and in Jer 23:19; 30:23.
6 tc 4QSama has “of Joab” rather than “of his father” read by the MT.
7 tn Heb “the house of Joab.” However, it is necessary to specify that David’s curse is aimed at Joab’s male descendants; otherwise it would not be clear that “one who works at the spindle” refers to a man doing woman’s work rather than a woman.
8 tn Heb “and may there not be cut off from the house of Joab.”
9 tn The expression used here is difficult. The translation “one who works at the spindle” follows a suggestion of S. R. Driver that the expression pejoratively describes an effeminate man who, rather than being a mighty warrior, is occupied with tasks that are normally fulfilled by women (S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 250-51; cf. NAB “one unmanly”; TEV “fit only to do a woman’s work”; CEV “cowards”). But P. K. McCarter, following an alleged Phoenician usage of the noun to refer to “crutches,” adopts a different view. He translates the phrase “clings to a crutch,” seeing here a further description of physical lameness (II Samuel [AB], 118). Such an idea fits the present context well and is followed by NIV, NCV, and NLT, although the evidence for this meaning is questionable. According to DNWSI 2:915-16, the noun consistently refers to a spindle in Phoenician, as it does in Ugaritic (see UT 468).
10 tn Heb “Toi.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun in the translation for stylistic reasons.
11 tn The name appears as “Hadoram” in the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:10.
12 tn Heb “to ask concerning him for peace.”
13 tn Heb “and to bless him because he fought with Hadadezer and defeated him, for Hadadezer was a man of battles with Toi.”
14 tn Heb “and in his hand were items of silver and items of gold and items of bronze.”
15 tn Heb “raise up against you disaster.”
16 tn Heb “house” (so NAB, NRSV); NCV, TEV, CEV “family.”
17 tn Or “friend.”
18 tn Heb “will lie with” (so NIV, NRSV); TEV “will have intercourse with”; CEV, NLT “will go to bed with.”
19 tn Heb “in the eyes of this sun.”
20 tn Heb “send quickly and tell David saying.”
21 tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV).
22 tn That is, “cross over the Jordan River.”
23 tn Heb “swallowed up.”
24 tn Heb “they”; the referents (Absalom’s men) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
25 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
26 sn This marks the beginning of ch. 19 in the Hebrew text. Beginning with 18:33, the verse numbers through 19:43 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 18:33 ET = 19:1 HT, 19:1 ET = 19:2 HT, 19:2 ET = 19:3 HT, etc., through 19:43 ET = 19:44 HT. From 20:1 the versification in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible is again the same.
27 tc One medieval Hebrew
28 tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack this repeated occurrence of “my son” due to haplography.
29 tn Heb “your servant.”
30 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
31 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man who spoke up in v. 11) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
32 tn Heb “Amasa.” For stylistic reasons the name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation.
33 tn Heb “lifted his hand.”
34 tn Heb “Look!”
35 tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew
36 tn Heb “fell.”
37 tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew