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 16 from the day that Amnon 17 humiliated his sister Tamar.
18:3 But the soldiers replied, 20 “You should not do this! 21 For if we should have to make a rapid retreat, they won’t be too concerned about us. 22 Even if half of us should die, they won’t be too concerned about us. But you 23 are like ten thousand of us! So it is better if you remain in the city for support.”
18:18 Prior to this 24 Absalom had set up a monument 25 and dedicated it to himself in the King’s Valley, reasoning “I have no son who will carry on my name.” He named the monument after himself, and to this day it is known as Absalom’s Memorial.
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
20:3 Then David went to his palace 35 in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace and placed them under confinement. 36 Though he provided for their needs, he did not have sexual relations with them. 37 They remained in confinement until the day they died, living out the rest of their lives as widows.
21:4 The Gibeonites said to him, “We 38 have no claim to silver or gold from Saul or from his family, 39 nor would we be justified in putting to death anyone in Israel.” David asked, 40 “What then are you asking me to do for you?”
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 “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.
5 tc 4QSama has “of Joab” rather than “of his father” read by the MT.
6 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.
7 tn Heb “and may there not be cut off from the house of Joab.”
8 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).
9 tn Heb “and lay.”
10 tn Heb “as you live and as your soul lives.”
11 tn Heb “raise up against you disaster.”
12 tn Heb “house” (so NAB, NRSV); NCV, TEV, CEV “family.”
13 tn Or “friend.”
14 tn Heb “will lie with” (so NIV, NRSV); TEV “will have intercourse with”; CEV, NLT “will go to bed with.”
15 tn Heb “in the eyes of this sun.”
16 tn Heb “it was placed on the mouth of Absalom.”
17 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Amnon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
18 tn Heb “blessed.”
19 tc The present translation reads with the Qere “your” rather than the MT “his.”
20 tn Heb “the people said.”
21 tn Heb “march out.”
22 tn Heb “they will not place to us heart.”
23 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”).
24 tn Heb “and.” This disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) describes an occurrence that preceded the events just narrated.
25 tn Heb “a pillar.”
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 “today.”
30 tc The translation follows the Qere, 4QSama, and many medieval Hebrew
31 tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack “today.”
32 tn Heb “father.”
33 tn Heb “and you placed your servant among those who eat at your table.”
34 tn Heb “to cry out to.”
35 tn Heb “house.”
36 tn Heb “and he placed them in a guarded house.”
37 tn Heb “he did not come to them”; NAB “has no further relations with them”; NIV “did not lie with them”; TEV “did not have intercourse with them”; NLT “would no longer sleep with them.”
38 tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew
39 tn Heb “house.”
40 tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.