12:24 So David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and had marital relations with her. 7 She gave birth to a son, and David 8 named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved the child 9
13:25 But the king said to Absalom, “No, my son. We shouldn’t all go. We shouldn’t burden you in that way.” Though Absalom 12 pressed 13 him, the king 14 was not willing to go. Instead, David 15 blessed him.
Now after he had crossed the Jordan, Shimei son of Gera threw himself down before the king.
20:2 So all the men of Israel deserted 23 David and followed Sheba son of Bicri. But the men of Judah stuck by their king all the way from the Jordan River 24 to Jerusalem. 25
23:1 These are the final words of David:
“The oracle of David son of Jesse,
the oracle of the man raised up as
the ruler chosen by the God of Jacob, 28
Israel’s beloved 29 singer of songs:
23:11 Next in command 30 was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines assembled at Lehi, 31 where there happened to be an area of a field that was full of lentils, the army retreated before the Philistines.
23:20 Benaiah son of Jehoida was a brave warrior 32 from Kabzeel who performed great exploits. He struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab. 33 He also went down and killed a lion in a cistern on a snowy day.
1 tn Heb “What was the word?”
2 tn Heb “from the people.”
3 tn Heb “fell and died.”
4 tn Heb “your going out and your coming in.” The expression is a merism. It specifically mentions the polar extremities of the actions but includes all activity in between the extremities as well, thus encompassing the entirety of one’s activities.
5 tn Heb “David sent and gathered her to his house.”
6 tn Heb “and the thing which David had done was evil in the eyes of the
7 tn Heb “and he lay with her.”
8 tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity. While some translations render the pronoun as third person plural (“they”), implying that both David and Bathsheba together named the child, it is likely that the name “Solomon,” which is related to the Hebrew word for “peace” (and may be derived from it) had special significance for David, who would have regarded the birth of a second child to Bathsheba as a confirming sign that God had forgiven his sin and was at peace with him.
9 tn Heb “him,” referring to the child.
10 tn Heb “and he said to him.”
11 tn An more idiomatic translation might be “Why are you of all people…?”
12 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Absalom) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
13 tc Here and in v. 27 the translation follows 4QSama ויצפר (vayyitspar, “and he pressed”) rather than the MT וַיִּפְרָץ (vayyiprats, “and he broke through”). This emended reading seems also to underlie the translations of the LXX (καὶ ἐβιάσατο, kai ebiasato), the Syriac Peshitta (we’alseh), and Vulgate (cogeret eum).
14 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 tn Or “for.”
17 tn Or “will.” The imperfect verbal form can have either an indicative or modal nuance. The use of “perhaps” in v. 15b suggests the latter here.
18 tn Heb “in order to deliver his maid.”
19 tn Heb “destroy.”
20 tn Heb “from the inheritance of God.” The expression refers to the property that was granted to her family line in the division of the land authorized by God.
21 tn Heb “but this day you will not bear good news.”
22 tn Heb “I am seeing the running of the first one like the running of Ahimaaz.”
23 tn Heb “went up from after.”
24 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied 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 tn Heb “Jaare-Oregim,” but the second word, which means “weavers,” is probably accidentally included. It appears at the end of the verse. The term is omitted in the parallel account in 1 Chr 20:5, which has simply “Jair.”
27 sn The Hebrew text as it stands reads, “Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite.” Who killed Goliath the Gittite? According to 1 Sam 17:4-58 it was David who killed Goliath, but according to the MT of 2 Sam 21:19 it was Elhanan who killed him. Many scholars believe that the two passages are hopelessly at variance with one another. Others have proposed various solutions to the difficulty, such as identifying David with Elhanan or positing the existence of two Goliaths. But in all likelihood the problem is the result of difficulties in the textual transmission of the Samuel passage; in fact, from a text-critical point of view the books of Samuel are the most poorly preserved of all the books of the Hebrew Bible. The parallel passage in 1 Chr 20:5 reads, “Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath.” Both versions are textually corrupt. The Chronicles text has misread “Bethlehemite” (בֵּית הַלַּחְמִי, bet hallakhmi) as the accusative sign followed by a proper name אֶת לַחְמִי (’et lakhmi). (See the note at 1 Chr 20:5.) The Samuel text misread the word for “brother” (אַח, ’akh) as the accusative sign (אֵת, ’et), thereby giving the impression that Elhanan, not David, killed Goliath. Thus in all probability the original text read, “Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath.”
28 tn Heb “the anointed one of the God of Jacob.”
29 tn Or “pleasant.”
30 tn Heb “after him.”
31 tn The Hebrew text is difficult here. The MT reads לַחַיָּה (lachayyah), which implies a rare use of the word חַיָּה (chayyah). The word normally refers to an animal, but if the MT is accepted it would here have the sense of a troop or community of people. BDB 312 s.v. II. חַיָּה, for example, understands the similar reference in v. 13 to be to “a group of allied families, making a raid together.” But this works better in v. 13 than it does in v. 11, where the context seems to suggest a particular staging location for a military operation. (See 1 Chr 11:15.) It therefore seems best to understand the word in v. 11 as a place name with ה (he) directive. In that case the Masoretes mistook the word for the common term for an animal and then tried to make sense of it in this context.
32 tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
33 tc Heb “the two of Ariel, Moab.” The precise meaning of אריאל is uncertain; some read “warrior.” The present translation assumes that the word is a proper name and that בני, “sons of,” has accidentally dropped from the text by homoioarcton (note the preceding שׁני).