3:38 Then the king said to his servants, “Do you not realize that a great leader 7 has fallen this day in Israel?
4:9 David replied to Recab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered my life from all adversity,
12:15 Then Nathan went to his home. The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and the child became very ill. 22
13:36 Just as he finished speaking, the king’s sons arrived, wailing and weeping. 27 The king and all his servants wept loudly 28 as well. 13:37 But Absalom fled and went to King Talmai son of Ammihud of Geshur. And David 29 grieved over his son every day.
15:1 Some time later Absalom managed to acquire 30 a chariot and horses, as well as fifty men to serve as his royal guard. 31
15:16 So the king and all the members of his royal court 32 set out on foot, though the king left behind ten concubines 33 to attend to the palace.
16:9 Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head!”
18:19 Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Let me run and give the king the good news that the Lord has vindicated him before his enemies.” 40
19:31 Now when Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim, he crossed the Jordan with the king so he could send him on his way from there. 43
19:39 So all the people crossed the Jordan, as did the king. After the king had kissed him and blessed him, Barzillai returned to his home. 44
21:15 Another battle was fought between the Philistines and Israel. So David went down with his soldiers 46 and fought the Philistines. David became exhausted.
22:1 47 David sang 48 to the Lord the words of this song when 49 the Lord rescued him from the power 50 of all his enemies, including Saul. 51
22:7 In my distress I called to the Lord;
I called to my God. 52
From his heavenly temple 53 he heard my voice;
he listened to my cry for help. 54
23:18 Abishai son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, was head of the three. 55 He killed three hundred men with his spear and gained fame among the three. 56
1 tn In v. 2 he is called simply a “man.” The word used here in v. 5 (so also in vv. 6, 13, 15), though usually referring to a young man or servant, may in this context designate a “fighting” man, i.e., a soldier.
2 tc Instead of the MT “who was recounting this to him, ‘How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?’” the Syriac Peshitta reads “declare to me how Saul and his son Jonathan died.”
3 tc The expression “the cities of Hebron” is odd; we would expect the noun to be in the singular, if used at all. Although the Syriac Peshitta has the expected reading “in Hebron,” the MT is clearly the more difficult reading and should probably be retained here.
4 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “and they went, all the Bitron.” The meaning of the Hebrew word “Bitron,” which is used only here in the OT, is disputed. The translation above follows BDB 144 s.v. בִּתְרוֹן in taking the word to be a proper name of an area east of the Jordan. A different understanding was advocated by W. R. Arnold, who took the word to refer to the forenoon or morning; a number of modern scholars and translations have adopted this view (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, CEV, NLT). See W. R. Arnold, “The Meaning of בתרון,” AJSL 28 (1911-1912): 274-83. In this case one could translate “and they traveled all morning long.”
6 tn The Hebrew text does not have “sons.”
7 tn Heb “a leader and a great one.” The expression is a hendiadys.
8 tc For the MT’s וְהֵנָּה (vÿhennah, “and they,” feminine) read וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and behold”). See the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Targum.
9 tn Heb “and they struck him down.”
10 tn Heb “and the anger of the
11 tn Heb “God.”
12 tc Heb “there.” Since this same term occurs later in the verse it is translated “on the spot” here for stylistic reasons.
13 tc The phrase “his negligence” is absent from the LXX.
14 tn Heb “house,” both here and in v. 12.
15 tn Heb, “when your days are full and you lie down with your ancestors.”
16 tn Heb “your seed after you who comes out from your insides.”
17 tn Heb “and now, O
18 tn Heb “as you have spoken.”
19 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
20 tn Heb “and Joab returned from against the sons of Ammon and entered.”
21 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
22 tn Heb “and the
23 tn Heb “and Amnon hated her with very great hatred.”
24 tn Heb “for greater was the hatred with which he hated her than the love with which he loved her.”
25 tn Heb “send this [one] from upon me to the outside.”
26 tn Heb “your servant has sheepshearers.” The phrase “your servant” also occurs at the end of the verse.
27 tn Heb “and they lifted their voice and wept.”
28 tn Heb “with a great weeping.”
29 tc The Hebrew text leaves the word “David” to be inferred. The Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate add the word “David.” Most of the Greek tradition includes the words “King David” here.
30 tn Heb “acquired for himself.”
31 tn Heb “to run ahead of him.”
32 tn Heb “and all his house.”
33 tn Heb “women, concubines.”
34 tn Heb “Come and cross over.”
35 tn Heb “crossed over.”
36 tn Heb “all the little ones.”
37 tn Heb “Just as I served before your father, so I will be before you.”
38 sn That is, on top of the flat roof of the palace, so it would be visible to the public.
39 tn Heb “went to”; NAB “he visited his father’s concubines”; NIV “lay with his father’s concubines”; TEV “went in and had intercourse with.”
40 tn Heb “that the
41 tn Heb “take.”
42 tn Heb “in peace.”
43 tc The MT reading אֶת־בַיַּרְדֵּן (’et-vayyarden, “in the Jordan”) is odd syntactically. The use of the preposition after the object marker אֶת (’et) is difficult to explain. Graphic confusion is likely in the MT; the translation assumes the reading מִיַּרְדֵּן (miyyarden, “from the Jordan”). Another possibility is to read the definite article on the front of “Jordan” (הַיַּרְדֵּן, hayyarden; “the Jordan”).
44 tn Heb “to his place.”
45 tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
46 tn Heb “his servants.”
47 sn In this long song of thanks, David affirms that God is his faithful protector. He recalls in highly poetic fashion how God intervened in awesome power and delivered him from death. His experience demonstrates that God vindicates those who are blameless and remain loyal to him. True to his promises, God gives the king victory on the battlefield and enables him to subdue nations. A parallel version of the song appears in Ps 18.
48 tn Heb “spoke.”
49 tn Heb “in the day,” or “at the time.”
50 tn Heb “hand.”
51 tn Heb “and from the hand of Saul.”
52 tn In this poetic narrative the two prefixed verbal forms in v. 7a are best understood as preterites indicating past tense, not imperfects. Note the use of the vav consecutive with the prefixed verbal form that follows in v. 7b.
53 tn Heb “from his temple.” Verse 10, which pictures God descending from the sky, indicates that the heavenly, not earthly, temple is in view.
54 tn Heb “and my cry for help [entered] his ears.”
55 tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew
56 tn Heb “and he was wielding his spear against three hundred, [who were] slain, and to him there was a name among the three.”
57 tn Or “more than.”