2 Samuel 1:5

1:5 David said to the young man ¹  who was telling him this, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?” ² 

2 Samuel 3:38

3:38 Then the king said to his servants, “Do you not realize that a great leader ³  has fallen this day in Israel?

2 Samuel 7:3

7:3 Nathan replied to the king, “You should go ⁴  and do whatever you have in mind, ⁵  for the Lord is with you.”

2 Samuel 7:5

7:5 “Go, tell my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord says: Do you really intend to build a house for me to live in?

2 Samuel 7:25

7:25 So now, O Lord God, make this promise you have made about your servant and his family a permanent reality. ⁶  Do as you promised, ⁷ 

2 Samuel 10:12

10:12 Be strong! Let’s fight bravely for the sake of our people and the cities of our God! The Lord will do what he decides is best!” ⁸ 

2 Samuel 13:12

13:12 But she said to him, “No, my brother! Don’t humiliate me! This just isn’t done in Israel! Don’t do this foolish thing!

2 Samuel 14:21

14:21 Then the king said to Joab, “All right! I ⁹  will do this thing! Go and bring back the young man Absalom!

2 Samuel 15:26

15:26 However, if he should say, ‘I do not take pleasure in you,’ then he will deal with me in a way that he considers appropriate.” ¹⁰ 

2 Samuel 16:17

16:17 Absalom said to Hushai, “Do you call this loyalty to your friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend?”

2 Samuel 19:10

19:10 But Absalom, whom we anointed as our king, ¹¹  has died in battle. So now why do you hesitate to bring the king back?” ¹² 

2 Samuel 19:27

19:27 But my servant ¹³  has slandered me ¹⁴  to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like an angel of God. Do whatever seems appropriate to you.

2 Samuel 21:3

21:3 David said to the Gibeonites, “What can I do for you, and how can I make amends so that you will bless ¹⁵  the Lord’s inheritance?”

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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 tn Heb “a leader and a great one.” The expression is a hendiadys.

⁴ tc Several medieval Hebrew mss and the Syriac Peshitta lack this word.

⁵ tn Heb “all that is in your heart.”

⁶ tn Heb “and now, O Lord God, the word which you spoke concerning your servant and concerning his house, establish permanently.”

⁷ tn Heb “as you have spoken.”

⁸ tn Heb “and the Lord will do what is good in his eyes.”

⁹ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss have “you” rather than “I.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “as [is] good in his eyes.”

¹¹ tn Heb “over us.”

¹² tc The LXX includes the following words at the end of v. 11: “And what all Israel was saying came to the king’s attention.” The words are misplaced in the LXX from v. 12 (although the same statement appears there in the LXX as well).

¹³ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the servant) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁴ tn Heb “your servant.”

¹⁵ tn After the preceding imperfect verbal form, the subordinated imperative indicates purpose/result. S. R. Driver comments, “…the imper. is used instead of the more normal voluntative, for the purpose of expressing with somewhat greater force the intention of the previous verb” (S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 350).