2 Samuel 10:3

10:3 the Ammonite officials said to their lord Hanun, “Do you really think David is trying to honor your father by sending these messengers to express his sympathy? ¹  No, David has sent his servants to you to get information about the city and spy on it so they can overthrow it!” ² 

2 Samuel 12:18

12:18 On the seventh day the child died. But the servants of David were afraid to inform him that the child had died, for they said, “While the child was still alive he would not listen to us ³  when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do himself harm!” ⁴ 

2 Samuel 13:6

13:6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. When the king came in to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come in so she can make a couple of cakes in my sight. Then I will eat from her hand.”

2 Samuel 16:11

16:11 Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “My own son, my very own flesh and blood, ⁵  is trying to take my life. So also now this Benjaminite! Leave him alone so that he can curse, for the Lord has spoken to him.

2 Samuel 19:35

19:35 I am presently eighty years old. Am I able to discern good and bad? Can I ⁶  taste what I eat and drink? Am I still able to hear the voices of male and female singers? Why should I ⁷  continue to be a burden to my lord the king?

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¹ tn Heb “Is David honoring your father in your eyes when he sends to you ones consoling?”

² tn Heb “Is it not to explore the city and to spy on it and to overthrow it [that] David has sent his servants to you?”

³ tn Heb “to our voice.”

⁴ tn Heb “he will do harm.” The object is not stated in the Hebrew text. The statement may be intentionally vague, meaning that he might harm himself or them!

⁵ tn Heb “who came out from my entrails.” David’s point is that is his own son, his child whom he himself had fathered, was now wanting to kill him.

⁶ tn Heb “your servant.”

⁷ tn Heb “your servant.”