10:9 When Joab saw that the battle would be fought on two fronts, he chose some of Israel’s best men and deployed them against the Arameans. 1
10:17 When David was informed, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan River, 2 and came to Helam. The Arameans deployed their forces against David and fought with him.
18:6 Then the army marched out to the field to fight against Israel. The battle took place in the forest of Ephraim.
22:30 Indeed, 4 with your help 5 I can charge 6 against an army; 7
by my God’s power 8 I can jump over a wall. 9
1 tn Heb “and Joab saw that the face of the battle was to him before and behind and he chose from all the best in Israel and arranged to meet Aram.”
2 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
3 sn The expression translated the water supply of the city (Heb “the city of the waters”) apparently refers to that part of the fortified city that guarded the water supply of the entire city. Joab had already captured this part of the city, but he now defers to King David for the capture of the rest of the city. In this way the king will receive the credit for this achievement.
4 tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.
5 tn Heb “by you.”
6 tn Heb “I will run.” The imperfect verbal forms in v. 30 indicate the subject’s potential or capacity to perform an action. Though one might expect a preposition to follow the verb here, this need not be the case with the verb רוּץ (ruts; see 1 Sam 17:22). Some emend the Qal to a Hiphil form of the verb and translate, “I put to flight [literally, “cause to run”] an army.”
7 tn More specifically, the noun refers to a raiding party or to a contingent of troops (see HALOT 177 s.v. II גְדוּד). The picture of a divinely empowered warrior charging against an army in almost superhuman fashion appears elsewhere in ancient Near Eastern literature. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 228.
8 tn Heb “by my God.”
9 tn David uses hyperbole to emphasize his God-given military superiority.