12:21 His servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? While 4 the child was still alive, you fasted and wept. Once the child was dead you got up and ate food!”
1 tn Heb “sought” or “searched for.”
2 tn Heb “and David fasted.”
3 tn The three Hebrew verbs that follow in this verse are perfects with prefixed vav. They may describe repeated past actions or actions which accompanied David’s praying and fasting.
4 tc For the MT בַּעֲבוּר (ba’avur, “for the sake of”) we should probably read בְּעוֹד (bÿ’od, “while”). See the Lucianic Greek recension, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Targum.