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 ¹  when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do himself harm!” ² 

2 Samuel 19:6

19:6 You seem to love your enemies and hate your friends! For you have as much as declared today that leaders and servants don’t matter to you. I realize now ³  that if ⁴  Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, ⁵  it would be all right with you.

2 Samuel 20:15

20:15 So Joab’s men ⁶  came and laid siege against him in Abel of Beth Maacah. They prepared a siege ramp outside the city which stood against its outer rampart. As all of Joab’s soldiers were trying to break through ⁷  the wall so that it would collapse,

2 Samuel 21:4

21:4 The Gibeonites said to him, “We ⁸  have no claim to silver or gold from Saul or from his family, ⁹  nor would we be justified in putting to death anyone in Israel.” David asked, ¹⁰  “What then are you asking me to do for you?”

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¹ tn Heb “to our voice.”

² 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!

³ tn Heb “today.”

⁴ tc The translation follows the Qere, 4QSam^a, and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading לוּ (lu, “if”) rather than MT לֹא (lo’, “not”).

⁵ tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack “today.”

⁶ tn Heb “they.” The following context makes it clear that this refers to Joab and his army.

⁷ tc The LXX has here ἐνοοῦσαν (enoousan, “were devising”), which apparently presupposes the Hebrew word מַחֲשָׁבִים (makhashavim) rather than the MT מַשְׁחִיתִם (mashkhitim, “were destroying”). With a number of other scholars Driver thinks that the Greek variant may preserve the original reading, but this seems to be an unnecessary conclusion (but see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 346).

⁸ tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading לָנוּ (lanu, “to us”) rather than the MT לִי (li, “to me”). But for a contrary opinion see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 53, 350.

⁹ tn Heb “house.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.