12:19 When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he 1 realized that the child was dead. So David asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” They replied, “Yes, he’s dead.”
12:21 His servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? While 2 the child was still alive, you fasted and wept. Once the child was dead you got up and ate food!”
1 tn Heb “David.” The name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) for stylistic reasons.
2 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.