2 Samuel 17:9
17:9 At this very moment he is hiding out in one of the caves or in some other similar place. If it should turn out that he attacks our troops first, 1 whoever hears about it will say, ‘Absalom’s army has been slaughtered!’
2 Samuel 20:10
20:10 Amasa did not protect himself from the knife in Joab’s other hand, and Joab 2 stabbed him in the abdomen, causing Amasa’s 3 intestines to spill out on the ground. There was no need to stab him again; the first blow was fatal. 4 Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bicri.
2 Samuel 21:9
21:9 He turned them over to the Gibeonites, and they executed them on a hill before the Lord. The seven of them 5 died 6 together; they were put to death during harvest time – during the first days of the beginning 7 of the barley harvest.
1 tn Heb “that he falls on them [i.e., Absalom’s troops] at the first [encounter]; or “that some of them [i.e., Absalom’s troops] fall at the first [encounter].”
2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “and he did not repeat concerning him, and he died.”
5 tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading שְׁבַעְתָּם (shÿva’tam, “the seven of them”) rather than MT שִׁבַעְתִּים (shiva’tim, “seventy”).
6 tn Heb “fell.”
7 tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading בִּתְחִלַּת (bithkhillat, “in the beginning”) rather than MT תְחִלַּת (tÿkhillat, “beginning of”).