19:11 Then King David sent a message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests saying, “Tell the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you delay any further in bringing the king back to his palace, 1 when everything Israel is saying has come to the king’s attention. 2 19:12 You are my brothers – my very own flesh and blood! 3 Why should you delay any further in bringing the king back?’ 19:13 Say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my flesh and blood? 4 God will punish me severely, 5 if from this time on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!’”
19:14 He 6 won over the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man. Then they sent word to the king saying, “Return, you and all your servants as well.” 19:15 So the king returned and came to the Jordan River. 7
Now the people of Judah 8 had come to Gilgal to meet the king and to help him 9 cross the Jordan.
1 tn Heb “his house.”
2 tc The Hebrew text adds “to his house” (= palace), but the phrase, which also appears earlier in the verse, is probably accidentally repeated here.
3 tn Heb “my bone and my flesh.”
4 tn Heb “my bone and my flesh.”
5 tn Heb “Thus God will do to me and thus he will add.”
6 tn The referent of “he” is not entirely clear: cf. NCV “David”; TEV “David’s words”; NRSV, NLT “Amasa.”
7 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
8 tn The Hebrew text has simply “Judah.”
9 tn Heb “the king.” The pronoun (“him”) has been used in the translation to avoid redundancy.