2:1 Afterward David inquired of the Lord, “Should I go up to one of the cities of Judah?” The Lord told him, “Go up.” David asked, “Where should I go?” The Lord replied, 1 “To Hebron.”
10:4 So Hanun seized David’s servants and shaved off half of each one’s beard. He cut the lower part of their robes off so that their buttocks were exposed, 6 and then sent them away.
12:19 When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he 9 realized that the child was dead. So David asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” They replied, “Yes, he’s dead.”
18:26 Then the watchman saw another man running. The watchman called out to the gatekeeper, “There is another man running by himself.” The king said, “This one also is bringing good news.”
19:14 He 13 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.”
23:8 These are the names of David’s warriors:
Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite, was head of the officers. 20 He killed eight hundred men with his spear in one battle. 21 23:9 Next in command 22 was Eleazar son of Dodo, 23 the son of Ahohi. He was one of the three warriors who were with David when they defied the Philistines who were assembled there for battle. When the men of Israel retreated, 24
1 tn Heb “he said.” The referent (the
2 tn Heb “young men.” So also elsewhere.
3 tn The words “when you come to see my face,” though found in the Hebrew text, are somewhat redundant given the similar expression in the earlier part of the verse. The words are absent from the Syriac Peshitta.
4 tn Heb “are hard from me.”
5 tn Heb “May the
6 tn Heb “and he cut their robes in the middle unto their buttocks.”
7 tn Heb “on the roof of the house of the king.” So also in vv. 8, 9.
8 tn The disjunctive clause highlights this observation and builds the tension of the story.
9 tn Heb “David.” The name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) for stylistic reasons.
10 tn Heb “and you will be like one of the fools.”
11 tn Heb “Now.”
12 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text here or in v. 24, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
13 tn The referent of “he” is not entirely clear: cf. NCV “David”; TEV “David’s words”; NRSV, NLT “Amasa.”
14 tn The exact nature of this execution is not altogether clear. The verb יָקַע (yaqa’) basically means “to dislocate” or “alienate.” In Gen 32:26 it is used of the dislocation of Jacob’s thigh. Figuratively it can refer to the removal of an individual from a group (e.g., Jer 6:8; Ezek 23:17) or to a type of punishment the specific identity of which is uncertain (e.g., here and Num 25:4); cf. NAB “dismember them”; NIV “to be killed and exposed.”
15 tc The LXX reads “at Gibeon on the mountain of the
16 tn This name has the definite article and may be intended to refer to a group of people rather than a single individual with this name.
17 tn This is the only occurrence of this Hebrew word in the OT. Its precise meaning is therefore somewhat uncertain. As early as the LXX the word was understood to refer to a “spear,” and this seems to be the most likely possibility. Some scholars have proposed emending the text of 2 Sam 21:16 to כוֹבַעוֹ (khova’o; “his helmet”), but in spite of the fact that the word “helmet” appears in 1 Sam 17:5, there is not much evidence for reading that word here.
18 tn Either the word “shekels” should be supplied here, or the Hebrew word מִשְׁקַל (mishqal, “weight”) right before “bronze” is a corrupted form of the word for shekel. If the latter is the case the problem probably resulted from another occurrence of the word מִשְׁקַל just four words earlier in the verse.
sn Three hundred bronze shekels would have weighed about 7.5 pounds (3.4 kg).
19 tn The Hebrew text reads simply “a new [thing],” prompting one to ask “A new what?” Several possibilities have been proposed to resolve the problem: perhaps a word has dropped out of the Hebrew text here; or perhaps the word “new” is the result of misreading a different, less common, word; or perhaps a word (e.g., “sword,” so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, CEV, NLT) is simply to be inferred. The translation generally follows the latter possibility, while at the same time being deliberately nonspecific (“weapon”).
20 tn The Hebrew word is sometimes rendered as “the three,” but BDB is probably correct in taking it to refer to military officers (BDB 1026 s.v. שְׁלִישִׁי). In that case the etymological connection of this word to the Hebrew numerical adjective for “three” can be explained as originating with a designation for the third warrior in a chariot.
21 tc The translation follows some LXX
22 tn Heb “after him.”
23 tc This follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
24 tn Heb “went up.”