David was told, 2 “The people 3 of Jabesh Gilead are the ones who buried Saul.”
5:20 So David marched against Baal Perazim and defeated them there. Then he said, “The Lord has burst out against my enemies like water bursts out.” So he called the name of that place Baal Perazim. 4
9:2 Now there was a servant from Saul’s house named Ziba, so he was summoned to David. The king asked him, “Are you Ziba?” He replied, “At your service.” 7
13:28 Absalom instructed his servants, “Look! When Amnon is drunk 9 and I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon down,’ kill him then and there. Don’t fear! Is it not I who have given you these instructions? Be strong and courageous!” 10
14:25 Now in all Israel everyone acknowledged that there was no man as handsome as Absalom. 12 From the sole of his feet to the top of his head he was perfect in appearance. 13
15:21 But Ittai replied to the king, “As surely as the Lord lives and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king is, whether dead or alive, 14 there I 15 will be as well!”
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.”
21:1 During David’s reign there was a famine for three consecutive years. So David inquired of the Lord. 20 The Lord said, “It is because of Saul and his bloodstained family, 21 because he murdered the Gibeonites.”
23:4 is like the light of morning when the sun comes up,
a morning in which there are no clouds.
He is like the brightness after rain
that produces grass from the earth.
23:11 Next in command 26 was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines assembled at Lehi, 27 where there happened to be an area of a field that was full of lentils, the army retreated before the Philistines.
1 tn Heb “house.”
2 tn Heb “and they told David.” The subject appears to be indefinite, allowing one to translate the verb as passive with David as subject.
3 tn Heb “men.”
4 tn The name means “Lord of the outbursts.”
5 tn Heb “and this was small in your eyes, O
6 tn Heb “and this [is] the law of man”; KJV “is this the manner of man, O Lord God?”; NAB “this too you have shown to man”; NRSV “May this be instruction for the people, O Lord God!” This part of the verse is very enigmatic; no completely satisfying solution has yet been suggested. The present translation tries to make sense of the MT by understanding the phrase as a question that underscores the uniqueness of God’s dealings with David as described here. The parallel passage in 1 Chr 17:17 reads differently (see the note there).
7 tn Heb “your servant.”
8 tn Heb “horsemen” (so KJV, NASB, NCV, NRSV, NLT) but the Lucianic recension of the LXX reads “foot soldiers,” as does the parallel text in 1 Chr 19:18. Cf. NAB, NIV.
9 tn Heb “when good is the heart of Amnon with wine.”
10 tn Heb “and become sons of valor.”
11 tn Here and elsewhere (vv. 7, 12, 15a, 17, 19) the woman uses a term which suggests a lower level female servant. She uses the term to express her humility before the king. However, she uses a different term in vv. 15b-16. See the note at v. 15 for a discussion of the rhetorical purpose of this switch in terminology.
12 tn Heb “Like Absalom there was not a handsome man in all Israel to boast exceedingly.”
13 tn Heb “there was not in him a blemish.”
14 tn Heb “whether for death or for life.”
15 tn Heb “your servant.”
16 tn Heb “and you must send by their hand to me every word which you hear.” Both of the second person verb forms are plural with Zadok, Abiathar, and Hushai being the understood subjects.
17 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text here or in v. 24, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
18 tn Heb “youth.”
19 tn Heb “rushed into.”
20 tn Heb “sought the face of the
21 tn Heb “and the house of bloodshed.”
22 tn Heb “a man of stature.”
23 tn Heb “after him.”
24 tc This follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
25 tn Heb “went up.”
26 tn Heb “after him.”
27 tn The Hebrew text is difficult here. The MT reads לַחַיָּה (lachayyah), which implies a rare use of the word חַיָּה (chayyah). The word normally refers to an animal, but if the MT is accepted it would here have the sense of a troop or community of people. BDB 312 s.v. II. חַיָּה, for example, understands the similar reference in v. 13 to be to “a group of allied families, making a raid together.” But this works better in v. 13 than it does in v. 11, where the context seems to suggest a particular staging location for a military operation. (See 1 Chr 11:15.) It therefore seems best to understand the word in v. 11 as a place name with ה (he) directive. In that case the Masoretes mistook the word for the common term for an animal and then tried to make sense of it in this context.