2:8 Now Abner son of Ner, the general in command of Saul’s army, had taken Saul’s son Ish-bosheth 1 and had brought him to Mahanaim.
3:24 So Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Abner 4 has come to you! Why would you send him away? Now he’s gone on his way! 5
4:5 Now the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite – Recab and Baanah – went at the hottest part of the day to the home of Ish-bosheth, as he was enjoying his midday rest.
7:8 “So now, say this to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of hosts says: I took you from the pasture and from your work as a shepherd 8 to make you leader of my people Israel. 7:9 I was with you wherever you went, and I defeated 9 all your enemies before you. Now I will make you as famous as the great men of the earth. 10
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.” 13
11:4 David sent some messengers to get her. 16 She came to him and he had sexual relations with her. 17 (Now at that time she was in the process of purifying herself from her menstrual uncleanness.) 18 Then she returned to her home.
12:24 So David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and had marital relations with her. 19 She gave birth to a son, and David 20 named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved the child 21
13:16 But she said to him, “No I won’t, for sending me away now would be worse than what you did to me earlier!” 22 But he refused to listen to her.
13:20 Her brother Absalom said to her, “Was Amnon your brother with you? Now be quiet, my sister. He is your brother. Don’t take it so seriously!” 26 Tamar, devastated, lived in the house of her brother Absalom.
14:25 Now in all Israel everyone acknowledged that there was no man as handsome as Absalom. 27 From the sole of his feet to the top of his head he was perfect in appearance. 28
17:17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying in En Rogel. A female servant would go and inform them, and they would then go and inform King David. It was not advisable for them to be seen going into the city.
18:24 Now David was sitting between the inner and outer gates, 29 and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate at the wall. When he looked, he saw a man running by himself.
18:31 Then the Cushite arrived and said, 30 “May my lord the king now receive the good news! The Lord has vindicated you today and delivered you from the hand of all who have rebelled against you!” 31
Now the people of Judah 33 had come to Gilgal to meet the king and to help him 34 cross the Jordan.
Now after he had crossed the Jordan, Shimei son of Gera threw himself down before the king.
19:24 Now Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, 35 came down to meet the king. From the day the king had left until the day he safely 36 returned, Mephibosheth 37 had not cared for his feet 38 nor trimmed 39 his mustache nor washed his clothes.
20:8 When they were near the big rock that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to them. Now Joab was dressed in military attire and had a dagger in its sheath belted to his waist. When he advanced, it fell out. 43
24:10 David felt guilty 48 after he had numbered the army. David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly by doing this! Now, O Lord, please remove the guilt of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”
1 sn The name Ish-bosheth means in Hebrew “man of shame.” It presupposes an earlier form such as Ish-baal (“man of the Lord”), with the word “baal” being used of Israel’s God. But because the Canaanite storm god was named “Baal,” that part of the name was later replaced with the word “shame.”
2 tc The present translation follows the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate in reading “I will save,” rather than the MT “he saved.” The context calls for the 1st person common singular imperfect of the verb rather than the 3rd person masculine singular perfect.
3 tn Heb “from the hand of.”
4 tn Heb “Look, Abner.”
5 tc The LXX adds “in peace.”
6 tn Heb “on his bed.”
7 tn See HALOT 146 s.v. II בער. Some derive the verb from a homonym meaning “to burn; to consume.”
8 tn Heb “and from after the sheep.”
9 tn Heb “cut off.”
10 tn Heb “and I will make for you a great name like the name of the great ones who are in the earth.”
11 tn Heb “house” (again later in this verse). See the note on “dynastic house” in v. 27.
12 tn Or “permanently”; cf. NLT “it is an eternal blessing.”
13 tn Heb “your servant.”
14 tn Heb “on the roof of the house of the king.” So also in vv. 8, 9.
15 tn The disjunctive clause highlights this observation and builds the tension of the story.
16 tn Heb “and David sent messengers and he took her.”
17 tn Heb “he lay with her” (so NASB, NRSV); TEV “he made love to her”; NIV, CEV, NLT “he slept with her.”
18 tn The parenthetical disjunctive clause further heightens the tension by letting the reader know that Bathsheba, having just completed her menstrual cycle, is ripe for conception. See P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 286. Since she just had her period, it will also be obvious to those close to the scene that Uriah, who has been away fighting, cannot be the father of the child.
19 tn Heb “and he lay with her.”
20 tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity. While some translations render the pronoun as third person plural (“they”), implying that both David and Bathsheba together named the child, it is likely that the name “Solomon,” which is related to the Hebrew word for “peace” (and may be derived from it) had special significance for David, who would have regarded the birth of a second child to Bathsheba as a confirming sign that God had forgiven his sin and was at peace with him.
21 tn Heb “him,” referring to the child.
22 tn Heb “No, because this great evil is [worse] than the other which you did with me, by sending me away.” Perhaps the broken syntax reflects her hysteria and outrage.
23 tn The Hebrew expression used here (כְּתֹנֶת פַּסִּים, kÿtonet passim) is found only here and in Gen 37:3, 23, 32. Hebrew פַּס (pas) can refer to the palm of the hand or the sole of the foot; here the idea is probably that of a long robe reaching to the feet and having sleeves reaching to the wrists. The notion of a “coat of many colors” (KJV, ASV “garment of divers colors”), a familiar translation for the phrase in Genesis, is based primarily on the translation adopted in the LXX χιτῶνα ποικίλον (citona poikilion) and does not have a great deal of support.
24 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Amnon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
25 tn The Hebrew verb is a perfect with nonconsecutive vav, probably indicating an action (locking the door) that complements the preceding one (pushing her out the door).
26 tn Heb “Don’t set your heart to this thing!”
27 tn Heb “Like Absalom there was not a handsome man in all Israel to boast exceedingly.”
28 tn Heb “there was not in him a blemish.”
29 tn Heb “the two gates.”
30 tn Heb “And look, the Cushite came and the Cushite said.”
31 tn Heb “for the
32 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
33 tn The Hebrew text has simply “Judah.”
34 tn Heb “the king.” The pronoun (“him”) has been used in the translation to avoid redundancy.
35 tn Heb “son.”
36 tn Heb “in peace.” So also in v. 31.
37 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Mephibosheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
38 tn Heb “done his feet.”
39 tn Heb “done.”
40 tn The MT in this instance alone spells the name with final ן (nun, “Kimhan”) rather than as elsewhere with final ם (mem, “Kimham”). As in most other translations, the conventional spelling (with ם) has been used here to avoid confusion.
41 tn Heb “people.”
42 tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
43 sn The significance of the statement it fell out here is unclear. If the dagger fell out of its sheath before Joab got to Amasa, how then did he kill him? Josephus, Ant. 7.11.7 (7.284), suggested that as Joab approached Amasa he deliberately caused the dagger to fall to the ground at an opportune moment as though by accident. When he bent over and picked it up, he then stabbed Amasa with it. Others have tried to make a case for thinking that two swords are referred to – the one that fell out and another that Joab kept concealed until the last moment. But nothing in the text clearly supports this view. Perhaps Josephus’ understanding is best, but it is by no means obvious in the text either.
44 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.
45 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.
46 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).
47 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”).
48 tn Heb “and the heart of David struck him.”