2 Samuel 23:17

23:17 and said, “O Lord, I will not do this! ¹  It is equivalent to the blood of the men who risked their lives by going.” ²  So he refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three elite warriors. ³ 

2 Samuel 23:20

23:20 Benaiah son of Jehoida was a brave warrior ⁴  from Kabzeel who performed great exploits. He struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab. ⁵  He also went down and killed a lion in a cistern on a snowy day.

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¹ tn Heb “Far be it to me, O Lord, from doing this.”

² tn Heb “[Is it not] the blood of the men who were going with their lives?”

³ tn Heb “These things the three warriors did.”

⁴ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading חַיִל (khayil, “valor”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, חַי (khay, “life”).

⁵ tc Heb “the two of Ariel, Moab.” The precise meaning of אריאל is uncertain; some read “warrior.” The present translation assumes that the word is a proper name and that בני, “sons of,” has accidentally dropped from the text by homoioarcton (note the preceding שׁני).