2 Samuel 3:21

3:21 Abner said to David, “Let me leave so that I may go and gather all Israel to my lord the king so that they may make an agreement¹ with you. Then you will rule over all that you desire.” So David sent Abner away, and he left in peace.

2 Samuel 13:5

13:5 Jonadab replied to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be sick.² When your father comes in to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come in so she can fix some food for me. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I can watch. Then I will eat from her hand.’”

2 Samuel 14:15

14:15 I have now come to speak with my lord the king about this matter, because the people have made me fearful.³ But your servant said, ‘I will speak to the king! Perhaps the king will do what his female servant⁴ asks.

2 Samuel 14:19

14:19 The king said, “Did Joab put you up to all of this?”⁵ The woman answered, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, there is no deviation to the right or to the left from all that my lord the king has said. For your servant Joab gave me instructions. He has put all these words in your servant’s mouth.

2 Samuel 18:22

18:22 Ahimaaz the son of Zadok again spoke to Joab, “Whatever happens, let me go after the Cushite.” But Joab said, “Why is it that you want to go, my son? You have no good news that will bring you a reward.”

2 Samuel 18:29

18:29 The king replied, “How is the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz replied, “I saw a great deal of confusion when Joab was sending the king’s servant and me, your servant, but I don’t know what it was all about.”

2 Samuel 19:19

19:19 He said to the king, “Don’t think badly of me, my lord, and don’t recall the sin of your servant on the day when you, my lord the king, left⁶ Jerusalem!⁷ Please don’t call it to mind!

2 Samuel 19:28

19:28 After all, there was no one in the entire house of my grandfather⁸ who did not deserve death from my lord the king. But instead you allowed me to eat at your own table!⁹ What further claim do I have to ask¹⁰ the king for anything?”

2 Samuel 19:37

19:37 Let me¹¹ return so that I may die in my own city near the grave of my father and my mother. But look, here is your servant Kimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king. Do for him whatever seems appropriate to you.”

2 Samuel 20:21

20:21 That’s not the way things are. There is a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Sheba son of Bicri. He has rebelled¹² against King David. Give me just this one man, and I will leave the city.” The woman said to Joab, “This very minute¹³ his head will be thrown over the wall to you!”

2 Samuel 21:4

21:4 The Gibeonites said to him, “We¹⁴ have no claim to silver or gold from Saul or from his family,¹⁵ nor would we be justified in putting to death anyone in Israel.” David asked,¹⁶ “What then are you asking me to do for you?”

2 Samuel 24:13

24:13 Gad went to David and told him, “Shall seven¹⁷ years of famine come upon your land? Or shall you flee for three months from your enemy with him in hot pursuit? Or shall there be three days of plague in your land? Now decide¹⁸ what I should tell the one who sent me.”

2 Samuel 24:24

24:24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it from you! I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt sacrifices that cost me nothing.”

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty pieces of silver.¹⁹

¹tn After the cohortatives, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.

²tn This verb is used in the Hitpael stem only in this chapter of the Hebrew Bible. With the exception of v. 2 it describes not a real sickness but one pretended in order to entrap Tamar. The Hitpael sometimes, as here, describes the subject making oneself appear to be of a certain character. On this use of the stem, see GKC 149-50 §54.e.

³tc The LXX (ὄψεταί με, opsetai me) has misunderstood the Hebrew יֵרְאֻנִי (yerÿ’uni, Piel perfect, “they have made me fearful”), taking the verb to be a form of the verb רָאָה (ra’ah, “to see”) rather than the verb יָרֵא (yare’, “to fear”). The fact that the Greek translators were working with an unvocalized Hebrew text (i.e., consonants only) made them very susceptible to this type of error.

⁴tn Here and in v. 16 the woman refers to herself as the king’s אָמָה (’amah), a term that refers to a higher level female servant toward whom the master might have some obligation. Like the other term, this word expresses her humility, but it also suggests that the king might have some obligation to treat her in accordance with the principles of justice.

⁵tn Heb “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?”

⁶tn Though this verb in the MT is 3rd person masculine singular, it should probably be read as 2nd person masculine singular. It is one of fifteen places where the Masoretes placed a dot over each of the letters of the word in question in order to call attention to their suspicion of the word. Their concern in this case apparently had to do with the fact that this verb and the two preceding verbs alternate from third person to second and back again to third. Words marked in this way in Hebrew manuscripts or printed editions are said to have puncta extrordinaria, or “extraordinary points.”

⁷map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁸tn Heb “father.”

⁹tn Heb “and you placed your servant among those who eat at your table.”

¹⁰tn Heb “to cry out to.”

¹¹tn Heb “your servant.”

¹²tn Heb “lifted his hand.”

¹³tn Heb “Look!”

¹⁴tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading לָנוּ (lanu, “to us”) rather than the MT לִי (li, “to me”). But for a contrary opinion see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 53, 350.

¹⁵tn Heb “house.”

¹⁶tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁷tc The LXX has here “three” rather than “seven,” and is followed by NAB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, NLT. See 1 Chr 21:12.

¹⁸tn Heb “now know and see.”

¹⁹tn Heb “fifty shekels of silver.” This would have been about 20 ounces (568 grams) of silver by weight.