2 Samuel 3:32

3:32 So they buried Abner in Hebron. The king cried loudly over Abner’s grave and all the people wept too.

2 Samuel 20:4

20:4 Then the king said to Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together for me in three days, and you be present here with them too.”

2 Samuel 20:14

20:14 Sheba traveled through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth Maacah and all the Berite region. When they had assembled, they too joined him.


tn Heb “lifted up his voice and wept.” The expression is a verbal hendiadys.

tn The present translation follows the Masoretic accentuation, with the major mark of disjunction (i.e., the atnach) placed at the word “days.” However, some scholars have suggested moving the atnach to “Judah” a couple of words earlier. This would yield the following sense: “Three days, and you be present here with them.” The difference in meaning is slight, and the MT is acceptable as it stands.

tn Heb “he”; the referent (Sheba) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

tc In keeping with the form of the name in v. 15, the translation deletes the “and” found in the MT.

tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, and the ancient versions in reading וַיִּקָּהֲלוּ (vayyiqqahalu, “and they were gathered together”) rather than the Kethib of the MT וַיִּקְלֻהוּ (vayyiqluhu, “and they cursed him”). The Kethib is the result of metathesis.