15:13 Then a messenger came to David and reported, “The men of Israel are loyal to Absalom!” 6
20:4 Then the king said to Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together for me in three days, 7 and you be present here with them too.”
20:20 Joab answered, “Get serious! 8 I don’t want to swallow up or destroy anything!
22:15 He shot 11 arrows and scattered them, 12
lightning and routed them. 13
22:17 He reached down from above and grabbed me; 14
he pulled me from the surging water. 15
22:39 I wipe them out and beat them to death;
they cannot get up;
they fall at my feet.
22:41 You make my enemies retreat; 16
I destroy those who hate me.
22:50 So I will give you thanks, O Lord, before the nations! 17
I will sing praises to you. 18
1 tn Heb “So will God do to Abner and so he will add to him.”
2 tc Heb “has sworn to David.” The LXX, with the exception of the recension of Origen, adds “in this day.”
3 tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “and you know your servant.” The verb here refers to recognizing another in a special way and giving them special treatment (see 1 Chr 17:18). Some English versions take this to refer to the Lord’s knowledge of David himself: CEV “you know my thoughts”; NLT “know what I am really like.”
5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Absalom) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “the heart of the men of Israel is with Absalom.”
7 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.
8 tn Heb “Far be it, far be it from me.” The expression is clearly emphatic, as may be seen in part by the repetition. P. K. McCarter, however, understands it to be coarser than the translation adopted here. He renders it as “I’ll be damned if…” (II Samuel [AB], 426, 429), which (while it is not a literal translation) may not be too far removed from the way a soldier might have expressed himself.
9 tn Heb “they fell.”
10 tn Heb “his servants.”
11 tn Heb “sent.”
12 tn The pronominal suffixes on the verbs “scattered” and “routed” (see the next line) refer to David’s enemies. Some argue that the suffixes refer to the arrows, in which case one might translate “shot them far and wide” and “made them move noisily,” respectively. They argue that the enemies have not been mentioned since v. 4 and are not again mentioned until v. 17. However, usage of the verbs פוּץ (puts, “scatter”) and הָמַם (hamam, “rout”) elsewhere in Holy War accounts suggests the suffixes refer to enemies. Enemies are frequently pictured in such texts as scattered and/or routed (see Exod 14:24; 23:27; Num 10:35; Josh 10:10; Judg 4:15; 1 Sam 7:10; 11:11; Ps 68:1).
13 sn Lightning is a common motif in OT theophanies and in ancient Near Eastern portrayals of the storm god and warring kings. Arrows and lightning bolts are associated in other texts (see Pss 77:17-18; 144:6; Zech 9:14), as well as in ancient Near Eastern art. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 187, 190-92.
14 tn Heb “stretched.” Perhaps “his hand” should be supplied by ellipsis (see Ps 144:7). In this poetic narrative context the three prefixed verbal forms in this verse are best understood as preterites indicating past tense, not imperfects.
15 tn Heb “mighty waters.” The waters of the sea symbolize the psalmist’s powerful enemies, as well as the realm of death they represent (see v. 5 and Ps 144:7).
16 tn Heb “and [as for] my enemies, you give to me [the] back [or “neck” ].” The idiom “give [the] back” means “to cause [one] to turn the back and run away.” See Exod 23:27 and HALOT 888 s.v. II ערף.
17 sn This probably alludes to the fact that David will praise the
18 tn Heb “to your name.” God’s “name” refers metonymically to his divine characteristics as suggested by his name, in this case “