2 Samuel 4:2

4:2 Now Saul’s son had two men who were in charge of raiding units; one was named Baanah and the other Recab. They were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, who was a Benjaminite. (Beeroth is regarded as belonging to Benjamin,

2 Samuel 4:4

4:4 Now Saul’s son Jonathan had a son who was crippled in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan arrived from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but in her haste to get away, he fell and was injured. Mephibosheth was his name.

2 Samuel 4:7

4:7 They had entered the house while Ish-bosheth was resting on his bed in his bedroom. They mortally wounded him and then cut off his head. Taking his head, they traveled on the way of the Arabah all that night.

2 Samuel 8:10

8:10 he sent his son Joram to King David to extend his best wishes 10  and to pronounce a blessing on him for his victory over Hadadezer, for Toi had been at war with Hadadezer. 11  He brought with him various items made of silver, gold, and bronze. 12 

2 Samuel 9:10

9:10 You will cultivate 13  the land for him – you and your sons and your servants. You will bring its produce 14  and it will be 15  food for your master’s grandson to eat. 16  But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, will be a regular guest at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

2 Samuel 12:18

12:18 On the seventh day the child died. But the servants of David were afraid to inform him that the child had died, for they said, “While the child was still alive he would not listen to us 17  when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do himself harm!” 18 

2 Samuel 15:2

15:2 Now Absalom used to get up early and stand beside the road that led to the city gate. Whenever anyone came by who had a complaint to bring to the king for arbitration, Absalom would call out to him, “What city are you from?” The person would answer, “I, your servant, 19  am from one of the tribes of Israel.”

2 Samuel 15:30

15:30 As David was going up the Mount of Olives, he was weeping as he went; his head was covered and his feet were bare. All the people who were with him also had their heads covered and were weeping as they went up.

2 Samuel 17:14

17:14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite sounds better than the advice of Ahithophel.” Now the Lord had decided 20  to frustrate the sound advice of Ahithophel, so that the Lord could bring disaster on Absalom.

2 Samuel 17:23

17:23 When Ahithophel realized that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and returned to his house in his hometown. After setting his household in order, he hanged himself. So he died and was buried in the grave 21  of his father.

2 Samuel 18:9

18:9 Then Absalom happened to come across David’s men. Now as Absalom was riding on his 22  mule, it 23  went under the branches of a large oak tree. His head got caught in the oak and he was suspended in midair, 24  while the mule he had been riding kept going.

2 Samuel 18:18

18:18 Prior to this 25  Absalom had set up a monument 26  and dedicated it to himself in the King’s Valley, reasoning “I have no son who will carry on my name.” He named the monument after himself, and to this day it is known as Absalom’s Memorial.

2 Samuel 19:8

19:8 So the king got up and sat at the city gate. When all the people were informed that the king was sitting at the city gate, they 27  all came before him.

David Goes Back to Jerusalem

But the Israelite soldiers 28  had all fled to their own homes. 29 

2 Samuel 20:3

20:3 Then David went to his palace 30  in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace and placed them under confinement. 31  Though he provided for their needs, he did not have sexual relations with them. 32  They remained in confinement until the day they died, living out the rest of their lives as widows.

2 Samuel 20:12

20:12 Amasa was squirming in his own blood in the middle of the path, and this man had noticed that all the soldiers stopped. Having noticed that everyone who came across Amasa 33  stopped, the man 34  pulled him 35  away from the path and into the field and threw a garment over him.

2 Samuel 21:2

21:2 So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them. (Now the Gibeonites were not descendants of Israel; they were a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had made a promise to 36  them, but Saul tried to kill them because of his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)


tc The present translation, “Saul’s son had two men,” is based on the reading “to the son of Saul,” rather than the MT’s “the son of Saul.” The context requires the preposition to indicate the family relationship.

tn Heb “and was lame.”

tn After the concluding disjunctive clause at the end of v. 6, the author now begins a more detailed account of the murder and its aftermath.

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

tn Heb “they struck him down and killed him.” The expression is a verbal hendiadys.

tn Heb “and they removed his head.” The Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate lack these words.

tc The Lucianic Greek recension lacks the words “his head.”

tn Heb “Toi.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun in the translation for stylistic reasons.

tn The name appears as “Hadoram” in the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:10.

10 tn Heb “to ask concerning him for peace.”

11 tn Heb “and to bless him because he fought with Hadadezer and defeated him, for Hadadezer was a man of battles with Toi.”

12 tn Heb “and in his hand were items of silver and items of gold and items of bronze.”

13 tn Heb “work.”

14 tn The Hebrew text implies, but does not actually contain, the words “its produce” here.

15 tc The words “it will be,” though present in the MT, are absent from the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate.

16 tn Heb “and he will eat it.”

17 tn Heb “to our voice.”

18 tn Heb “he will do harm.” The object is not stated in the Hebrew text. The statement may be intentionally vague, meaning that he might harm himself or them!

19 tn Heb “your servant.” So also in vv. 8, 15, 21.

20 tn Heb “commanded.”

21 tc The Greek recensions of Origen and Lucian have here “house” for “grave.”

22 tn Heb “the.”

23 tn Heb “the donkey.”

24 tn Heb “between the sky and the ground.”

25 tn Heb “and.” This disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) describes an occurrence that preceded the events just narrated.

26 tn Heb “a pillar.”

27 tn Heb “all the people.”

28 tn The Hebrew text has simply “Israel” (see 18:16-17).

29 tn Heb “had fled, each to his tent.”

30 tn Heb “house.”

31 tn Heb “and he placed them in a guarded house.”

32 tn Heb “he did not come to them”; NAB “has no further relations with them”; NIV “did not lie with them”; TEV “did not have intercourse with them”; NLT “would no longer sleep with them.”

33 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

34 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man who spoke up in v. 11) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

35 tn Heb “Amasa.” For stylistic reasons the name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation.

36 tn Heb “swore an oath to.”