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. ¹  Mephibosheth was his name.

2 Samuel 10:3

10:3 the Ammonite officials said to their lord Hanun, “Do you really think David is trying to honor your father by sending these messengers to express his sympathy? ²  No, David has sent his servants to you to get information about the city and spy on it so they can overthrow it!” ³ 

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, ⁴  am from one of the tribes of Israel.”

2 Samuel 16:2

16:2 The king asked Ziba, “Why did you bring these things?” ⁵  Ziba replied, “The donkeys are for the king’s family to ride on, the loaves of bread ⁶  and the summer fruit are for the attendants to eat, and the wine is for those who get exhausted in the desert.” ⁷ 

2 Samuel 19:7

19:7 So get up now and go out and give some encouragement to ⁸  your servants. For I swear by the Lord that if you don’t go out there, not a single man will stay here with you tonight! This disaster will be worse for you than any disaster that has overtaken you from your youth right to the present time!”

2 Samuel 20:6

20:6 Then David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba son of Bicri will cause greater disaster for us than Absalom did! Take your lord’s servants and pursue him. Otherwise he will secure ⁹  fortified cities for himself and get away from us.”

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¹ tn Heb “and was lame.”

² tn Heb “Is David honoring your father in your eyes when he sends to you ones consoling?”

³ tn Heb “Is it not to explore the city and to spy on it and to overthrow it [that] David has sent his servants to you?”

⁴ tn Heb “your servant.” So also in vv. 8, 15, 21.

⁵ tn Heb “What are these to you?”

⁶ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וְהַלֶּחֶם (vÿhallekhem, “and the bread”) rather than וּלְהַלֶּחֶם (ulÿhallekhem, “and to the bread”) of the Kethib. The syntax of the MT is confused here by the needless repetition of the preposition, probably taken from the preceding word.

⁷ tn The Hebrew text adds “to drink.”

⁸ tn Heb “and speak to the heart of.”

⁹ tn Heb “find.” The perfect verbal form is unexpected with the preceding word “otherwise.” We should probably read instead the imperfect. Although it is possible to understand the perfect here as indicating that the feared result is thought of as already having taken place (cf. BDB 814 s.v. פֶּן 2), it is more likely that the perfect is simply the result of scribal error. In this context the imperfect would be more consistent with the following verb וְהִצִּיל (vÿhitsil, “and he will get away”).