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 6:2

6:2 David and all the men who were with him traveled ²  to ³  Baalah ⁴  in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by the name ⁵  of the Lord of hosts, who sits enthroned between the cherubim that are on it.

2 Samuel 12:3

12:3 But the poor man had nothing except for a little lamb he had acquired. He raised it, and it grew up alongside him and his children. ⁶  It used to ⁷  eat his food, ⁸  drink from his cup, and sleep in his arms. ⁹  It was just like a daughter to him.

2 Samuel 12:20

12:20 So David got up from the ground, bathed, put on oil, and changed his clothes. He went to the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then, when he entered his palace, he requested that food be brought to him, and he ate.

2 Samuel 14:19

14:19 The king said, “Did Joab put you up to all of this?” ¹⁰  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 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, ¹¹  am from one of the tribes of Israel.”

2 Samuel 18:18

18:18 Prior to this ¹²  Absalom had set up a monument ¹³  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 18:33

18:33 (19:1) ¹⁴  The king then became very upset. He went up to the upper room over the gate and wept. As he went he said, “My son, Absalom! My son, my son, ¹⁵  Absalom! If only I could have died in your place! Absalom, my son, my son!” ¹⁶ 

2 Samuel 19:7-8

19:7 So get up now and go out and give some encouragement to ¹⁷  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!”

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 ¹⁸  all came before him.

David Goes Back to Jerusalem

But the Israelite soldiers ¹⁹  had all fled to their own homes. ²⁰ 

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¹ tn Heb “and was lame.”

² tn Heb “arose and went.”

³ tn Heb “from,” but the following context indicates they traveled to this location.

⁴ tn This is another name for Kiriath-jearim (see 1 Chr 13:6).

⁵ tc The MT has here a double reference to the name (שֵׁם שֵׁם, shem shem). Many medieval Hebrew mss in the first occurrence point the word differently and read the adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”). This is also the understanding of the Syriac Peshitta (Syr., taman). While this yields an acceptable understanding to the text, it is more likely that the MT dittographic here. The present translation therefore reads שֵׁם only once.

⁶ tn Heb “his sons.”

⁷ tn The three Hebrew imperfect verbal forms in this sentence have a customary nuance; they describe past actions that were repeated or typical.

⁸ tn Heb “from his morsel.”

⁹ tn Heb “and on his chest [or perhaps, “lap”] it would lay.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?”

¹¹ tn Heb “your servant.” So also in vv. 8, 15, 21.

¹² tn Heb “and.” This disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) describes an occurrence that preceded the events just narrated.

¹³ tn Heb “a pillar.”

¹⁴ sn This marks the beginning of ch. 19 in the Hebrew text. Beginning with 18:33, the verse numbers through 19:43 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 18:33 ET = 19:1 HT, 19:1 ET = 19:2 HT, 19:2 ET = 19:3 HT, etc., through 19:43 ET = 19:44 HT. From 20:1 the versification in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible is again the same.

¹⁵ tc One medieval Hebrew ms, some mss of the LXX, and the Vulgate lack this repeated occurrence of “my son” due to haplography.

¹⁶ tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack this repeated occurrence of “my son” due to haplography.

¹⁷ tn Heb “and speak to the heart of.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “all the people.”

¹⁹ tn The Hebrew text has simply “Israel” (see 18:16-17).

²⁰ tn Heb “had fled, each to his tent.”