4:7 They had entered 1 the house while Ish-bosheth 2 was resting on his bed in his bedroom. They mortally wounded him 3 and then cut off his head. 4 Taking his head, 5 they traveled on the way of the Arabah all that night.
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 6 when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do himself harm!” 7
18:9 Then Absalom happened to come across David’s men. Now as Absalom was riding on his 8 mule, it 9 went under the branches of a large oak tree. His head got caught in the oak and he was suspended in midair, 10 while the mule he had been riding kept going.
1 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.
2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ish-bosheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “they struck him down and killed him.” The expression is a verbal hendiadys.
4 tn Heb “and they removed his head.” The Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate lack these words.
5 tc The Lucianic Greek recension lacks the words “his head.”
6 tn Heb “to our voice.”
7 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!
8 tn Heb “the.”
9 tn Heb “the donkey.”
10 tn Heb “between the sky and the ground.”