2 Samuel 4:7

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.

2 Samuel 6:2

6:2 David and all the men who were with him traveled ⁶  to ⁷  Baalah ⁸  in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by the name ⁹  of the Lord of hosts, who sits enthroned between the cherubim that are on it.

2 Samuel 13:32

13:32 Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, said, “My lord should not say, ‘They have killed all the young men who are the king’s sons.’ For only Amnon is dead. This is what Absalom has talked about ¹⁰  from the day that Amnon ¹¹  humiliated his sister Tamar.

2 Samuel 15:14

15:14 So David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, ¹²  “Come on! ¹³  Let’s escape! ¹⁴  Otherwise no one will be delivered from Absalom! Go immediately, or else he will quickly overtake us and bring ¹⁵  disaster on us and kill the city’s residents with the sword.” ¹⁶ 

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 16:8

16:8 The Lord has punished you for ¹⁷  all the spilled blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you rule. Now the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. Disaster has overtaken you, for you are a man of bloodshed!”

2 Samuel 16:11

16:11 Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “My own son, my very own flesh and blood, ¹⁸  is trying to take my life. So also now this Benjaminite! Leave him alone so that he can curse, for the Lord has spoken to him.

2 Samuel 16:21

16:21 Ahithophel replied to Absalom, “Have sex with ¹⁹  your father’s concubines whom he left to care for the palace. All Israel will hear that you have made yourself repulsive to your father. Then your followers will be motivated to support you.” ²⁰ 

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 ²¹  to frustrate the sound advice of Ahithophel, so that the Lord could bring disaster on Absalom.

2 Samuel 18:29

18:29 The king replied, “How is the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz replied, “I saw a great deal of confusion when Joab was sending the king’s servant and me, your servant, but I don’t know what it was all about.”

2 Samuel 19:28

19:28 After all, there was no one in the entire house of my grandfather ²²  who did not deserve death from my lord the king. But instead you allowed me to eat at your own table! ²³  What further claim do I have to ask ²⁴  the king for anything?”

2 Samuel 19:42

19:42 All the men of Judah replied to the men of Israel, “Because the king is our close relative! Why are you so upset about this? Have we eaten at the king’s expense? ²⁵  Or have we misappropriated anything for our own use?”

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 ²⁶  stopped, the man ²⁷  pulled him ²⁸  away from the path and into the field and threw a garment over him.

2 Samuel 20:15

20:15 So Joab’s men ²⁹  came and laid siege against him in Abel of Beth Maacah. They prepared a siege ramp outside the city which stood against its outer rampart. As all of Joab’s soldiers were trying to break through ³⁰  the wall so that it would collapse,

2 Samuel 20:22

20:22 Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice and they cut off Sheba’s head and threw it out to Joab. Joab ³¹  blew the trumpet, and his men ³²  dispersed from the city, each going to his own home. ³³  Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.

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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 “arose and went.”

⁷ tn Heb “from,” but the following context indicates they traveled to this location.

⁸ tn This is another name for Kiriath-jearim (see 1 Chr 13:6).

⁹ 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.

¹⁰ tn Heb “it was placed on the mouth of Absalom.”

¹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Amnon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹² map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹³ tn Heb “Arise!”

¹⁴ tn Heb “let’s flee.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “thrust.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “has brought back upon you.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “who came out from my entrails.” David’s point is that is his own son, his child whom he himself had fathered, was now wanting to kill him.

¹⁹ tn Heb “go to”; NAB “have (+ sexual NCV) relations with”; TEV “have intercourse with”; NLT “Go and sleep with.”

²⁰ tn Heb “and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

²¹ tn Heb “commanded.”

²² tn Heb “father.”

²³ tn Heb “and you placed your servant among those who eat at your table.”

²⁴ tn Heb “to cry out to.”

²⁵ tn Heb “from the king.”

²⁶ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man who spoke up in v. 11) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁸ tn Heb “Amasa.” For stylistic reasons the name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation.

²⁹ tn Heb “they.” The following context makes it clear that this refers to Joab and his army.

³⁰ tc The LXX has here ἐνοοῦσαν (enoousan, “were devising”), which apparently presupposes the Hebrew word מַחֲשָׁבִים (makhashavim) rather than the MT מַשְׁחִיתִם (mashkhitim, “were destroying”). With a number of other scholars Driver thinks that the Greek variant may preserve the original reading, but this seems to be an unnecessary conclusion (but see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 346).

³¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³² tn Heb “they”; the referent (Joab’s men) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³³ tn Heb “his tents.”