2 Samuel 4:8

4:8 They brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David in Hebron, saying to the king, “Look! The head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who sought your life! The Lord has granted vengeance to my lord the king this day against¹ Saul and his descendants!”

2 Samuel 6:12

6:12 David was told,² “The Lord has blessed the family of Obed-Edom and everything he owns because of the ark of God.” So David went and joyfully brought the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David.

2 Samuel 9:11

9:11 Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do everything that my lord the king has instructed his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth was a regular guest³ at David’s table,⁴ just as though he were one of the king’s sons.

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?⁵ No, David has sent his servants to you to get information about the city and spy on it so they can overthrow it!”⁶

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 about⁷ from the day that Amnon⁸ humiliated his sister Tamar.

2 Samuel 14:2

14:2 So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He told her, “Pretend to be in mourning⁹ and put on garments for mourning. Don’t anoint yourself with oil. Instead, act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for some time.¹⁰

2 Samuel 14:22

14:22 Then Joab bowed down with his face toward the ground and thanked¹¹ the king. Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord the king, because the king has granted the request of your¹² servant!”

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,¹³ 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 17:8-9

17:8 Hushai went on to say, “You know your father and his men – they are soldiers and are as dangerous as a bear out in the wild that has been robbed of her cubs.¹⁴ Your father is an experienced soldier; he will not stay overnight with the army. 17:9 At this very moment he is hiding out in one of the caves or in some other similar place. If it should turn out that he attacks our troops first,¹⁵ whoever hears about it will say, ‘Absalom’s army has been slaughtered!’

2 Samuel 18:28

18:28 Then Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, “Greetings!”¹⁶ He bowed down before the king with his face toward the ground and said, “May the Lord your God be praised because he has defeated¹⁷ the men who opposed¹⁸ my lord the king!”

2 Samuel 19:7

19:7 So get up now and go out and give some encouragement to¹⁹ 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 19:9

19:9 All the people throughout all the tribes of Israel were arguing among themselves saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies. He rescued us from the hand of the Philistines, but now he has fled from the land because of Absalom.

2 Samuel 19:11

19:11 Then King David sent a message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests saying, “Tell the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you delay any further in bringing the king back to his palace,²⁰ when everything Israel is saying has come to the king’s attention.²¹

2 Samuel 20:21

20:21 That’s not the way things are. There is a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Sheba son of Bicri. He has rebelled²² against King David. Give me just this one man, and I will leave the city.” The woman said to Joab, “This very minute²³ his head will be thrown over the wall to you!”

¹tn Heb “from.”

²tn Heb “and it was told to David, saying.”

³tn Heb “eating.”

⁴tc Heb “my table.” But the first person reference to David is awkward here since the quotation of David’s words has already been concluded in v. 10; nor does the “my” refer to Ziba, since the latter part of v. 11 does not seem to be part of Ziba’s response to the king. The ancient versions are not unanimous in the way that they render the phrase. The LXX has “the table of David” (τῆς τραπέζης Δαυιδ, th" trapezh" Dauid); the Syriac Peshitta has “the table of the king” (patureh demalka’); the Vulgate has “your table” (mensam tuam). The present translation follows the LXX.

⁵tn Heb “Is David honoring your father in your eyes when he sends to you ones consoling?”

⁶tn 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?”

⁷tn Heb “it was placed on the mouth of Absalom.”

⁸tn Heb “he”; the referent (Amnon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁹tn The Hebrew Hitpael verbal form here indicates pretended rather than genuine action.

¹⁰tn Heb “these many days.”

¹¹tn Heb “blessed.”

¹²tc The present translation reads with the Qere “your” rather than the MT “his.”

¹³tn 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.

¹⁴tc The LXX (with the exception of the recensions of Origen and Lucian) repeats the description as follows: “Just as a female bear bereft of cubs in a field.”

¹⁵tn Heb “that he falls on them [i.e., Absalom’s troops] at the first [encounter]; or “that some of them [i.e., Absalom’s troops] fall at the first [encounter].”

¹⁶tn Heb “Peace.”

¹⁷tn Heb “delivered over.”

¹⁸tn Heb “lifted their hand against.”

¹⁹tn Heb “and speak to the heart of.”

²⁰tn Heb “his house.”

²¹tc The Hebrew text adds “to his house” (= palace), but the phrase, which also appears earlier in the verse, is probably accidentally repeated here.

²²tn Heb “lifted his hand.”

²³tn Heb “Look!”