2 Samuel 5:23

5:23 So David asked the Lord what he should do.¹ This time² the Lord³ said to him, “Don’t march straight up. Instead, circle around behind them and come against them opposite the trees.⁴

2 Samuel 7:6

7:6 I have not lived in a house from the time I brought the Israelites up from Egypt to the present day. Instead, I was traveling with them and living in a tent.⁵

2 Samuel 7:11

7:11 and during the time when I appointed judges to lead my people Israel. Instead, I will give you relief⁶ from all your enemies. The Lord declares⁷ to you that he himself⁸ will build a dynastic house⁹ for you.

2 Samuel 11:1

David Commits Adultery with Bathsheba

11:1 In the spring of the year, at the time when kings¹⁰ normally conduct wars,¹¹ David sent out Joab with his officers¹² and the entire Israelite army.¹³ They defeated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed behind in Jerusalem.¹⁴

2 Samuel 11:4

11:4 David sent some messengers to get her.¹⁵ She came to him and he had sexual relations with her.¹⁶ (Now at that time she was in the process of purifying herself from her menstrual uncleanness.)¹⁷ Then she returned to her home.

2 Samuel 11:27

11:27 When the time of mourning passed, David had her brought to his palace.¹⁸ She became his wife and she bore him a son. But what David had done upset the Lord.¹⁹

2 Samuel 19:13

19:13 Say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my flesh and blood?²⁰ God will punish me severely,²¹ if from this time on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!’”

2 Samuel 23:13

23:13 At the time of²² the harvest three²³ of the thirty leaders went down to²⁴ David at the cave of Adullam. A band of Philistines was camped in the valley of Rephaim.

¹tn The words “what to do” are not in the Hebrew text.

²tn The words “this time” are not in the Hebrew text.

³tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴tn Some translate as “balsam trees” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV, NJB, NLT); cf. KJV, NKJV, ASV “mulberry trees”; NAB “mastic trees”; NEB, REB “aspens.” The exact identification of the type of tree or plant is uncertain.

⁵tn Heb “in a tent and in a dwelling.” The expression is a hendiadys, using two terms to express one idea.

⁶tn Or “rest.”

⁷tn In the Hebrew text the verb is apparently perfect with vav consecutive, which would normally suggest a future sense (“he will declare”; so the LXX, ἀπαγγελεῖ [apangelei]). But the context seems instead to call for a present or past nuance (“he declares” or “he has declared”). The synoptic passage in 1 Chr 17:10 has וָאַגִּד (va’aggid, “and I declared”). The construction used in 2 Sam 7:11 highlights this important statement.

⁸tn Heb “the Lord.”

⁹tn Heb “house,” but used here in a metaphorical sense, referring to a royal dynasty. Here the Lord’s use of the word plays off the literal sense that David had in mind as he contemplated building a temple for the Lord. To reflect this in the English translation the adjective “dynastic” has been supplied.

¹⁰tc Codex Leningrad (B19A), on which BHS is based, has here “messengers” (הַמַּלְאכִים, hammal’khim), probably as the result of contamination from the occurrence of that word in v. 4. The present translation follows most Hebrew mss and the ancient versions, which read “kings” (הַמֶּלָאכִים, hammela’kim).

¹¹tn Heb “go out.”

¹²tn Heb “and his servants with him.”

¹³tn Heb “all Israel.”

¹⁴tn The disjunctive clause contrasts David’s inactivity with the army’s activity.

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

¹⁵tn Heb “and David sent messengers and he took her.”

¹⁶tn Heb “he lay with her” (so NASB, NRSV); TEV “he made love to her”; NIV, CEV, NLT “he slept with her.”

¹⁷tn The parenthetical disjunctive clause further heightens the tension by letting the reader know that Bathsheba, having just completed her menstrual cycle, is ripe for conception. See P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 286. Since she just had her period, it will also be obvious to those close to the scene that Uriah, who has been away fighting, cannot be the father of the child.

¹⁸tn Heb “David sent and gathered her to his house.”

¹⁹tn Heb “and the thing which David had done was evil in the eyes of the Lord.” Note the verbal connection with v. 25. Though David did not regard the matter as evil, the Lord certainly did.

²⁰tn Heb “my bone and my flesh.”

²¹tn Heb “Thus God will do to me and thus he will add.”

²²tn The meaning of Hebrew אֶל־קָצִיר (’el qatsir) seems here to be “at the time of harvest,” although this is an unusual use of the phrase. As S. R. Driver points out, this preposition does not normally have the temporal sense of “in” or “during” (S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 366).

²³tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading שְׁלֹשָׁה (shÿloshah, “three”) rather than the Kethib of the MT שְׁלֹשִׁים (shÿloshim, “thirty”). “Thirty” is due to dittography of the following word and makes no sense in the context.

²⁴tn Heb “went down…and approached.”