2 Samuel 21:12-13

21:12 he went and took the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan from the leaders of Jabesh Gilead. (They had secretly taken them from the plaza at Beth Shan. It was there that Philistines publicly exposed their corpses after they had killed Saul at Gilboa.) 21:13 David brought the bones of Saul and of Jonathan his son from there; they also gathered up the bones of those who had been executed.


tn Heb “David.” For stylistic reasons the name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation.

tn Heb “the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son.” See also v. 13.

tn Heb “lords.”

tn Heb “stolen.”

tc Against the MT, this word is better read without the definite article. The MT reading is probably here the result of wrong word division, with the letter ה (he) belonging with the preceding word שָׁם (sham) as the he directive (i.e., שָׁמָּה, samah, “to there”).

tn Heb “had hung them.”

tn Heb “in the day.”

tn Heb “Philistines.”

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