¹ tn Heb “What was the word?”

² tn Heb “from the people.”

³ tn Heb “fell and died.”

⁴ tn Heb “he fell on his face and bowed down.”

⁵ tn Heb “Look, your servant.”

⁶ tn The Greek tradition understands the Hebrew word as an imperative (“see”). Most Greek mss have ἴδετε (idete); the Lucianic recension has βλέπε (blepe). It could just as well be taken as a question: “Don’t you see what is happening?” The present translation takes the word as a question, with the implication that Zadok is a priest and not a prophet (i.e., “seer”) and therefore unable to know what the future holds.

⁷ tn Heb “And Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar, two of your sons, with you.” The pronominal suffix on the last word is plural, referring to Zadok and Abiathar.

⁸ tn Heb “and you must send by their hand to me every word which you hear.” Both of the second person verb forms are plural with Zadok, Abiathar, and Hushai being the understood subjects.

⁹ tn Heb “they”; the referents (Ahimaaz and Jonathan) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn Heb “the water.”

¹¹ tn Heb “for thus Ahithophel has devised against you.” The expression “thus” is narrative shorthand, referring to the plan outlined by Ahithophel (see vv. 1-3). The men would surely have outlined the plan in as much detail as they had been given by the messenger.