2 Samuel 1:8
Context1:8 He asked me, ‘Who are you?’ I told him, ‘I’m 1 an Amalekite.’
2 Samuel 7:16
Context7:16 Your house and your kingdom will stand before me 2 permanently; your dynasty 3 will be permanent.’”
2 Samuel 22:21
Context22:21 The Lord repaid 4 me for my godly deeds; 5
he rewarded 6 my blameless behavior. 7
2 Samuel 22:25
Context22:25 The Lord rewarded me for my godly deeds; 8
he took notice of my blameless behavior. 9
2 Samuel 22:29
Context22:29 Indeed, 10 you are my lamp, 11 Lord.
The Lord illumines 12 the darkness around me. 13
2 Samuel 22:41
Context22:41 You make my enemies retreat; 14
I destroy those who hate me.
2 Samuel 23:2
Context23:2 The Lord’s spirit spoke through me;
his word was on my tongue.
1 tc The present translation reads with the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
2 tc Heb “before you.” A few medieval Hebrew
3 tn Heb “throne.”
4 tn In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not imperfect.
5 tn Heb “according to my righteousness.” As vv. 22-25 make clear, David refers here to his unwavering obedience to God’s commands. He explains that the Lord was pleased with him and willing to deliver him because he had been loyal to God and obedient to his commandments. Ancient Near Eastern literature contains numerous parallels. A superior (a god or king) would typically reward a subject (a king or the servant of a king, respectively) for loyalty and obedience. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 211-13.
6 tn The unreduced Hiphil prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, in which case the psalmist would be generalizing. However, both the preceding and following contexts (see especially v. 25) suggest he is narrating his experience. Despite its unreduced form, the verb is better taken as a preterite. For other examples of unreduced Hiphil preterites, see Pss 55:14a; 68:9a, 10b; 80:8a; 89:43a; 107:38b; 116:6b.
7 tn Heb “according to the purity of my hands he repaid to me.” Hands suggest activity and behavior.
8 tn Heb “according to my righteousness.” See v. 21.
9 tn Heb “according to my purity before his eyes.”
10 tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.
11 tc Many medieval Hebrew
12 tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Vulgate understand this verb to be second person rather than third person as in the MT. But this is probably the result of reading the preceding word “
13 tn Heb “my darkness.”
14 tn Heb “and [as for] my enemies, you give to me [the] back [or “neck” ].” The idiom “give [the] back” means “to cause [one] to turn the back and run away.” See Exod 23:27 and HALOT 888 s.v. II ערף.