Discovery Box2 Samuel 20:4 
Context20:4 Then the king said to Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together for me in three days, 1 and you be present here with them too.”
2 Samuel 20:9-12
Context20:9 Joab said to Amasa, “How are you, my brother?” With his right hand Joab took hold of Amasa’s beard as if to greet him with a kiss. 20:10 Amasa did not protect himself from the knife in Joab’s other hand, and Joab 2 stabbed him in the abdomen, causing Amasa’s 3 intestines to spill out on the ground. There was no need to stab him again; the first blow was fatal. 4 Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bicri.
20:11 One of Joab’s soldiers who stood over Amasa said, “Whoever is for 5 Joab and whoever is for David, follow Joab!” 20:12 Amasa was squirming in his own blood in the middle of the path, and this man had noticed that all the soldiers stopped. Having noticed that everyone who came across Amasa 6 stopped, the man 7 pulled him 8 away from the path and into the field and threw a garment over him.
1 tn The present translation follows the Masoretic accentuation, with the major mark of disjunction (i.e., the atnach) placed at the word “days.” However, some scholars have suggested moving the atnach to “Judah” a couple of words earlier. This would yield the following sense: “Three days, and you be present here with them.” The difference in meaning is slight, and the MT is acceptable as it stands.
2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “and he did not repeat concerning him, and he died.”
5 tn Heb “takes delight in.”
6 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man who spoke up in v. 11) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 tn Heb “Amasa.” For stylistic reasons the name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation.
