2 Samuel 2:14

Abner said to Joab, “Let the soldiers get up and fight ¹  before us.” Joab said, “So be it!” ² 

2Sa 2:17,26,27; Pr 10:23; Pr 17:14; Pr 20:18; Pr 25:8; Pr 26:18,19

¹ tn Heb “play.” What is in view here is a gladiatorial contest in which representative groups of soldiers engage in mortal combat before the watching armies. Cf. NAB “perform for us”; NASB “hold (have NRSV) a contest before us”; NLT “put on an exhibition of hand-to-hand combat.”

² tn Heb “let them arise.”