2 Samuel 3:18

3:18 Act now! For the Lord has said to David, ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save ¹  my people Israel from ²  the Philistines and from all their enemies.’”

2 Samuel 4:8

4:8 They brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David in Hebron, saying to the king, “Look! The head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who sought your life! The Lord has granted vengeance to my lord the king this day against ³  Saul and his descendants!”

2 Samuel 5:2

5:2 In the past, when Saul was our king, you were the real leader in Israel. ⁴  The Lord said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel; you will rule over Israel.’”

2 Samuel 11:27

11:27 When the time of mourning passed, David had her brought to his palace. ⁵  She became his wife and she bore him a son. But what David had done upset the Lord. ⁶ 

2 Samuel 12:20

12:20 So David got up from the ground, bathed, put on oil, and changed his clothes. He went to the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then, when he entered his palace, he requested that food be brought to him, and he ate.

2 Samuel 21:9

21:9 He turned them over to the Gibeonites, and they executed them on a hill before the Lord. The seven of them ⁷  died ⁸  together; they were put to death during harvest time – during the first days of the beginning ⁹  of the barley harvest.

2 Samuel 22:33

22:33 The one true God ¹⁰  is my mighty refuge; ¹¹ 

he removes ¹²  the obstacles in my way. ¹³ 

2 Samuel 22:48

22:48 The one true God completely vindicates me; ¹⁴ 

he makes nations submit to me. ¹⁵ 

2 Samuel 23:10

23:10 he stood his ground ¹⁶  and fought the Philistines until his hand grew so tired that it ¹⁷  seemed stuck to his sword. The Lord gave a great victory on that day. When the army returned to him, the only thing left to do was to plunder the corpses.

2 Samuel 23:16-17

23:16 So the three elite warriors broke through the Philistine forces and drew some water from the cistern in Bethlehem near the gate. They carried it back to David, but he refused to drink it. He poured it out as a drink offering to the Lord 23:17 and said, “O Lord, I will not do this! ¹⁸  It is equivalent to the blood of the men who risked their lives by going.” ¹⁹  So he refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three elite warriors. ²⁰ 

2 Samuel 24:17

24:17 When he saw the angel who was destroying the people, David said to the Lord, “Look, it is I who have sinned and done this evil thing! As for these sheep – what have they done? Attack me and my family.” ²¹ 

2 Samuel 24:24

24:24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it from you! I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt sacrifices that cost me nothing.”

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty pieces of silver. ²² 

[3:18]  ¹ tc The present translation follows the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate in reading “I will save,” rather than the MT “he saved.” The context calls for the 1st person common singular imperfect of the verb rather than the 3rd person masculine singular perfect.

[3:18]  ² tn Heb “from the hand of.”

[4:8]  ³ tn Heb “from.”

[5:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “you were the one leading out and the one leading in Israel.”

[11:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “David sent and gathered her to his house.”

[11:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the thing which David had done was evil in the eyes of the Lord.” Note the verbal connection with v. 25. Though David did not regard the matter as evil, the Lord certainly did.

[21:9]  ⁷ tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading שְׁבַעְתָּם (shÿva’tam, “the seven of them”) rather than MT שִׁבַעְתִּים (shiva’tim, “seventy”).

[21:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “fell.”

[21:9]  ⁹ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading בִּתְחִלַּת (bithkhillat, “in the beginning”) rather than MT תְחִלַּת (tÿkhillat, “beginning of”).

[22:33]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the God.” See the note at v. 31.

[22:33]  ¹¹ tc 4QSam^a has מְאַזְּרֵנִי (mÿ’azzÿreni, “the one girding me with strength”) rather than the MT מָעוּזִּי (ma’uzzi, “my refuge”). See as well Ps 18:32.

[22:33]  ¹² tn The prefixed verbal form with vav consecutive here carries along the generalizing tone of the preceding line.

[22:33]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he sets free (from the verb נָתַר, natar) [the] blameless, his [Kethib; “my” (Qere)] way.” The translation follows Ps 18:32 in reading “he made my path smooth.” The term תָּמִים (tamim, “smooth”) usually carries a moral or ethical connotation, “blameless, innocent.” However, in Ps 18:33 it refers to a pathway free of obstacles. The reality underlying the metaphor is the psalmist’s ability to charge into battle without tripping (see vv. 33, 36).

[22:48]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “The God is the one who grants vengeance to me.” The plural form of the noun “vengeance” indicates degree here, suggesting complete vengeance or vindication. In the ancient Near East military victory was sometimes viewed as a sign that one’s God had judged in favor of the victor, avenging and/or vindicating him. See, for example, Judg 11:27, 32-33, 36.

[22:48]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and [is the one who] brings down nations beneath me.”

[23:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “arose.”

[23:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “his hand.”

[23:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Far be it to me, O Lord, from doing this.”

[23:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “[Is it not] the blood of the men who were going with their lives?”

[23:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “These things the three warriors did.”

[24:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “let your hand be against me and against the house of my father.”

[24:24]  ²² tn Heb “fifty shekels of silver.” This would have been about 20 ounces (568 grams) of silver by weight.