2 Samuel 3:8

3:8 These words of Ish-bosheth really angered Abner and he said, “Am I the head of a dog that belongs to Judah? This very day I am demonstrating ¹  loyalty to the house of Saul your father and to his relatives ²  and his friends! I have not betrayed you into the hand of David. Yet you have accused me of sinning with this woman today! ³ 

2 Samuel 5:8

5:8 David said on that day, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites must approach the ‘lame’ and the ‘blind’ who are David’s enemies ⁴  by going through the water tunnel.” ⁵  For this reason it is said, “The blind and the lame cannot enter the palace.” ⁶ 

2 Samuel 6:7

6:7 The Lord was so furious with Uzzah, ⁷  he ⁸  killed him on the spot ⁹  for his negligence. ¹⁰  He died right there beside the ark of God.

2 Samuel 6:16

6:16 As the ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked out the window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him. ¹¹ 

2 Samuel 6:20

6:20 When David went home to pronounce a blessing on his own house, ¹²  Michal, Saul’s daughter, came out to meet him. ¹³  She said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished ¹⁴  himself this day! He has exposed himself today before his servants’ slave girls the way a vulgar fool ¹⁵  might do!”

2 Samuel 6:22

6:22 I am willing to shame and humiliate myself even more than this! ¹⁶  But with the slave girls whom you mentioned let me be distinguished!”

2 Samuel 12:9-10

12:9 Why have you shown contempt for the word of the Lord by doing evil in my ¹⁷  sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and you have taken his wife as your own! ¹⁸  You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 12:10 So now the sword will never depart from your house. For you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!’

2 Samuel 12:14

12:14 Nonetheless, because you have treated the Lord with such contempt ¹⁹  in this matter, the son who has been born to you will certainly die.”

2 Samuel 13:12-13

13:12 But she said to him, “No, my brother! Don’t humiliate me! This just isn’t done in Israel! Don’t do this foolish thing! 13:13 How could I ever be rid of my humiliation? And you would be considered one of the fools ²⁰  in Israel! Just ²¹  speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.”

2 Samuel 16:7

16:7 As he yelled curses, Shimei said, “Leave! Leave! You man of bloodshed, you wicked man! ²² 

2 Samuel 16:21

16:21 Ahithophel replied to Absalom, “Have sex with ²³  your father’s concubines whom he left to care for the palace. All Israel will hear that you have made yourself repulsive to your father. Then your followers will be motivated to support you.” ²⁴ 

2 Samuel 20:1

Sheba’s Rebellion

20:1 Now a wicked man ²⁵  named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, ²⁶  happened to be there. He blew the trumpet ²⁷  and said,

“We have no share in David;

we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!

Every man go home, ²⁸  O Israel!”

2 Samuel 21:20-21

21:20 Yet another battle occurred in Gath. On that occasion there was a large man ²⁹  who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all! He too was a descendant of Rapha. 21:21 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, killed him.

2 Samuel 22:28

22:28 You deliver oppressed ³⁰  people,

but you watch the proud and bring them down. ³¹ 

2 Samuel 23:9

23:9 Next in command ³²  was Eleazar son of Dodo, ³³  the son of Ahohi. He was one of the three warriors who were with David when they defied the Philistines who were assembled there for battle. When the men of Israel retreated, ³⁴ 

[3:8]  ¹ tn Heb “I do.”

[3:8]  ² tn Heb “brothers.”

[3:8]  ³ tn Heb “and you have laid upon me the guilt of the woman today.”

[5:8]  ⁴ tc There is some confusion among the witnesses concerning this word. The Kethib is the Qal perfect 3cp שָׂנְאוּ (sanÿ’u, “they hated”), referring to the Jebusites’ attitude toward David. The Qere is the Qal passive participle construct plural שְׂנֻאֵי (sÿnu’e, “hated”), referring to David’s attitude toward the Jebusites. 4QSam^a has the Qal perfect 3rd person feminine singular שָׂנְאָה (sanÿ’ah, “hated”), the subject of which would be “the soul of David.” The difference is minor and the translation adopted above works for either the Kethib or the Qere.

[5:8]  ⁵ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term has been debated. For a survey of various views, see P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 139-40.

[5:8]  sn If a water tunnel is in view here, it is probably the so-called Warren’s Shaft that extends up from Hezekiah’s tunnel. It would have provided a means for surprise attack against the occupants of the city of David. The LXX seems not to understand the reference here, translating “by the water shaft” as “with a small knife.”

[5:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “the house.” TEV takes this as a reference to the temple (“the Lord’s house”).

[6:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah.”

[6:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “God.”

[6:7]  ⁹ tc Heb “there.” Since this same term occurs later in the verse it is translated “on the spot” here for stylistic reasons.

[6:7]  ¹⁰ tc The phrase “his negligence” is absent from the LXX.

[6:16]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text adds “in her heart.” Cf. CEV “she was disgusted (+ with him TEV)”; NLT “was filled with contempt for him”; NCV “she hated him.”

[6:20]  ¹² tn Heb “and David returned to bless his house.”

[6:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “David.” The name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[6:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “honored.”

[6:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “one of the foolish ones.”

[6:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and I will shame myself still more than this and I will be lowly in my eyes.”

[12:9]  ¹⁷ tc So the Qere; the Kethib has “his.”

[12:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to you for a wife.” This expression also occurs at the end of v. 10.

[12:14]  ¹⁹ tc The MT has here “because you have caused the enemies of the Lord to treat the Lord with such contempt.” This is one of the so-called tiqqune sopherim, or “emendations of the scribes.” According to this ancient tradition, the scribes changed the text in order to soften somewhat the negative light in which David was presented. If that is the case, the MT reflects the altered text. The present translation departs from the MT here. Elsewhere the Piel stem of this verb means “treat with contempt,” but never “cause someone to treat with contempt.”

[13:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and you will be like one of the fools.”

[13:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “Now.”

[16:7]  ²² tn Heb “man of worthlessness.”

[16:21]  ²³ tn Heb “go to”; NAB “have (+ sexual NCV) relations with”; TEV “have intercourse with”; NLT “Go and sleep with.”

[16:21]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

[20:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”

[20:1]  ²⁶ tn The expression used here יְמִינִי (yÿmini) is a short form of the more common “Benjamin.” It appears elsewhere in 1 Sam 9:4 and Esth 2:5. Cf. 1 Sam 9:1.

[20:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.

[20:1]  ²⁸ tc The MT reads לְאֹהָלָיו (lÿ’ohalav, “to his tents”). For a similar idiom, see 19:9. An ancient scribal tradition understands the reading to be לְאלֹהָיו (le’lohav, “to his gods”). The word is a tiqqun sopherim, and the scribes indicate that they changed the word from “gods” to “tents” so as to soften its theological implications. In a consonantal Hebrew text the change involved only the metathesis of two letters.

[21:20]  ²⁹ tn Heb “a man of stature.”

[22:28]  ³⁰ tn Or perhaps “humble” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT; note the contrast with those who are proud).

[22:28]  ³¹ tc Heb “but your eyes are upon the proud, you bring low.” Ps 18:27 reads “but proud eyes you bring low.”

[23:9]  ³² tn Heb “after him.”

[23:9]  ³³ tc This follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading דֹּדוֹ (dodo) rather than the Kethib of the MT דֹּדַי (dodai; cf. ASV, NIV, NLT). But see 1 Chr 27:4.

[23:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “went up.”