2 Samuel 1:21

1:21 O mountains of Gilboa,

may there be no dew or rain on you, nor fields of grain offerings! ¹ 

For it was there that the shield of warriors was defiled; ² 

the shield of Saul lies neglected without oil. ³ 

2 Samuel 4:1

Ish-bosheth is killed

4:1 When Ish-bosheth ⁴  the son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he was very disheartened, ⁵  and all Israel was afraid.

2 Samuel 10:3

10:3 the Ammonite officials said to their lord Hanun, “Do you really think David is trying to honor your father by sending these messengers to express his sympathy? ⁶  No, David has sent his servants to you to get information about the city and spy on it so they can overthrow it!” ⁷ 

2 Samuel 11:11

11:11 Uriah replied to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah reside in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and my lord’s soldiers are camping in the open field. Should I go to my house to eat and drink and have marital relations ⁸  with my wife? As surely as you are alive, ⁹  I will not do this thing!”

2 Samuel 11:21

11:21 Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone ¹⁰  down on him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ just say to him, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.’”

2 Samuel 19:6

19:6 You seem to love your enemies and hate your friends! For you have as much as declared today that leaders and servants don’t matter to you. I realize now ¹¹  that if ¹²  Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, ¹³  it would be all right with you.

2 Samuel 23:16

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

2 Samuel 23:20

23:20 Benaiah son of Jehoida was a brave warrior ¹⁴  from Kabzeel who performed great exploits. He struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab. ¹⁵  He also went down and killed a lion in a cistern on a snowy day.

[1:21]  ¹ tc Instead of the MT’s “fields of grain offerings” the Lucianic recension of the LXX reads “your high places are mountains of death.” Cf. the Old Latin montes mortis (“mountains of death”).

[1:21]  ² tn This is the only biblical occurrence of the Niphal of the verb גָּעַל (ga’al). This verb usually has the sense of “to abhor” or “loathe.” But here it seems to refer to the now dirty and unprotected condition of a previously well-maintained instrument of battle.

[1:21]  ³ tc It is preferable to read here Hebrew מָשׁוּחַ (mashuakh) with many Hebrew mss, rather than מָשִׁיחַ (mashiakh) of the MT. Although the Syriac Peshitta understands the statement to pertain to Saul, the point here is not that Saul is not anointed. Rather, it is the shield of Saul that lies discarded and is no longer anointed. In ancient Near Eastern practice a warrior’s shield that was in normal use would have to be anointed regularly in order to ensure that the leather did not become dry and brittle. Like other warriors of his day Saul would have carefully maintained his tools of trade. But now that he is dead, the once-cared-for shield of the mighty warrior lies sadly discarded and woefully neglected, a silent but eloquent commentary on how different things are now compared to the way they were during Saul’s lifetime.

[4:1]  ⁴ tn The MT does not specify the subject of the verb here, but the reference is to Ish-bosheth, so the name has been supplied in the translation for clarity. 4QSam^a and the LXX mistakenly read “Mephibosheth.”

[4:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “his hands went slack.”

[10:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “Is David honoring your father in your eyes when he sends to you ones consoling?”

[10:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “Is it not to explore the city and to spy on it and to overthrow it [that] David has sent his servants to you?”

[11:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “and lay.”

[11:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “as you live and as your soul lives.”

[11:21]  ¹⁰ sn The upper millstone (Heb “millstone of riding”) refers to the heavy circular stone that was commonly rolled over a circular base in order to crush and grind such things as olives.

[19:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “today.”

[19:6]  ¹² tc The translation follows the Qere, 4QSam^a, and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading לוּ (lu, “if”) rather than MT לֹא (lo’, “not”).

[19:6]  ¹³ tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack “today.”

[23:20]  ¹⁴ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading חַיִל (khayil, “valor”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, חַי (khay, “life”).

[23:20]  ¹⁵ tc Heb “the two of Ariel, Moab.” The precise meaning of אריאל is uncertain; some read “warrior.” The present translation assumes that the word is a proper name and that בני, “sons of,” has accidentally dropped from the text by homoioarcton (note the preceding שׁני).