2 Samuel 11:4

11:4 David sent some messengers to get her. ¹  She came to him and he had sexual relations with her. ²  (Now at that time she was in the process of purifying herself from her menstrual uncleanness.) ³  Then she returned to her home.

2 Samuel 15:2

15:2 Now Absalom used to get up early and stand beside the road that led to the city gate. Whenever anyone came by who had a complaint to bring to the king for arbitration, Absalom would call out to him, “What city are you from?” The person would answer, “I, your servant, ⁴  am from one of the tribes of Israel.”

2 Samuel 17:13

17:13 If he regroups in a city, all Israel will take up ropes to that city and drag it down to the valley, so that not a single pebble will be left there!”

2 Samuel 17:18

17:18 But a young man saw them on one occasion and informed Absalom. So the two of them quickly departed and went to the house of a man in Bahurim. There was a well in his courtyard, and they got down in it.

2 Samuel 19:5

19:5 So Joab visited ⁵  the king at his home. He said, “Today you have embarrassed all your servants who have saved your life this day, as well as the lives of your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your concubines.

2 Samuel 20:3

20:3 Then David went to his palace ⁶  in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace and placed them under confinement. ⁷  Though he provided for their needs, he did not have sexual relations with them. ⁸  They remained in confinement until the day they died, living out the rest of their lives as widows.

2 Samuel 23:20

23:20 Benaiah son of Jehoida was a brave warrior ⁹  from Kabzeel who performed great exploits. He struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab. ¹⁰  He also went down and killed a lion in a cistern on a snowy day.

[11:4]  ¹ tn Heb “and David sent messengers and he took her.”

[11:4]  ² tn Heb “he lay with her” (so NASB, NRSV); TEV “he made love to her”; NIV, CEV, NLT “he slept with her.”

[11:4]  ³ tn The parenthetical disjunctive clause further heightens the tension by letting the reader know that Bathsheba, having just completed her menstrual cycle, is ripe for conception. See P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 286. Since she just had her period, it will also be obvious to those close to the scene that Uriah, who has been away fighting, cannot be the father of the child.

[15:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “your servant.” So also in vv. 8, 15, 21.

[19:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “came to.”

[20:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “house.”

[20:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he placed them in a guarded house.”

[20:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “he did not come to them”; NAB “has no further relations with them”; NIV “did not lie with them”; TEV “did not have intercourse with them”; NLT “would no longer sleep with them.”

[23:20]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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).