2 Samuel 12:18

12:18 On the seventh day the child died. But the servants of David were afraid to inform him that the child had died, for they said, “While the child was still alive he would not listen to us ¹  when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do himself harm!” ² 

2 Samuel 18:18

18:18 Prior to this ³  Absalom had set up a monument ⁴  and dedicated it to himself in the King’s Valley, reasoning “I have no son who will carry on my name.” He named the monument after himself, and to this day it is known as Absalom’s Memorial.

2 Samuel 20:3

20:3 Then David went to his palace ⁵  in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace and placed them under confinement. ⁶  Though he provided for their needs, he did not have sexual relations with them. ⁷  They remained in confinement until the day they died, living out the rest of their lives as widows.

[12:18]  ¹ tn Heb “to our voice.”

[12:18]  ² tn Heb “he will do harm.” The object is not stated in the Hebrew text. The statement may be intentionally vague, meaning that he might harm himself or them!

[18:18]  ³ tn Heb “and.” This disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) describes an occurrence that preceded the events just narrated.

[18:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “a pillar.”

[20:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “house.”

[20:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he placed them in a guarded house.”

[20:3]  ⁷ 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.”