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 16:6

16:6 He threw stones at David and all of King David’s servants, as well as all the people and the soldiers who were on his right and on his left.

2 Samuel 18:17

18:17 They took Absalom, threw him into a large pit in the forest, and stacked a huge pile of stones over him. In the meantime all the Israelite soldiers fled to their homes. ¹ 

2 Samuel 5:11

5:11 King Hiram of Tyre ²  sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs, carpenters, and stonemasons. They built a palace ³  for David.

2 Samuel 11:21

11:21 Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone ⁴  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 22:32

22:32 Indeed, ⁵  who is God besides the Lord?

Who is a protector ⁶  besides our God? ⁷ 

2 Samuel 12:31

12:31 He removed ⁸  the people who were in it and made them do hard labor with saws, iron picks, and iron axes, putting them to work at the brick kiln. This was his policy ⁹  with all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all the army returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁰ 

2 Samuel 16:13

16:13 So David and his men went on their way. But Shimei kept going along the side of the hill opposite him, yelling curses as he threw stones and dirt at them. ¹¹ 

2 Samuel 20:8

20:8 When they were near the big rock that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to them. Now Joab was dressed in military attire and had a dagger in its sheath belted to his waist. When he advanced, it fell out. ¹² 

2 Samuel 12:30

12:30 He took the crown of their king ¹³  from his head – it was gold, weighed about seventy-five pounds, ¹⁴  and held a precious stone – and it was placed on David’s head. He also took from the city a great deal of plunder.

2 Samuel 18:18

18:18 Prior to this ¹⁵  Absalom had set up a monument ¹⁶  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 22:47

22:47 The Lord is alive! ¹⁷ 

My protector ¹⁸  is praiseworthy! ¹⁹ 

The God who delivers me ²⁰  is exalted as king! ²¹ 

2 Samuel 22:2-3

22:2 He said:

“The Lord is my high ridge, ²²  my stronghold, ²³  my deliverer.

22:3 My God ²⁴  is my rocky summit where I take shelter, ²⁵ 

my shield, the horn that saves me, ²⁶  my stronghold,

my refuge, my savior. You save me from violence! ²⁷ 

2 Samuel 23:3

23:3 The God of Israel spoke,

the protector ²⁸  of Israel spoke to me.

The one who rules fairly among men,

the one who rules in the fear of God,

2 Samuel 21:10

21:10 Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain fell on them, ²⁹  she did not allow the birds of the air to feed ³⁰  on them by day, nor the wild animals ³¹  by night.

2 Samuel 22:30

22:30 Indeed, ³² with your help ³³  I can charge ³⁴  against an army; ³⁵ 

by my God’s power ³⁶  I can jump over a wall. ³⁷ 

2 Samuel 22:34

22:34 He gives me the agility of a deer; ³⁸ 

he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain. ³⁹ 

2 Samuel 5:9

5:9 So David lived in the fortress and called it the City of David. David built all around it, from the terrace inwards.

2 Samuel 11:19

11:19 He instructed the messenger as follows: “When you finish giving the battle report to the king,

2 Samuel 14:26

14:26 When he would shave his head – at the end of every year he used to shave his head, for it grew too long ⁴⁰  and he would shave it – he used to weigh the hair of his head at three pounds ⁴¹  according to the king’s weight.

[18:17]  ¹ tn Heb “and all Israel fled, each to his tent.” In this context this refers to the supporters of Absalom (see vv. 6-7, 16).

[5:11]  ² map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[5:11]  ³ tn Heb “a house.”

[11:21]  ⁴ 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.

[22:32]  ⁵ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.

[22:32]  ⁶ tn Heb “rocky cliff,” which is a metaphor of protection.

[22:32]  ⁷ tn The rhetorical questions anticipate the answer, “No one.” In this way the psalmist indicates that the Lord is the only true God and reliable source of protection. See also Deut 32:39, where the Lord affirms that he is the only true God. Note as well the emphasis on his role as protector (צוּר, tsur, “rocky cliff”) in Deut 32:4, 15, 17-18, 30.

[12:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “brought out.”

[12:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “and so he would do.”

[12:31]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[16:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he cursed and threw stones, opposite him, pelting [them] with dirt.” The offline vÿqatal construction in the last clause indicates an action that was complementary to the action described in the preceding clause. He simultaneously threw stones and dirt.

[20:8]  ¹² sn The significance of the statement it fell out here is unclear. If the dagger fell out of its sheath before Joab got to Amasa, how then did he kill him? Josephus, Ant. 7.11.7 (7.284), suggested that as Joab approached Amasa he deliberately caused the dagger to fall to the ground at an opportune moment as though by accident. When he bent over and picked it up, he then stabbed Amasa with it. Others have tried to make a case for thinking that two swords are referred to – the one that fell out and another that Joab kept concealed until the last moment. But nothing in the text clearly supports this view. Perhaps Josephus’ understanding is best, but it is by no means obvious in the text either.

[12:30]  ¹³ tn Part of the Greek tradition wrongly understands Hebrew מַלְכָּם (malkam, “their king”) as a proper name (“Milcom”). Some English versions follow the Greek here, rendering the phrase “the crown of Milcom” (so NRSV; cf. also NAB, CEV). TEV takes this as a reference not to the Ammonite king but to “the idol of the Ammonite god Molech.”

[12:30]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and its weight [was] a talent of gold.” The weight of this ornamental crown was approximately 75 lbs (34 kg). See P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 313.

[18:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and.” This disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) describes an occurrence that preceded the events just narrated.

[18:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a pillar.”

[22:47]  ¹⁷ tn Elsewhere the construction חַי־יְהוָה (khay-yÿhvah) as used exclusively as an oath formula, but this is not the case here, for no oath follows. Here the statement is an affirmation of the Lord’s active presence and intervention. In contrast to pagan deities, he demonstrates that he is the living God by rescuing and empowering the psalmist.

[22:47]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “my rocky cliff,” which is a metaphor for protection.

[22:47]  ¹⁹ tn Or “blessed [i.e., praised] be.”

[22:47]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the God of the rock of my deliverance.” The term צוּר (tsur, “rock”) is probably accidentally repeated from the previous line. The parallel version in Ps 18:46 has simply “the God of my deliverance.”

[22:47]  ²¹ tn The words “as king” are supplied in the translation for clarification. In the Psalms the verb רוּם (rum, “be exalted”) when used of God, refers to his exalted position as king (Pss 99:2; 113:4; 138:6) and/or his self-revelation as king through his mighty deeds of deliverance (Pss 21:13; 46:10; 57:5, 11).

[22:2]  ²² tn Traditionally “is my rock”; CEV “mighty rock”; TEV “is my protector.” This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28.

[22:2]  ²³ tn Traditionally “my fortress”; TEV “my strong fortress”; NCV “my protection.”

[22:2]  sn My stronghold. David often found safety in such strongholds. See 1 Sam 22:4-5; 24:22; 2 Sam 5:9, 17; 23:14.

[22:3]  ²⁴ tc The translation (along with many English versions, e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) follows the LXX in reading אֱלֹהִי (’elohi, “my God”) rather than MT’s אֱלֹהֵי (’elohe, “the God of”). See Ps 18:2.

[22:3]  ²⁵ tn Or “in whom.”

[22:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the horn of my salvation,” or “my saving horn.”

[22:3]  sn Though some see “horn” as referring to a horn-shaped peak of a hill, or to the “horns” of an altar where one could find refuge, it is more likely that the horn of an ox underlies the metaphor (see Deut 33:17; 1 Kgs 22:11; Ps 92:10). The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “exalt the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 89:17, 24; 92:10; Lam 2:17). In the ancient Near East powerful warrior-kings would sometimes compare themselves to a goring bull that uses its horns to kill its enemies. For examples, see P. Miller, “El the Warrior,” HTR 60 (1967): 422-25, and R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 135-36. 2 Sam 22:3 uses the metaphor of the horn in a slightly different manner. Here the Lord himself is compared to a horn. He is to the psalmist what the horn is to the ox, a source of defense and victory.

[22:3]  ²⁷ tn The parallel version of the song in Ps 18 does not include this last line.

[23:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “rock,” used as a metaphor of divine protection.

[21:10]  ²⁹ tn Heb “until water was poured on them from the sky.”

[21:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “rest.”

[21:10]  ³¹ tn Heb “the beasts of the field.”

[22:30]  ³² tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.

[22:30]  ³³ tn Heb “by you.”

[22:30]  ³⁴ tn Heb “I will run.” The imperfect verbal forms in v. 30 indicate the subject’s potential or capacity to perform an action. Though one might expect a preposition to follow the verb here, this need not be the case with the verb רוּץ (ruts; see 1 Sam 17:22). Some emend the Qal to a Hiphil form of the verb and translate, “I put to flight [literally, “cause to run”] an army.”

[22:30]  ³⁵ tn More specifically, the noun refers to a raiding party or to a contingent of troops (see HALOT 177 s.v. II גְדוּד). The picture of a divinely empowered warrior charging against an army in almost superhuman fashion appears elsewhere in ancient Near Eastern literature. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 228.

[22:30]  ³⁶ tn Heb “by my God.”

[22:30]  ³⁷ tn David uses hyperbole to emphasize his God-given military superiority.

[22:34]  ³⁸ tc Heb “[the one who] makes his feet like [those of] a deer.” The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading רַגְלַי (raglai, “my feet”) rather than the MT רַגְלָיו (raglav, “his feet”). See as well Ps 18:33.

[22:34]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and on my high places he makes me walk.” The imperfect verbal form emphasizes God’s characteristic provision. The psalmist compares his agility in battle to the ability of a deer to negotiate rugged, high terrain without falling or being injured. Habakkuk uses similar language to describe his faith during difficult times. See Hab 3:19.

[14:26]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “for it was heavy upon him.”

[14:26]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “two hundred shekels.” The modern equivalent would be about three pounds (1.4 kg).