2 Samuel 2:1

David is Anointed King

2:1 Afterward David inquired of the Lord, “Should I go up to one of the cities of Judah?” The Lord told him, “Go up.” David asked, “Where should I go?” The Lord replied, ¹  “To Hebron.”

2 Samuel 3:35

3:35 Then all the people came and encouraged David to eat food while it was still day. But David took an oath saying, “God will punish me severely ²  if I taste bread or anything whatsoever before the sun sets!”

2 Samuel 4:12

4:12 So David issued orders to the soldiers and they put them to death. Then they cut off their hands and feet and hung them ³  near the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth ⁴  and buried it in the tomb of Abner ⁵  in Hebron. ⁶ 

2 Samuel 5:6

David Occupies Jerusalem

5:6 Then the king and his men advanced to Jerusalem ⁷  against the Jebusites who lived in the land. The Jebusites ⁸  said to David, “You cannot invade this place! Even the blind and the lame will turn you back, saying, ‘David cannot invade this place!’”

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 ⁹  by going through the water tunnel.” ¹⁰  For this reason it is said, “The blind and the lame cannot enter the palace.” ¹¹ 

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. ¹² 

2 Samuel 6:20

6:20 When David went home to pronounce a blessing on his own house, ¹³  Michal, Saul’s daughter, came out to meet him. ¹⁴  She said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished ¹⁵  himself this day! He has exposed himself today before his servants’ slave girls the way a vulgar fool ¹⁶  might do!”

2 Samuel 9:3

9:3 The king asked, “Is there not someone left from Saul’s family, ¹⁷  that I may extend God’s kindness to him?” Ziba said to the king, “One of Jonathan’s sons is left; both of his feet are crippled.”

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? ¹⁸  No, David has sent his servants to you to get information about the city and spy on it so they can overthrow it!” ¹⁹ 

2 Samuel 10:18

10:18 The Arameans fled before Israel. David killed 700 Aramean charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers. ²⁰  He also struck down Shobach, the general in command of the army, who died there.

2 Samuel 11:2

11:2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace. ²¹  From the roof he saw a woman bathing. Now this woman was very attractive. ²² 

2 Samuel 13:20

13:20 Her brother Absalom said to her, “Was Amnon your brother with you? Now be quiet, my sister. He is your brother. Don’t take it so seriously!” ²³  Tamar, devastated, lived in the house of her brother Absalom.

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, ²⁴  am from one of the tribes of Israel.”

2 Samuel 15:25

15:25 Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back to the city. If I find favor in the Lord’s sight he will bring me back and enable me to see both it and his dwelling place again.

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 18:3

18:3 But the soldiers replied, ²⁵  “You should not do this! ²⁶  For if we should have to make a rapid retreat, they won’t be too concerned about us. ²⁷  Even if half of us should die, they won’t be too concerned about us. But you ²⁸  are like ten thousand of us! So it is better if you remain in the city for support.”

2 Samuel 18:11

18:11 Joab replied to the man who was telling him this, “What! You saw this? Why didn’t you strike him down right on the spot? ²⁹  I would have given you ten pieces of silver ³⁰  and a commemorative belt!” ³¹ 

2 Samuel 18:26

18:26 Then the watchman saw another man running. The watchman called out to the gatekeeper, “There is another man running by himself.” The king said, “This one also is bringing good news.”

2 Samuel 18:32

18:32 The king asked the Cushite, “How is the young man Absalom?” The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who have plotted against you ³²  be like that young man!”

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 ³³  that if ³⁴  Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, ³⁵  it would be all right with you.

2 Samuel 19:37

19:37 Let me ³⁶  return so that I may die in my own city near the grave of my father and my mother. But look, here is your servant Kimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king. Do for him whatever seems appropriate to you.”

2 Samuel 19:41-42

19:41 Then all the men of Israel began coming to the king. They asked the king, “Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, sneak the king away and help the king and his household cross the Jordan – and not only him but all of David’s men as well?”

19:42 All the men of Judah replied to the men of Israel, “Because the king is our close relative! Why are you so upset about this? Have we eaten at the king’s expense? ³⁷  Or have we misappropriated anything for our own use?”

2 Samuel 21:9

21:9 He turned them over to the Gibeonites, and they executed them on a hill before the Lord. The seven of them ³⁸  died ³⁹  together; they were put to death during harvest time – during the first days of the beginning ⁴⁰  of the barley harvest.

2 Samuel 21:20

21:20 Yet another battle occurred in Gath. On that occasion there was a large man ⁴¹  who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all! He too was a descendant of Rapha.

2 Samuel 23:18

23:18 Abishai son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, was head of the three. ⁴²  He killed three hundred men with his spear and gained fame among the three. ⁴³ 

2 Samuel 23:21

23:21 He also killed an impressive-looking Egyptian. ⁴⁴  The Egyptian wielded a spear, while Benaiah attacked ⁴⁵  him with a club. He grabbed the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.

[2:1]  ¹ tn Heb “he said.” The referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[3:35]  ² tn Heb “Thus God will do to me and thus he will add.”

[4:12]  ³ tn The antecedent of the pronoun “them” (which is not present in the Hebrew text, but implied) is not entirely clear. Presumably it is the corpses that were hung and not merely the detached hands and feet; cf. NIV “hung the (their NRSV, NLT) bodies”; the alternative is represented by TEV “cut off their hands and feet, which they hung up.”

[4:12]  ⁴ tc 4QSam^a mistakenly reads “Mephibosheth” here.

[4:12]  ⁵ tc The LXX adds “the son of Ner” by conformity with common phraseology elsewhere.

[4:12]  ⁶ tc Some mss of the LXX lack the phrase “in Hebron.”

[5:6]  ⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:6]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text has “he” rather than “the Jebusites.” The referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. In the Syriac Peshitta and some mss of the Targum the verb is plural rather than singular.

[5:8]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the house.” TEV takes this as a reference to the temple (“the Lord’s house”).

[6:16]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “and David returned to bless his house.”

[6:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “David.” The name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[6:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “honored.”

[6:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “one of the foolish ones.”

[9:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “house.”

[10:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Is David honoring your father in your eyes when he sends to you ones consoling?”

[10:3]  ¹⁹ 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?”

[10:18]  ²⁰ tn Heb “horsemen” (so KJV, NASB, NCV, NRSV, NLT) but the Lucianic recension of the LXX reads “foot soldiers,” as does the parallel text in 1 Chr 19:18. Cf. NAB, NIV.

[11:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “on the roof of the house of the king.” So also in vv. 8, 9.

[11:2]  ²² tn The disjunctive clause highlights this observation and builds the tension of the story.

[13:20]  ²³ tn Heb “Don’t set your heart to this thing!”

[15:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “your servant.” So also in vv. 8, 15, 21.

[18:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the people said.”

[18:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “march out.”

[18:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “they will not place to us heart.”

[18:3]  ²⁸ tc The translation follows the LXX (except for the Lucianic recension), Symmachus, and Vulgate in reading אָתָּה (’atta, “you”) rather than MT עָתָּה (’atta, “now”).

[18:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Why did you not strike him down there to the ground.”

[18:11]  ³⁰ tn Heb “ten [shekels] of silver.” This would have been about 4 ounces (114 grams) of silver by weight.

[18:11]  ³¹ tn Heb “and a girdle” (so KJV); NIV “a warrior’s belt”; CEV “a special belt”; NLT “a hero’s belt.”

[18:32]  ³² tn Heb “and all those rising against you for evil.”

[19:6]  ³³ tn Heb “today.”

[19:6]  ³⁴ 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]  ³⁵ tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack “today.”

[19:37]  ³⁶ tn Heb “your servant.”

[19:42]  ³⁷ tn Heb “from the king.”

[21:9]  ³⁸ tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading שְׁבַעְתָּם (shÿva’tam, “the seven of them”) rather than MT שִׁבַעְתִּים (shiva’tim, “seventy”).

[21:9]  ³⁹ tn Heb “fell.”

[21:9]  ⁴⁰ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading בִּתְחִלַּת (bithkhillat, “in the beginning”) rather than MT תְחִלַּת (tÿkhillat, “beginning of”).

[21:20]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “a man of stature.”

[23:18]  ⁴² tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, and Vulgate in reading הַשְּׁלֹשָׁה (hashÿlosa, “the three”) rather than the Kethib of the MT הַשָּׁלִשִׁי (hashalisi, “the third,” or “adjutant”). Two medieval Hebrew mss and the Syriac Peshitta have “thirty.”

[23:18]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and he was wielding his spear against three hundred, [who were] slain, and to him there was a name among the three.”

[23:21]  ⁴⁴ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading אִישׁ (’ish, “man”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “who”).

[23:21]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and he went down to.”