2 Samuel 2:5

2:5 So David sent messengers to the people of Jabesh Gilead and told them, “May you be blessed by the Lord because you have shown this kindness ¹  to your lord Saul by burying him.

2 Samuel 3:14

3:14 David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth son of Saul with this demand: ²  “Give me my wife Michal whom I acquired ³  for a hundred Philistine foreskins.”

2 Samuel 3:39

3:39 Today I am weak, even though I am anointed as king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too much for me to bear! ⁴  May the Lord punish appropriately the one who has done this evil thing!” ⁵ 

2 Samuel 5:19

5:19 So David asked the Lord, “Should I march up against the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?” The Lord said to David, “March up, for I will indeed ⁶  hand the Philistines over to you.”

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. ⁷ 

2 Samuel 6:19-20

6:19 He then handed out to each member of the entire assembly of Israel, ⁸  both men and women, a portion of bread, a date cake, ⁹  and a raisin cake. Then all the people went home. ¹⁰  6:20 When David went home to pronounce a blessing on his own house, ¹¹  Michal, Saul’s daughter, came out to meet him. ¹²  She said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished ¹³  himself this day! He has exposed himself today before his servants’ slave girls the way a vulgar fool ¹⁴  might do!”

2 Samuel 7:29

7:29 Now be willing to bless your servant’s dynasty ¹⁵  so that it may stand permanently before you, for you, O sovereign Lord, have spoken. By your blessing may your servant’s dynasty be blessed on into the future!” ¹⁶ 

2 Samuel 12:11

12:11 This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to bring disaster on you ¹⁷  from inside your own household! ¹⁸  Right before your eyes I will take your wives and hand them over to your companion. ¹⁹  He will have sexual relations with ²⁰  your wives in broad daylight! ²¹ 

2 Samuel 12:21

12:21 His servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? While ²²  the child was still alive, you fasted and wept. Once the child was dead you got up and ate food!”

2 Samuel 14:15

14:15 I have now come to speak with my lord the king about this matter, because the people have made me fearful. ²³  But your servant said, ‘I will speak to the king! Perhaps the king will do what his female servant ²⁴  asks.

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, ²⁵  am from one of the tribes of Israel.”

2 Samuel 16:2

16:2 The king asked Ziba, “Why did you bring these things?” ²⁶  Ziba replied, “The donkeys are for the king’s family to ride on, the loaves of bread ²⁷  and the summer fruit are for the attendants to eat, and the wine is for those who get exhausted in the desert.” ²⁸ 

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 18:33

18:33 (19:1) ²⁹  The king then became very upset. He went up to the upper room over the gate and wept. As he went he said, “My son, Absalom! My son, my son, ³⁰  Absalom! If only I could have died in your place! Absalom, my son, my son!” ³¹ 

2 Samuel 19:13

19:13 Say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my flesh and blood? ³²  God will punish me severely, ³³  if from this time on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!’”

2 Samuel 19:19

19:19 He said to the king, “Don’t think badly of me, my lord, and don’t recall the sin of your servant on the day when you, my lord the king, left ³⁴  Jerusalem! ³⁵  Please don’t call it to mind!

2 Samuel 19:24

19:24 Now Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, ³⁶  came down to meet the king. From the day the king had left until the day he safely ³⁷  returned, Mephibosheth ³⁸  had not cared for his feet ³⁹  nor trimmed ⁴⁰  his mustache nor washed his clothes.

2 Samuel 19:26

19:26 He replied, “My lord the king, my servant deceived me! I ⁴¹  said, ‘Let me get my donkey saddled so that I can ride on it and go with the king,’ for I ⁴²  am lame.

2 Samuel 19:37

19:37 Let me ⁴³  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 23:9

23:9 Next in command ⁴⁴  was Eleazar son of Dodo, ⁴⁵  the son of Ahohi. He was one of the three warriors who were with David when they defied the Philistines who were assembled there for battle. When the men of Israel retreated, ⁴⁶ 

2 Samuel 23:11

23:11 Next in command ⁴⁷  was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines assembled at Lehi, ⁴⁸  where there happened to be an area of a field that was full of lentils, the army retreated before the Philistines.

[2:5]  ¹ tn Or “loyalty.”

[3:14]  ² tn Heb “to Ish-bosheth son of Saul saying.” To avoid excessive sibilance (especially when read aloud) the translation renders “saying” as “with this demand.”

[3:14]  ³ tn Heb “whom I betrothed to myself.”

[3:39]  ⁴ tn Heb “are hard from me.”

[3:39]  ⁵ tn Heb “May the Lord repay the doer of the evil according to his evil” (NASB similar).

[5:19]  ⁶ tn The infinitive absolute lends emphasis to the following verb.

[6:16]  ⁷ 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.”

[6:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “to all the people, to all the throng of Israel.”

[6:19]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew word used here אֶשְׁפָּר (’espar) is found in the OT only here and in the parallel passage found in 1 Chr 16:3. Its exact meaning is uncertain, although the context indicates that it was a food of some sort (cf. KJV “a good piece of flesh”; NRSV “a portion of meat”). The translation adopted here (“date cake”) follows the lead of the Greek translations of the LXX, Aquila, and Symmachus (cf. NASB, NIV, NLT).

[6:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and all the people went, each to his house.”

[6:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and David returned to bless his house.”

[6:20]  ¹² tn Heb “David.” The name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[6:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “honored.”

[6:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “one of the foolish ones.”

[7:29]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “house” (again later in this verse). See the note on “dynastic house” in v. 27.

[7:29]  ¹⁶ tn Or “permanently”; cf. NLT “it is an eternal blessing.”

[12:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “raise up against you disaster.”

[12:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “house” (so NAB, NRSV); NCV, TEV, CEV “family.”

[12:11]  ¹⁹ tn Or “friend.”

[12:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “will lie with” (so NIV, NRSV); TEV “will have intercourse with”; CEV, NLT “will go to bed with.”

[12:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “in the eyes of this sun.”

[12:21]  ²² tc For the MT בַּעֲבוּר (ba’avur, “for the sake of”) we should probably read בְּעוֹד (bÿ’od, “while”). See the Lucianic Greek recension, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Targum.

[14:15]  ²³ tc The LXX (ὄψεταί με, opsetai me) has misunderstood the Hebrew יֵרְאֻנִי (yerÿ’uni, Piel perfect, “they have made me fearful”), taking the verb to be a form of the verb רָאָה (ra’ah, “to see”) rather than the verb יָרֵא (yare’, “to fear”). The fact that the Greek translators were working with an unvocalized Hebrew text (i.e., consonants only) made them very susceptible to this type of error.

[14:15]  ²⁴ tn Here and in v. 16 the woman refers to herself as the king’s אָמָה (’amah), a term that refers to a higher level female servant toward whom the master might have some obligation. Like the other term, this word expresses her humility, but it also suggests that the king might have some obligation to treat her in accordance with the principles of justice.

[15:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “your servant.” So also in vv. 8, 15, 21.

[16:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “What are these to you?”

[16:2]  ²⁷ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וְהַלֶּחֶם (vÿhallekhem, “and the bread”) rather than וּלְהַלֶּחֶם (ulÿhallekhem, “and to the bread”) of the Kethib. The syntax of the MT is confused here by the needless repetition of the preposition, probably taken from the preceding word.

[16:2]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew text adds “to drink.”

[18:33]  ²⁹ sn This marks the beginning of ch. 19 in the Hebrew text. Beginning with 18:33, the verse numbers through 19:43 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 18:33 ET = 19:1 HT, 19:1 ET = 19:2 HT, 19:2 ET = 19:3 HT, etc., through 19:43 ET = 19:44 HT. From 20:1 the versification in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible is again the same.

[18:33]  ³⁰ tc One medieval Hebrew ms, some mss of the LXX, and the Vulgate lack this repeated occurrence of “my son” due to haplography.

[18:33]  ³¹ tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack this repeated occurrence of “my son” due to haplography.

[19:13]  ³² tn Heb “my bone and my flesh.”

[19:13]  ³³ tn Heb “Thus God will do to me and thus he will add.”

[19:19]  ³⁴ tn Though this verb in the MT is 3rd person masculine singular, it should probably be read as 2nd person masculine singular. It is one of fifteen places where the Masoretes placed a dot over each of the letters of the word in question in order to call attention to their suspicion of the word. Their concern in this case apparently had to do with the fact that this verb and the two preceding verbs alternate from third person to second and back again to third. Words marked in this way in Hebrew manuscripts or printed editions are said to have puncta extrordinaria, or “extraordinary points.”

[19:19]  ³⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[19:24]  ³⁶ tn Heb “son.”

[19:24]  ³⁷ tn Heb “in peace.” So also in v. 31.

[19:24]  ³⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Mephibosheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:24]  ³⁹ tn Heb “done his feet.”

[19:24]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “done.”

[19:26]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “your servant.”

[19:26]  ⁴² tn Heb “your servant.”

[19:37]  ⁴³ tn Heb “your servant.”

[23:9]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “after him.”

[23:9]  ⁴⁵ tc This follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading דֹּדוֹ (dodo) rather than the Kethib of the MT דֹּדַי (dodai; cf. ASV, NIV, NLT). But see 1 Chr 27:4.

[23:9]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “went up.”

[23:11]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “after him.”

[23:11]  ⁴⁸ tn The Hebrew text is difficult here. The MT reads לַחַיָּה (lachayyah), which implies a rare use of the word חַיָּה (chayyah). The word normally refers to an animal, but if the MT is accepted it would here have the sense of a troop or community of people. BDB 312 s.v. II. חַיָּה, for example, understands the similar reference in v. 13 to be to “a group of allied families, making a raid together.” But this works better in v. 13 than it does in v. 11, where the context seems to suggest a particular staging location for a military operation. (See 1 Chr 11:15.) It therefore seems best to understand the word in v. 11 as a place name with ה (he) directive. In that case the Masoretes mistook the word for the common term for an animal and then tried to make sense of it in this context.