2 Samuel 20:3

20:3 Then David went to his palace ¹  in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace and placed them under confinement. ²  Though he provided for their needs, he did not have sexual relations with them. ³  They remained in confinement until the day they died, living out the rest of their lives as widows.

2 Samuel 22:19

22:19 They confronted ⁴  me in my day of calamity,

but the Lord helped me. ⁵ 

2 Samuel 22:45-46

22:45 Foreigners are powerless before me; ⁶ 

when they hear of my exploits, they submit to me. ⁷ 

22:46 Foreigners lose their courage; ⁸ 

they shake with fear ⁹  as they leave ¹⁰  their strongholds. ¹¹ 

[20:3]  ¹ tn Heb “house.”

[20:3]  ² tn Heb “and he placed them in a guarded house.”

[20:3]  ³ 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.”

[22:19]  ⁴ tn The same verb is translated “trapped” in v. 6. In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not imperfect. Cf. NAB, NCV, TEV, NLT “attacked.”

[22:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “became my support.”

[22:45]  ⁶ tn For the meaning “to be weak; to be powerless” for the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash), see Ps 109:24. Verse 46, which also mentions foreigners, favors this interpretation. Another option is to translate “cower in fear” (see Deut 33:29; Pss 66:3; 81:15).

[22:45]  ⁷ tn Heb “at a report of an ear they submit to me.” The report of David’s exploits is so impressive that those who hear it submit to his rulership without putting up a fight.

[22:46]  ⁸ tn Heb “wither, wear out.”

[22:46]  ⁹ tc The translation assumes a reading וְיַחְרְגוּ (vÿyakhrÿgu, “and they quaked”) rather than the MT וְיַחְגְּרוּ (vÿyakhgÿru, “and they girded themselves”). See the note at Ps 18:45.

[22:46]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from.”

[22:46]  ¹¹ tn Heb “prisons.” Their besieged cities are compared to prisons.