2 Samuel 22:44

22:44 You rescue me from a hostile army; ¹ 

you preserve me as a leader of nations;

people over whom I had no authority are now my subjects. ² 

2 Samuel 7:20

7:20 What more can David say to you? You have given your servant special recognition, ³  O Lord God!

2 Samuel 12:6

12:6 Because he committed this cold-hearted crime, he must pay for the lamb four times over!” ⁴ 

2 Samuel 7:27

7:27 for you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have told ⁵  your servant, ‘I will build you a dynastic house.’ ⁶  That is why your servant has had the courage ⁷  to pray this prayer to you.

2 Samuel 18:27

18:27 The watchman said, “It appears to me that the first runner is Ahimaaz ⁸  son of Zadok.” The king said, “He is a good man, and he comes with good news.”

2 Samuel 22:23

22:23 For I am aware of all his regulations, ⁹ 

and I do not reject his rules. ¹⁰ 

2 Samuel 1:22

1:22 From the blood of the slain, from the fat of warriors,

the bow of Jonathan was not turned away.

The sword of Saul never returned ¹¹  empty.

2 Samuel 3:25

3:25 You know Abner the son of Ner! Surely he came here to spy on you and to determine when you leave and when you return ¹²  and to discover everything that you are doing!”

2 Samuel 7:9

7:9 I was with you wherever you went, and I defeated ¹³  all your enemies before you. Now I will make you as famous as the great men of the earth. ¹⁴ 

2 Samuel 17:10

17:10 If that happens even the bravest soldier – one who is lion-hearted – will virtually melt away. For all Israel knows that your father is a warrior and that those who are with him are brave.

2 Samuel 23:8

David’s Warriors

23:8 These are the names of David’s warriors:

Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite, was head of the officers. ¹⁵  He killed eight hundred men with his spear in one battle. ¹⁶ 

2 Samuel 23:23

23:23 He received honor from ¹⁷  the thirty warriors, though he was not one of the three elite warriors. David put him in charge of his bodyguard.

2 Samuel 14:2

14:2 So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He told her, “Pretend to be in mourning ¹⁸  and put on garments for mourning. Don’t anoint yourself with oil. Instead, act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for some time. ¹⁹ 

2 Samuel 17:8

17:8 Hushai went on to say, “You know your father and his men – they are soldiers and are as dangerous as a bear out in the wild that has been robbed of her cubs. ²⁰  Your father is an experienced soldier; he will not stay overnight with the army.

2 Samuel 18:18

18:18 Prior to this ²¹  Absalom had set up a monument ²²  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 23:18

23:18 Abishai son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, was head of the three. ²³  He killed three hundred men with his spear and gained fame among the three. ²⁴ 

[22:44]  ¹ tn Heb “from the strivings of my people.” In this context רִיב (riv, “striving”) probably has a militaristic sense (as in Judg 12:2; Isa 41:11), and עַם (’am, “people”) probably refers more specifically to an army (for other examples, see the verses listed in BDB 766 s.v. עַם 2.d). The suffix “my” suggests David is referring to attacks by his own countrymen, the “people” being Israel. However, the parallel text in Ps 18:43 omits the suffix.

[22:44]  ² tn Heb “a people whom I did not know serve me.” In this context the verb “know” (יָדַע, yada’) probably refers to formal recognition by treaty. People who were once not under the psalmist’s authority now willingly submit to his rulership to avoid being conquered militarily (see vv. 45-46). The language may recall the events recorded in 2 Sam 8:9-10 and 10:19.

[7:20]  ³ tn Heb “and you know your servant.” The verb here refers to recognizing another in a special way and giving them special treatment (see 1 Chr 17:18). Some English versions take this to refer to the Lord’s knowledge of David himself: CEV “you know my thoughts”; NLT “know what I am really like.”

[12:6]  ⁴ tc With the exception of the Lucianic recension, the Old Greek translation has here “sevenfold” rather than “fourfold,” a reading that S. R. Driver thought probably to be the original reading (S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 291). However, Exod 22:1 [21:37 HT] specifies fourfold repayment for a stolen sheep, which is consistent with 2 Sam 12:6. Some mss of the Targum and the Syriac Peshitta exaggerate the idea to “fortyfold.”

[12:6]  tn Heb “the lamb he must repay fourfold because he did this thing and because he did not have compassion.”

[7:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “have uncovered the ear of.”

[7:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “a house.” This maintains the wordplay from v. 11 (see the note on the word “house” there) and is continued in v. 29.

[7:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “has found his heart.”

[18:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “I am seeing the running of the first one like the running of Ahimaaz.”

[22:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “for all his regulations are before me.” The term מִשְׁפָּטָו (mishpatav, “his regulations”) refers to God’s covenantal requirements, especially those which the king is responsible to follow (cf Deut 17:18-20). See also Pss 19:9 (cf vv. 7-8); 89:30; 147:20 (cf v. 19), as well as the numerous uses of the term in Ps 119.

[22:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and his rules, I do not turn aside from it.” Ps 18:22 reads, “and his rules I do not turn aside from me.” The prefixed verbal form is probably an imperfect; David here generalizes about his loyalty to God’s commands. The Lord’s “rules” are the stipulations of the covenant which the king was responsible to obey (see Ps 89:31; cf v. 30 and Deut 17:18-20).

[1:22]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form is used here to indicate repeated past action.

[3:25]  ¹² tn Heb “your going out and your coming in.” The expression is a merism. It specifically mentions the polar extremities of the actions but includes all activity in between the extremities as well, thus encompassing the entirety of one’s activities.

[7:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “cut off.”

[7:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and I will make for you a great name like the name of the great ones who are in the earth.”

[23:8]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew word is sometimes rendered as “the three,” but BDB is probably correct in taking it to refer to military officers (BDB 1026 s.v. שְׁלִישִׁי). In that case the etymological connection of this word to the Hebrew numerical adjective for “three” can be explained as originating with a designation for the third warrior in a chariot.

[23:8]  ¹⁶ tc The translation follows some LXX mss (see 1 Chr 11:11 as well) in reading הוּא עוֹרֵר אֶת־חֲנִיתוֹ (hu’ ’orer ’et khanito, “he raised up his spear”) rather than the MT’s הוּא עֲדִינוֹ הָעֶצְנִי (hu’ ’adino ha’etsni [Kethib = הָעֶצְנוֹ, ha’etsno]; “Adino the Ezenite”). The emended text reads literally “he was wielding his spear against eight hundred, [who were] slain at one time.”

[23:23]  ¹⁷ tn Or “more than.”

[14:2]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew Hitpael verbal form here indicates pretended rather than genuine action.

[14:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “these many days.”

[17:8]  ²⁰ tc The LXX (with the exception of the recensions of Origen and Lucian) repeats the description as follows: “Just as a female bear bereft of cubs in a field.”

[18:18]  ²¹ tn Heb “and.” This disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) describes an occurrence that preceded the events just narrated.

[18:18]  ²² tn Heb “a pillar.”

[23:18]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and he was wielding his spear against three hundred, [who were] slain, and to him there was a name among the three.”