2 Samuel 3:12

3:12 Then Abner sent messengers ¹  to David saying, “To whom does the land belong? Make an agreement ²  with me, and I will do whatever I can ³  to cause all Israel to turn to you.”

2 Samuel 3:29

3:29 May his blood whirl over ⁴  the head of Joab and the entire house of his father! ⁵  May the males of Joab’s house ⁶  never cease to have ⁷  someone with a running sore or a skin disease or one who works at the spindle ⁸  or one who falls by the sword or one who lacks food!”

2 Samuel 14:14

14:14 Certainly we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground that cannot be gathered up again. But God does not take away life; instead he devises ways for the banished to be restored. ⁹ 

2 Samuel 17:21

17:21 After the men had left, Ahimaaz and Jonathan ¹⁰  climbed out of the well. Then they left and informed King David. They advised David, “Get up and cross the stream ¹¹  quickly, for Ahithophel has devised a plan to catch you.” ¹² 

2 Samuel 19:8

19:8 So the king got up and sat at the city gate. When all the people were informed that the king was sitting at the city gate, they ¹³  all came before him.

David Goes Back to Jerusalem

But the Israelite soldiers ¹⁴  had all fled to their own homes. ¹⁵ 

[3:12]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text adds here, “on his behalf.”

[3:12]  ² tn Heb “cut a covenant.” So also in vv. 13, 21.

[3:12]  ³ tn Heb “and behold, my hand is with you.”

[3:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “and may they whirl over.” In the Hebrew text the subject of the plural verb is unexpressed. The most likely subject is Abner’s “shed blood” (v. 28), which is a masculine plural form in Hebrew. The verb חוּל (khul, “whirl”) is used with the preposition עַל (’al) only here and in Jer 23:19; 30:23.

[3:29]  ⁵ tc 4QSam^a has “of Joab” rather than “of his father” read by the MT.

[3:29]  ⁶ tn Heb “the house of Joab.” However, it is necessary to specify that David’s curse is aimed at Joab’s male descendants; otherwise it would not be clear that “one who works at the spindle” refers to a man doing woman’s work rather than a woman.

[3:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “and may there not be cut off from the house of Joab.”

[3:29]  ⁸ tn The expression used here is difficult. The translation “one who works at the spindle” follows a suggestion of S. R. Driver that the expression pejoratively describes an effeminate man who, rather than being a mighty warrior, is occupied with tasks that are normally fulfilled by women (S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 250-51; cf. NAB “one unmanly”; TEV “fit only to do a woman’s work”; CEV “cowards”). But P. K. McCarter, following an alleged Phoenician usage of the noun to refer to “crutches,” adopts a different view. He translates the phrase “clings to a crutch,” seeing here a further description of physical lameness (II Samuel [AB], 118). Such an idea fits the present context well and is followed by NIV, NCV, and NLT, although the evidence for this meaning is questionable. According to DNWSI 2:915-16, the noun consistently refers to a spindle in Phoenician, as it does in Ugaritic (see UT 468).

[14:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “he devises plans for the one banished from him not to be banished.”

[17:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they”; the referents (Ahimaaz and Jonathan) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the water.”

[17:21]  ¹² tn Heb “for thus Ahithophel has devised against you.” The expression “thus” is narrative shorthand, referring to the plan outlined by Ahithophel (see vv. 1-3). The men would surely have outlined the plan in as much detail as they had been given by the messenger.

[19:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “all the people.”

[19:8]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew text has simply “Israel” (see 18:16-17).

[19:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “had fled, each to his tent.”