2 Samuel 3:29

3:29 May his blood whirl over ¹  the head of Joab and the entire house of his father! ²  May the males of Joab’s house ³  never cease to have ⁴  someone with a running sore or a skin disease or one who works at the spindle ⁵  or one who falls by the sword or one who lacks food!”

2 Samuel 6:21

6:21 David replied to Michal, “It was before the Lord! I was celebrating before the Lord, who chose me over your father and his entire family ⁶  and appointed me as leader over the Lord’s people Israel.

2 Samuel 9:3

9:3 The king asked, “Is there not someone left from Saul’s family, ⁷  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 12:11

12:11 This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to bring disaster on you ⁸  from inside your own household! ⁹  Right before your eyes I will take your wives and hand them over to your companion. ¹⁰  He will have sexual relations with ¹¹  your wives in broad daylight! ¹² 

2 Samuel 12:31

12:31 He removed ¹³  the people who were in it and made them do hard labor with saws, iron picks, and iron axes, putting them to work at the brick kiln. This was his policy ¹⁴  with all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all the army returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁵ 

2 Samuel 15:14

15:14 So David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, ¹⁶  “Come on! ¹⁷  Let’s escape! ¹⁸  Otherwise no one will be delivered from Absalom! Go immediately, or else he will quickly overtake us and bring ¹⁹  disaster on us and kill the city’s residents with the sword.” ²⁰ 

2 Samuel 17:23

17:23 When Ahithophel realized that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and returned to his house in his hometown. After setting his household in order, he hanged himself. So he died and was buried in the grave ²¹  of his father.

2 Samuel 19:28

19:28 After all, there was no one in the entire house of my grandfather ²²  who did not deserve death from my lord the king. But instead you allowed me to eat at your own table! ²³  What further claim do I have to ask ²⁴  the king for anything?”

2 Samuel 19:41

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?”

2 Samuel 21:1

The Gibeonites Demand Revenge

21:1 During David’s reign there was a famine for three consecutive years. So David inquired of the Lord. ²⁵  The Lord said, “It is because of Saul and his bloodstained family, ²⁶  because he murdered the Gibeonites.”

2 Samuel 21:4

21:4 The Gibeonites said to him, “We ²⁷  have no claim to silver or gold from Saul or from his family, ²⁸  nor would we be justified in putting to death anyone in Israel.” David asked, ²⁹  “What then are you asking me to do for you?”

2 Samuel 24:17

24:17 When he saw the angel who was destroying the people, David said to the Lord, “Look, it is I who have sinned and done this evil thing! As for these sheep – what have they done? Attack me and my family.” ³⁰ 

[3:29]  ¹ 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]  ² tc 4QSam^a has “of Joab” rather than “of his father” read by the MT.

[3:29]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “and may there not be cut off from the house of Joab.”

[3:29]  ⁵ 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).

[6:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “all his house”; CEV “anyone else in your family.”

[9:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “house.”

[12:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “raise up against you disaster.”

[12:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “house” (so NAB, NRSV); NCV, TEV, CEV “family.”

[12:11]  ¹⁰ tn Or “friend.”

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

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

[12:31]  ¹³ tn Heb “brought out.”

[12:31]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and so he would do.”

[12:31]  ¹⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[15:14]  ¹⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[15:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Arise!”

[15:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “let’s flee.”

[15:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “thrust.”

[15:14]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”

[17:23]  ²¹ tc The Greek recensions of Origen and Lucian have here “house” for “grave.”

[19:28]  ²² tn Heb “father.”

[19:28]  ²³ tn Heb “and you placed your servant among those who eat at your table.”

[19:28]  ²⁴ tn Heb “to cry out to.”

[21:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “sought the face of the Lord.”

[21:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and the house of bloodshed.”

[21:4]  ²⁷ tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading לָנוּ (lanu, “to us”) rather than the MT לִי (li, “to me”). But for a contrary opinion see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 53, 350.

[21:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “house.”

[21:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:17]  ³⁰ tn Heb “let your hand be against me and against the house of my father.”