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 ¹  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. ² 

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. ³  Your father is an experienced soldier; he will not stay overnight with the army.

2 Samuel 18:18

18:18 Prior to this ⁴  Absalom had set up a monument ⁵  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. ⁶  He killed three hundred men with his spear and gained fame among the three. ⁷ 

¹ tn The Hebrew Hitpael verbal form here indicates pretended rather than genuine action.

² tn Heb “these many days.”

³ 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.”

⁴ tn Heb “and.” This disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) describes an occurrence that preceded the events just narrated.

⁵ tn Heb “a pillar.”

⁶ 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.”

⁷ tn Heb “and he was wielding his spear against three hundred, [who were] slain, and to him there was a name among the three.”