2 Samuel 2:18

2:18 The three sons of Zeruiah were there – Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. (Now Asahel was as quick on his feet as one of the gazelles in the field.)

2 Samuel 3:30

3:30 So Joab and his brother Abishai killed Abner, because he had killed their brother Asahel in Gibeon during the battle.

2 Samuel 10:10

10:10 He put his brother Abishai in charge of the rest of the army ¹  and they were deployed ²  against the Ammonites.

2 Samuel 10:14

10:14 When the Ammonites saw the Arameans flee, they fled before his brother Abishai and went into the city. Joab withdrew from fighting the Ammonites and returned to ³  Jerusalem. ⁴ 

2 Samuel 18:2

18:2 David then sent out the army – a third under the leadership of Joab, a third under the leadership of Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under the leadership of Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the troops, “I too will indeed march out with you.”

2 Samuel 20:10

20:10 Amasa did not protect himself from the knife in Joab’s other hand, and Joab ⁵  stabbed him in the abdomen, causing Amasa’s ⁶  intestines to spill out on the ground. There was no need to stab him again; the first blow was fatal. ⁷  Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bicri.

2 Samuel 20:1

Sheba’s Rebellion

20:1 Now a wicked man ⁸  named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, ⁹  happened to be there. He blew the trumpet ¹⁰  and said,

“We have no share in David;

we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!

Every man go home, ¹¹  O Israel!”

1 Samuel 26:6-8

26:6 David said to Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” Abishai replied, “I will go down with you.”

26:7 So David and Abishai approached the army at night and found Saul lying asleep in the entrenchment with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. Abner and the army were lying all around him. 26:8 Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me drive the spear ¹²  right through him into the ground with one swift jab! ¹³  A second jab won’t be necessary!”

1 Samuel 26:1

David Spares Saul’s Life Again

26:1 The Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Isn’t David hiding on the hill of Hakilah near ¹⁴  Jeshimon?”

1 Samuel 2:16

2:16 If the individual said to him, “First let the fat be burned away, and then take for yourself whatever you wish,” he would say, “No! ¹⁵  Hand it over right now! If you don’t, I will take it forcibly!”

1 Samuel 11:1

Saul Comes to the Aid of Jabesh

11:1 ¹⁶ Nahash ¹⁷  the Ammonite marched ¹⁸  against Jabesh Gilead. All the men of Jabesh Gilead said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us and we will serve you.”

1 Samuel 11:1

Saul Comes to the Aid of Jabesh

11:1 ¹⁹ Nahash ²⁰  the Ammonite marched ²¹  against Jabesh Gilead. All the men of Jabesh Gilead said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us and we will serve you.”

[10:10]  ¹ tn Heb “people.”

[10:10]  ² tn Heb “he arranged.”

[10:14]  ³ tn Heb “and Joab returned from against the sons of Ammon and entered.”

[10:14]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[20:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he did not repeat concerning him, and he died.”

[20:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”

[20:1]  ⁹ tn The expression used here יְמִינִי (yÿmini) is a short form of the more common “Benjamin.” It appears elsewhere in 1 Sam 9:4 and Esth 2:5. Cf. 1 Sam 9:1.

[20:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.

[20:1]  ¹¹ tc The MT reads לְאֹהָלָיו (lÿ’ohalav, “to his tents”). For a similar idiom, see 19:9. An ancient scribal tradition understands the reading to be לְאלֹהָיו (le’lohav, “to his gods”). The word is a tiqqun sopherim, and the scribes indicate that they changed the word from “gods” to “tents” so as to soften its theological implications. In a consonantal Hebrew text the change involved only the metathesis of two letters.

[26:8]  ¹² tn Here “the spear” almost certainly refers to Saul’s own spear, which according to the previous verse was stuck into the ground beside him as he slept. This is reflected in a number of English versions: TEV, CEV “his own spear”; NLT “that spear.” Cf. NIV, NCV “my spear,” in which case Abishai refers to his own spear rather than Saul’s, but this is unlikely since (1) Abishai would probably not have carried a spear along since such a weapon would be unwieldy when sneaking into the enemy camp; and (2) this would not explain the mention of Saul’s own spear stuck in the ground beside him in the previous verse.

[26:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “let me strike him with the spear and into the ground one time.”

[26:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “upon the face of.”

[2:16]  ¹⁵ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss (“no”) rather than the Kethib and MT, which read “to him.”

[11:1]  ¹⁶ tc 4QSam^a and Josephus (Ant. 6.68-71) attest to a longer form of text at this point. The addition explains Nahash’s practice of enemy mutilation, and by so doing provides a smoother transition to the following paragraph than is found in the MT. The NRSV adopts this reading, with the following English translation: “Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.” This reading should not be lightly dismissed; it may in fact provide a text superior to that of the MT and the ancient versions. But the external evidence for it is so limited as to induce caution; the present translation instead follows the MT. However, for a reasonable case for including this reading in the text see the discussions in P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 199, and R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 103.

[11:1]  ¹⁷ sn The name “Nahash” means “serpent” in Hebrew.

[11:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “went up and camped”; NIV, NRSV “went up and besieged.”

[11:1]  ¹⁹ tc 4QSam^a and Josephus (Ant. 6.68-71) attest to a longer form of text at this point. The addition explains Nahash’s practice of enemy mutilation, and by so doing provides a smoother transition to the following paragraph than is found in the MT. The NRSV adopts this reading, with the following English translation: “Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.” This reading should not be lightly dismissed; it may in fact provide a text superior to that of the MT and the ancient versions. But the external evidence for it is so limited as to induce caution; the present translation instead follows the MT. However, for a reasonable case for including this reading in the text see the discussions in P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 199, and R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 103.

[11:1]  ²⁰ sn The name “Nahash” means “serpent” in Hebrew.

[11:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “went up and camped”; NIV, NRSV “went up and besieged.”