2 Samuel 13:5

13:5 Jonadab replied to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be sick. ¹  When your father comes in to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come in so she can fix some food for me. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I can watch. Then I will eat from her hand.’”

2 Samuel 18:12

18:12 The man replied to Joab, “Even if ²  I were receiving ³  a thousand pieces of silver, ⁴  I would not strike ⁵  the king’s son! In our very presence ⁶  the king gave this order to you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’ ⁷ 

2 Samuel 19:6

19:6 You seem to love your enemies and hate your friends! For you have as much as declared today that leaders and servants don’t matter to you. I realize now ⁸  that if ⁹  Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, ¹⁰  it would be all right with you.

[13:5]  ¹ tn This verb is used in the Hitpael stem only in this chapter of the Hebrew Bible. With the exception of v. 2 it describes not a real sickness but one pretended in order to entrap Tamar. The Hitpael sometimes, as here, describes the subject making oneself appear to be of a certain character. On this use of the stem, see GKC 149-50 §54.e.

[18:12]  ² tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וְלוּ (vÿlu, “and if”) rather than MT וְלֹא (vÿlo’, “and not”).

[18:12]  ³ tn Heb “weighing out in my hand.”

[18:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “a thousand [shekels] of silver.” This would have been about 25 pounds (11.4 kg) of silver by weight.

[18:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “extend my hand against.”

[18:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “in our ears.”

[18:12]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text is very difficult here. The MT reads מִי (mi, “who”), apparently yielding the following sense: “Show care, whoever you might be, for the youth Absalom.” The Syriac Peshitta reads li (“for me”), the Hebrew counterpart of which may also lie behind the LXX rendering μοι (moi, “for me”). This reading seems preferable here, since it restores sense to the passage and most easily explains the rise of the variant.

[19:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “today.”

[19:6]  ⁹ tc The translation follows the Qere, 4QSam^a, and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading לוּ (lu, “if”) rather than MT לֹא (lo’, “not”).

[19:6]  ¹⁰ tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack “today.”