2 Samuel 1:2

1:2 On the third day a man arrived from the camp of Saul with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. ¹  When he approached David, the man ²  threw himself to the ground. ³ 

2 Samuel 1:13

1:13 David said to the young man who told this to him, “Where are you from?” He replied, “I am an Amalekite, the son of a resident foreigner.” ⁴ 

2 Samuel 4:7

4:7 They had entered ⁵  the house while Ish-bosheth ⁶  was resting on his bed in his bedroom. They mortally wounded him ⁷  and then cut off his head. ⁸  Taking his head, ⁹  they traveled on the way of the Arabah all that night.

2 Samuel 5:12

5:12 David realized that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and that he had elevated his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.

2 Samuel 6:13

6:13 Those who carried the ark of the Lord took six steps and then David ¹⁰  sacrificed an ox and a fatling calf.

2 Samuel 8:3

8:3 David defeated King Hadadezer son of Rehob of Zobah when he came to reestablish ¹¹  his authority ¹²  over the Euphrates ¹³  River.

2 Samuel 8:11

8:11 King David dedicated these things to the Lord, ¹⁴  along with the dedicated silver and gold that he had taken from ¹⁵  all the nations that he had subdued,

2 Samuel 12:10

12:10 So now the sword will never depart from your house. For you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!’

2 Samuel 12:22

12:22 He replied, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, ¹⁶  ‘Perhaps ¹⁷  the Lord will show pity and the child will live.

2 Samuel 12:28

12:28 So now assemble the rest of the army ¹⁸  and besiege the city and capture it. Otherwise I will capture the city and it will be named for me.”

2 Samuel 12:30

12:30 He took the crown of their king ¹⁹  from his head – it was gold, weighed about seventy-five pounds, ²⁰  and held a precious stone – and it was placed on David’s head. He also took from the city a great deal of plunder.

2 Samuel 13:23

Absalom Has Amnon Put to Death

13:23 Two years later Absalom’s sheepshearers were in Baal Hazor, ²¹  near Ephraim. Absalom invited all the king’s sons.

2 Samuel 13:37

13:37 But Absalom fled and went to King Talmai son of Ammihud of Geshur. And David ²²  grieved over his son every day.

2 Samuel 14:26

14:26 When he would shave his head – at the end of every year he used to shave his head, for it grew too long ²³  and he would shave it – he used to weigh the hair of his head at three pounds ²⁴  according to the king’s weight.

2 Samuel 15:7

15:7 After four ²⁵  years Absalom said to the king, “Let me go and repay my vow that I made to the Lord while I was in Hebron.

2 Samuel 15:18

15:18 All his servants were leaving with him, ²⁶  along with all the Kerethites, all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites – some six hundred men who had come on foot from Gath. They were leaving with ²⁷  the king.

2 Samuel 15:32

15:32 When David reached the summit, where he used to worship God, Hushai the Arkite met him with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.

2 Samuel 18:5

18:5 The king gave this order to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai: “For my sake deal gently with the young man Absalom.” Now the entire army was listening when the king gave all the leaders this order concerning Absalom.

2 Samuel 18:7

18:7 The army of Israel was defeated there by David’s men. ²⁸  The slaughter there was great that day – 20,000 soldiers were killed.

2 Samuel 18:19

David Learns of Absalom’s Death

18:19 Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Let me run and give the king the good news that the Lord has vindicated him before his enemies.” ²⁹ 

2 Samuel 20:7

20:7 So Joab’s men, accompanied by the Kerethites, the Pelethites, and all the warriors, left Jerusalem to pursue Sheba son of Bicri.

2 Samuel 23:4-5

23:4 is like the light of morning when the sun comes up,

a morning in which there are no clouds.

He is like the brightness after rain

that produces grass from the earth.

23:5 My dynasty is approved by God, ³⁰ 

for he has made a perpetual covenant with me,

arranged in all its particulars and secured.

He always delivers me,

and brings all I desire to fruition. ³¹ 

2 Samuel 23:8

David’s Warriors

23:8 These are the names of David’s warriors:

Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite, was head of the officers. ³²  He killed eight hundred men with his spear in one battle. ³³ 

[1:2]  ¹ sn Tearing one’s clothing and throwing dirt on one’s head were outward expressions of grief in the ancient Near East, where such demonstrable reactions were a common response to tragic news.

[1:2]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man mentioned at the beginning of v. 2) has been specified in the translation to avoid confusion as to who fell to the ground.

[1:2]  ³ tn Heb “he fell to the ground and did obeisance.”

[1:13]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew word used here refers to a foreigner whose social standing was something less than that of native residents of the land, but something more than that of a nonresident alien who was merely passing through.

[4:7]  ⁵ tn After the concluding disjunctive clause at the end of v. 6, the author now begins a more detailed account of the murder and its aftermath.

[4:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ish-bosheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “they struck him down and killed him.” The expression is a verbal hendiadys.

[4:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “and they removed his head.” The Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate lack these words.

[4:7]  ⁹ tc The Lucianic Greek recension lacks the words “his head.”

[6:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:3]  ¹¹ tc The LXX has ἐπιστῆσαι (episthsai, “cause to stand”). See the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:3.

[8:3]  ¹² tn Heb “hand.”

[8:3]  ¹³ tn The MT does not have the name “Euphrates” in the text. It is supplied in the margin (Qere) as one of ten places where the Masoretes believed that something was “to be read although it was not written” in the text as they had received it. The ancient versions (LXX, Syriac Peshitta, Vulgate) include the word. See also the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:3.

[8:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “also them King David made holy to the Lord.”

[8:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “with the silver and the gold that he had dedicated from.”

[12:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “said.”

[12:22]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Who knows?”

[12:28]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “people.” So also in vv. 29, 31.

[12:30]  ¹⁹ tn Part of the Greek tradition wrongly understands Hebrew מַלְכָּם (malkam, “their king”) as a proper name (“Milcom”). Some English versions follow the Greek here, rendering the phrase “the crown of Milcom” (so NRSV; cf. also NAB, CEV). TEV takes this as a reference not to the Ammonite king but to “the idol of the Ammonite god Molech.”

[12:30]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and its weight [was] a talent of gold.” The weight of this ornamental crown was approximately 75 lbs (34 kg). See P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 313.

[13:23]  ²¹ map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 D3; Map3 A2; Map4 C1.

[13:37]  ²² tc The Hebrew text leaves the word “David” to be inferred. The Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate add the word “David.” Most of the Greek tradition includes the words “King David” here.

[14:26]  ²³ tn Heb “for it was heavy upon him.”

[14:26]  ²⁴ tn Heb “two hundred shekels.” The modern equivalent would be about three pounds (1.4 kg).

[15:7]  ²⁵ tc The MT has here “forty,” but this is presumably a scribal error for “four.” The context will not tolerate a period of forty years prior to the rebellion of Absalom. The Lucianic Greek recension (τέσσαρα ἔτη, tessara ete), the Syriac Peshitta (’arba’ sanin), and Vulgate (post quattuor autem annos) in fact have the expected reading “four years.” Most English translations follow the versions in reading “four” here, although some (e.g. KJV, ASV, NASB, NKJV), following the MT, read “forty.”

[15:18]  ²⁶ tn Heb “crossing over near his hand.”

[15:18]  ²⁷ tn Heb “crossing over near the face of.”

[18:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “servants” (also in v. 9).

[18:19]  ²⁹ tn Heb “that the Lord has vindicated him from the hand of his enemies.”

[23:5]  ³⁰ tn Heb “For not thus [is] my house with God?”

[23:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “for all my deliverance and every desire, surely does he not make [it] grow?”

[23:8]  ³² tn The Hebrew word is sometimes rendered as “the three,” but BDB is probably correct in taking it to refer to military officers (BDB 1026 s.v. שְׁלִישִׁי). In that case the etymological connection of this word to the Hebrew numerical adjective for “three” can be explained as originating with a designation for the third warrior in a chariot.

[23:8]  ³³ tc The translation follows some LXX mss (see 1 Chr 11:11 as well) in reading הוּא עוֹרֵר אֶת־חֲנִיתוֹ (hu’ ’orer ’et khanito, “he raised up his spear”) rather than the MT’s הוּא עֲדִינוֹ הָעֶצְנִי (hu’ ’adino ha’etsni [Kethib = הָעֶצְנוֹ, ha’etsno]; “Adino the Ezenite”). The emended text reads literally “he was wielding his spear against eight hundred, [who were] slain at one time.”