2 Samuel 2:1

David is Anointed King

2:1 Afterward David inquired of the Lord, “Should I go up to one of the cities of Judah?” The Lord told him, “Go up.” David asked, “Where should I go?” The Lord replied, ¹  “To Hebron.”

2 Samuel 2:25

2:25 The Benjaminites formed their ranks ²  behind Abner and were like a single army, standing at the top of a certain hill.

2 Samuel 5:11

5:11 King Hiram of Tyre ³  sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs, carpenters, and stonemasons. They built a palace ⁴  for David.

2 Samuel 6:3

6:3 They loaded the ark of God on a new cart and carried it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart.

2 Samuel 6:19

6:19 He then handed out to each member of the entire assembly of Israel, ⁵  both men and women, a portion of bread, a date cake, ⁶  and a raisin cake. Then all the people went home. ⁷ 

2 Samuel 7:2

7:2 The king said to Nathan the prophet, “Look! I am living in a palace made from cedar, while the ark of God sits in the middle of a tent.”

2 Samuel 7:5-7

7:5 “Go, tell my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord says: Do you really intend to build a house for me to live in? 7:6 I have not lived in a house from the time I brought the Israelites up from Egypt to the present day. Instead, I was traveling with them and living in a tent. ⁸  7:7 Wherever I moved among all the Israelites, I did not say ⁹  to any of the leaders ¹⁰  whom I appointed to care for ¹¹  my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?”’

2 Samuel 7:13

7:13 He will build a house for my name, and I will make his dynasty permanent. ¹² 

2 Samuel 7:27

7:27 for you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have told ¹³  your servant, ‘I will build you a dynastic house.’ ¹⁴  That is why your servant has had the courage ¹⁵  to pray this prayer to you.

2 Samuel 8:3

8:3 David defeated King Hadadezer son of Rehob of Zobah when he came to reestablish ¹⁶  his authority ¹⁷  over the Euphrates ¹⁸  River.

2 Samuel 11:21

11:21 Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone ¹⁹  down on him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ just say to him, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.’”

2 Samuel 12:1

Nathan the Prophet Confronts David

12:1 So the Lord sent Nathan ²⁰  to David. When he came to David, ²¹  Nathan ²²  said, ²³  “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.

2 Samuel 12:29-30

12:29 So David assembled all the army and went to Rabbah and fought against it and captured it. 12:30 He took the crown of their king ²⁴  from his head – it was gold, weighed about seventy-five pounds, ²⁵  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 15:1

Absalom Leads an Insurrection against David

15:1 Some time later Absalom managed to acquire ²⁶  a chariot and horses, as well as fifty men to serve as his royal guard. ²⁷ 

2 Samuel 16:22

16:22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, ²⁸  and Absalom had sex with ²⁹  his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

2 Samuel 17:9

17:9 At this very moment he is hiding out in one of the caves or in some other similar place. If it should turn out that he attacks our troops first, ³⁰  whoever hears about it will say, ‘Absalom’s army has been slaughtered!’

2 Samuel 17:13

17:13 If he regroups in a city, all Israel will take up ropes to that city and drag it down to the valley, so that not a single pebble will be left there!”

2 Samuel 17:18

17:18 But a young man saw them on one occasion and informed Absalom. So the two of them quickly departed and went to the house of a man in Bahurim. There was a well in his courtyard, and they got down in it.

2 Samuel 18:9

18:9 Then Absalom happened to come across David’s men. Now as Absalom was riding on his ³¹  mule, it ³²  went under the branches of a large oak tree. His head got caught in the oak and he was suspended in midair, ³³  while the mule he had been riding kept going.

2 Samuel 18:11

18:11 Joab replied to the man who was telling him this, “What! You saw this? Why didn’t you strike him down right on the spot? ³⁴  I would have given you ten pieces of silver ³⁵  and a commemorative belt!” ³⁶ 

2 Samuel 18:17-18

18:17 They took Absalom, threw him into a large pit in the forest, and stacked a huge pile of stones over him. In the meantime all the Israelite soldiers fled to their homes. ³⁷ 

18:18 Prior to this ³⁸  Absalom had set up a monument ³⁹  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 19:18

19:18 They crossed at the ford in order to help the king’s household cross and to do whatever he thought appropriate.

Now after he had crossed the Jordan, Shimei son of Gera threw himself down before the king.

2 Samuel 20:3

20:3 Then David went to his palace ⁴⁰  in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace and placed them under confinement. ⁴¹  Though he provided for their needs, he did not have sexual relations with them. ⁴²  They remained in confinement until the day they died, living out the rest of their lives as widows.

2 Samuel 20:19

20:19 I represent the peaceful and the faithful in Israel. You are attempting to destroy an important city ⁴³  in Israel. Why should you swallow up the Lord’s inheritance?”

2 Samuel 21:19

21:19 Yet another battle occurred with the Philistines in Gob. On that occasion Elhanan the son of Jair ⁴⁴  the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, ⁴⁵  the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

2 Samuel 23:11

23:11 Next in command ⁴⁶  was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines assembled at Lehi, ⁴⁷  where there happened to be an area of a field that was full of lentils, the army retreated before the Philistines.

2 Samuel 23:20-21

23:20 Benaiah son of Jehoida was a brave warrior ⁴⁸  from Kabzeel who performed great exploits. He struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab. ⁴⁹  He also went down and killed a lion in a cistern on a snowy day. 23:21 He also killed an impressive-looking Egyptian. ⁵⁰  The Egyptian wielded a spear, while Benaiah attacked ⁵¹  him with a club. He grabbed the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.

2 Samuel 24:5

24:5 They crossed the Jordan and camped at Aroer, on the south side of the city, at ⁵²  the wadi of Gad, near Jazer.

2 Samuel 24:18

David Acquires a Threshing Floor and Constructs an Altar There

24:18 So Gad went to David that day and told him, “Go up and build an altar for the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

2 Samuel 24:21

24:21 Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David replied, “To buy from you the threshing floor so I can build an altar for the Lord, so that the plague may be removed from the people.”

2 Samuel 24:25

24:25 Then David built an altar for the Lord there and offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. And the Lord accepted prayers for the land, and the plague was removed from Israel.

[2:1]  ¹ tn Heb “he said.” The referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[2:25]  ² tn Heb “were gathered together.”

[5:11]  ³ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[5:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “a house.”

[6:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “to all the people, to all the throng of Israel.”

[6:19]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew word used here אֶשְׁפָּר (’espar) is found in the OT only here and in the parallel passage found in 1 Chr 16:3. Its exact meaning is uncertain, although the context indicates that it was a food of some sort (cf. KJV “a good piece of flesh”; NRSV “a portion of meat”). The translation adopted here (“date cake”) follows the lead of the Greek translations of the LXX, Aquila, and Symmachus (cf. NASB, NIV, NLT).

[6:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “and all the people went, each to his house.”

[7:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “in a tent and in a dwelling.” The expression is a hendiadys, using two terms to express one idea.

[7:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “Did I speak a word?” In the Hebrew text the statement is phrased as a rhetorical question.

[7:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “tribes” (so KJV, NASB, NCV), but the parallel passage in 1 Chr 17:6 has “judges.”

[7:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “whom I commanded to shepherd” (so NIV, NRSV).

[7:13]  ¹² tn Heb “and I will establish the throne of his kingdom permanently.”

[7:27]  ¹³ tn Heb “have uncovered the ear of.”

[7:27]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a house.” This maintains the wordplay from v. 11 (see the note on the word “house” there) and is continued in v. 29.

[7:27]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “has found his heart.”

[8:3]  ¹⁶ tc The LXX has ἐπιστῆσαι (episthsai, “cause to stand”). See the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:3.

[8:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “hand.”

[8:3]  ¹⁸ 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.

[11:21]  ¹⁹ sn The upper millstone (Heb “millstone of riding”) refers to the heavy circular stone that was commonly rolled over a circular base in order to crush and grind such things as olives.

[12:1]  ²⁰ tc A few medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta add “the prophet.” The words are included in a few modern English version (e.g., TEV, CEV, NLT).

[12:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:1]  ²² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Nathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:1]  ²³ tn The Hebrew text repeats “to him.”

[12:30]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ 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.

[15:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “acquired for himself.”

[15:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “to run ahead of him.”

[16:22]  ²⁸ sn That is, on top of the flat roof of the palace, so it would be visible to the public.

[16:22]  ²⁹ tn Heb “went to”; NAB “he visited his father’s concubines”; NIV “lay with his father’s concubines”; TEV “went in and had intercourse with.”

[17:9]  ³⁰ tn Heb “that he falls on them [i.e., Absalom’s troops] at the first [encounter]; or “that some of them [i.e., Absalom’s troops] fall at the first [encounter].”

[18:9]  ³¹ tn Heb “the.”

[18:9]  ³² tn Heb “the donkey.”

[18:9]  ³³ tn Heb “between the sky and the ground.”

[18:11]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Why did you not strike him down there to the ground.”

[18:11]  ³⁵ tn Heb “ten [shekels] of silver.” This would have been about 4 ounces (114 grams) of silver by weight.

[18:11]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and a girdle” (so KJV); NIV “a warrior’s belt”; CEV “a special belt”; NLT “a hero’s belt.”

[18:17]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and all Israel fled, each to his tent.” In this context this refers to the supporters of Absalom (see vv. 6-7, 16).

[18:18]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and.” This disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) describes an occurrence that preceded the events just narrated.

[18:18]  ³⁹ tn Heb “a pillar.”

[20:3]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “house.”

[20:3]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and he placed them in a guarded house.”

[20:3]  ⁴² tn Heb “he did not come to them”; NAB “has no further relations with them”; NIV “did not lie with them”; TEV “did not have intercourse with them”; NLT “would no longer sleep with them.”

[20:19]  ⁴³ tn Heb “a city and a mother.” The expression is a hendiadys, meaning that this city was an important one in Israel and had smaller cities dependent on it.

[21:19]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “Jaare-Oregim,” but the second word, which means “weavers,” is probably accidentally included. It appears at the end of the verse. The term is omitted in the parallel account in 1 Chr 20:5, which has simply “Jair.”

[21:19]  ⁴⁵ sn The Hebrew text as it stands reads, “Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite.” Who killed Goliath the Gittite? According to 1 Sam 17:4-58 it was David who killed Goliath, but according to the MT of 2 Sam 21:19 it was Elhanan who killed him. Many scholars believe that the two passages are hopelessly at variance with one another. Others have proposed various solutions to the difficulty, such as identifying David with Elhanan or positing the existence of two Goliaths. But in all likelihood the problem is the result of difficulties in the textual transmission of the Samuel passage; in fact, from a text-critical point of view the books of Samuel are the most poorly preserved of all the books of the Hebrew Bible. The parallel passage in 1 Chr 20:5 reads, “Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath.” Both versions are textually corrupt. The Chronicles text has misread “Bethlehemite” (בֵּית הַלַּחְמִי, bet hallakhmi) as the accusative sign followed by a proper name אֶת לַחְמִי (’et lakhmi). (See the note at 1 Chr 20:5.) The Samuel text misread the word for “brother” (אַח, ’akh) as the accusative sign (אֵת, ’et), thereby giving the impression that Elhanan, not David, killed Goliath. Thus in all probability the original text read, “Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath.”

[23:11]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “after him.”

[23:11]  ⁴⁷ tn The Hebrew text is difficult here. The MT reads לַחַיָּה (lachayyah), which implies a rare use of the word חַיָּה (chayyah). The word normally refers to an animal, but if the MT is accepted it would here have the sense of a troop or community of people. BDB 312 s.v. II. חַיָּה, for example, understands the similar reference in v. 13 to be to “a group of allied families, making a raid together.” But this works better in v. 13 than it does in v. 11, where the context seems to suggest a particular staging location for a military operation. (See 1 Chr 11:15.) It therefore seems best to understand the word in v. 11 as a place name with ה (he) directive. In that case the Masoretes mistook the word for the common term for an animal and then tried to make sense of it in this context.

[23:20]  ⁴⁸ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading חַיִל (khayil, “valor”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, חַי (khay, “life”).

[23:20]  ⁴⁹ tc Heb “the two of Ariel, Moab.” The precise meaning of אריאל is uncertain; some read “warrior.” The present translation assumes that the word is a proper name and that בני, “sons of,” has accidentally dropped from the text by homoioarcton (note the preceding שׁני).

[23:21]  ⁵⁰ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading אִישׁ (’ish, “man”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “who”).

[23:21]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “and he went down to.”

[24:5]  ⁵² tn Heb “in the middle of.”