2 Samuel 6:16

6:16 As the ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked out the window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him. ¹ 

2 Samuel 11:1

David Commits Adultery with Bathsheba

11:1 In the spring of the year, at the time when kings ²  normally conduct wars, ³  David sent out Joab with his officers ⁴  and the entire Israelite army. ⁵  They defeated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed behind in Jerusalem. ⁶ 

2 Samuel 12:3

12:3 But the poor man had nothing except for a little lamb he had acquired. He raised it, and it grew up alongside him and his children. ⁷  It used to ⁸  eat his food, ⁹  drink from his cup, and sleep in his arms. ¹⁰  It was just like a daughter to him.

2 Samuel 13:5

13:5 Jonadab replied to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be sick. ¹¹  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 14:2

14:2 So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He told her, “Pretend to be in mourning ¹²  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. ¹³ 

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. ¹⁴  Your father is an experienced soldier; he will not stay overnight with the army.

2 Samuel 17:17

17:17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying in En Rogel. A female servant would go and inform them, and they would then go and inform King David. It was not advisable for them to be seen going into the city.

2 Samuel 18:9

18:9 Then Absalom happened to come across David’s men. Now as Absalom was riding on his ¹⁵  mule, it ¹⁶  went under the branches of a large oak tree. His head got caught in the oak and he was suspended in midair, ¹⁷  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? ¹⁸  I would have given you ten pieces of silver ¹⁹  and a commemorative belt!” ²⁰ 

2 Samuel 18:22

18:22 Ahimaaz the son of Zadok again spoke to Joab, “Whatever happens, let me go after the Cushite.” But Joab said, “Why is it that you want to go, my son? You have no good news that will bring you a reward.”

2 Samuel 18:26

18:26 Then the watchman saw another man running. The watchman called out to the gatekeeper, “There is another man running by himself.” The king said, “This one also is bringing good news.”

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 ²¹  that if ²²  Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, ²³  it would be all right with you.

2 Samuel 19:11

19:11 Then King David sent a message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests saying, “Tell the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you delay any further in bringing the king back to his palace, ²⁴  when everything Israel is saying has come to the king’s attention. ²⁵ 

2 Samuel 24:16-17

24:16 When the angel ²⁶  extended his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented from his judgment. ²⁷  He told the angel who was killing the people, “That’s enough! Stop now!” ²⁸  (Now the Lord’s angel was near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.)

24:17 When he saw the angel who was destroying the people, David said to the Lord, “Look, it is I who have sinned and done this evil thing! As for these sheep – what have they done? Attack me and my family.” ²⁹ 

[6:16]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text adds “in her heart.” Cf. CEV “she was disgusted (+ with him TEV)”; NLT “was filled with contempt for him”; NCV “she hated him.”

[11:1]  ² tc Codex Leningrad (B19A), on which BHS is based, has here “messengers” (הַמַּלְאכִים, hammal’khim), probably as the result of contamination from the occurrence of that word in v. 4. The present translation follows most Hebrew mss and the ancient versions, which read “kings” (הַמֶּלָאכִים, hammela’kim).

[11:1]  ³ tn Heb “go out.”

[11:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “and his servants with him.”

[11:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “all Israel.”

[11:1]  ⁶ tn The disjunctive clause contrasts David’s inactivity with the army’s activity.

[11:1]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[12:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “his sons.”

[12:3]  ⁸ tn The three Hebrew imperfect verbal forms in this sentence have a customary nuance; they describe past actions that were repeated or typical.

[12:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “from his morsel.”

[12:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and on his chest [or perhaps, “lap”] it would lay.”

[13:5]  ¹¹ 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.

[14:2]  ¹² tn The Hebrew Hitpael verbal form here indicates pretended rather than genuine action.

[14:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “these many days.”

[17:8]  ¹⁴ 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.”

[18:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the.”

[18:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the donkey.”

[18:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “between the sky and the ground.”

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

[18:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “ten [shekels] of silver.” This would have been about 4 ounces (114 grams) of silver by weight.

[18:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and a girdle” (so KJV); NIV “a warrior’s belt”; CEV “a special belt”; NLT “a hero’s belt.”

[19:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “today.”

[19:6]  ²² 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]  ²³ tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack “today.”

[19:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “his house.”

[19:11]  ²⁵ tc The Hebrew text adds “to his house” (= palace), but the phrase, which also appears earlier in the verse, is probably accidentally repeated here.

[24:16]  ²⁶ tn Heb “messenger.”

[24:16]  ²⁷ tn Heb “concerning the calamity.”

[24:16]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Now, drop your hand.”

[24:17]  ²⁹ tn Heb “let your hand be against me and against the house of my father.”