2 Samuel 1:1

David Learns of the Deaths of Saul and Jonathan

1:1 After the death of Saul, ¹  when David had returned from defeating the Amalekites, ²  he stayed at Ziklag ³  for two days.

2 Samuel 1:4

1:4 David inquired, “How were things going? ⁴  Tell me!” He replied, “The people fled from the battle and many of them ⁵  fell dead. ⁶  Even Saul and his son Jonathan are dead!”

2 Samuel 2:29

2:29 Abner and his men went through the Arabah all that night. They crossed the Jordan River ⁷  and went through the whole region of Bitron ⁸  and came to Mahanaim.

2 Samuel 3:22

Abner Is Killed

3:22 Now David’s soldiers ⁹  and Joab were coming back from a raid, bringing a great deal of plunder with them. Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, for David ¹⁰  had sent him away and he had left in peace.

2 Samuel 5:7

5:7 But David captured the fortress of Zion (that is, the city of David).

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 10:11

10:11 Joab ¹⁴  said, “If the Arameans start to overpower me, ¹⁵  you come to my rescue. If the Ammonites start to overpower you, ¹⁶  I will come to your rescue.

2 Samuel 11:15

11:15 In the letter he wrote: “Station Uriah in the thick of the battle and then withdraw from him so he will be cut down and killed.”

2 Samuel 11:24

11:24 Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall and some of the king’s soldiers ¹⁷  died. Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.”

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 15:18

15:18 All his servants were leaving with him, ¹⁹  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 ²⁰  the king.

2 Samuel 15:22

15:22 So David said to Ittai, “Come along then.” ²¹  So Ittai the Gittite went along, ²²  accompanied by all his men and all the dependents ²³  who were with him.

2 Samuel 17:2

17:2 When I catch up with ²⁴  him he will be exhausted and worn out. ²⁵  I will rout him, and the entire army that is with him will flee. I will kill only the king

2 Samuel 17:12

17:12 We will come against him wherever he happens to be found. We will descend on him like the dew falls on the ground. Neither he nor any of the men who are with him will be spared alive – not one of them!

2 Samuel 17:25

17:25 Absalom had made Amasa general in command of the army in place of Joab. (Now Amasa was the son of an Israelite man named Jether, who had married ²⁶  Abigail the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.)

2 Samuel 18:7

18:7 The army of Israel was defeated there by David’s men. ²⁷  The slaughter there was great that day – 20,000 soldiers were killed.

2 Samuel 18:17

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. ²⁸ 

2 Samuel 19:31

19:31 Now when Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim, he crossed the Jordan with the king so he could send him on his way from there. ²⁹ 

2 Samuel 23:23

23:23 He received honor from ³⁰  the thirty warriors, though he was not one of the three elite warriors. David put him in charge of his bodyguard.

[1:1]  ¹ sn This chapter is closely linked to 1 Sam 31. It should be kept in mind that 1 and 2 Samuel were originally a single book, not separate volumes. Whereas in English Bible tradition the books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and Ezra-Nehemiah are each regarded as two separate books, this was not the practice in ancient Hebrew tradition. Early canonical records, for example, counted them as single books respectively. The division into two books goes back to the Greek translation of the OT and was probably initiated because of the cumbersome length of copies due to the Greek practice (unlike that of Hebrew) of writing vowels. The present division into two books can be a little misleading in terms of perceiving the progression of the argument of the book; in some ways it is preferable to treat the books of 1-2 Samuel in a unified fashion.

[1:1]  ² sn The Amalekites were a nomadic people who inhabited Judah and the Transjordan. They are mentioned in Gen 36:15-16 as descendants of Amalek who in turn descended from Esau. In Exod 17:8-16 they are described as having acted in a hostile fashion toward Israel as the Israelites traveled to Canaan from Egypt. In David’s time the Amalekites were viewed as dangerous enemies who raided, looted, and burned Israelite cities (see 1 Sam 30).

[1:1]  ³ sn Ziklag was a city in the Negev which had been given to David by Achish king of Gath. For more than a year David used it as a base from which he conducted military expeditions (see 1 Sam 27:5-12). According to 1 Sam 30:1-19, Ziklag was destroyed by the Amalekites while Saul fought the Philistines.

[1:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “What was the word?”

[1:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the people.”

[1:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “fell and died.”

[2:29]  ⁷ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:29]  ⁸ tn Heb “and they went, all the Bitron.” The meaning of the Hebrew word “Bitron,” which is used only here in the OT, is disputed. The translation above follows BDB 144 s.v. בִּתְרוֹן in taking the word to be a proper name of an area east of the Jordan. A different understanding was advocated by W. R. Arnold, who took the word to refer to the forenoon or morning; a number of modern scholars and translations have adopted this view (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, CEV, NLT). See W. R. Arnold, “The Meaning of בתרון,” AJSL 28 (1911-1912): 274-83. In this case one could translate “and they traveled all morning long.”

[3:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “And look, the servants of David.”

[3:22]  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.

[10:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “if Aram is stronger than me.”

[10:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “if the sons of Ammon are stronger than you.”

[11:24]  ¹⁷ tc The translation follows the Qere (“your servants”) rather than the Kethib (“your servant”).

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

[15:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “crossing over near his hand.”

[15:18]  ²⁰ tn Heb “crossing over near the face of.”

[15:22]  ²¹ tn Heb “Come and cross over.”

[15:22]  ²² tn Heb “crossed over.”

[15:22]  ²³ tn Heb “all the little ones.”

[17:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and I will come upon him.”

[17:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “exhausted and slack of hands.”

[17:25]  ²⁶ tn Heb “come to.”

[18:7]  ²⁷ tn Heb “servants” (also in v. 9).

[18:17]  ²⁸ 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).

[19:31]  ²⁹ tc The MT reading אֶת־בַיַּרְדֵּן (’et-vayyarden, “in the Jordan”) is odd syntactically. The use of the preposition after the object marker אֶת (’et) is difficult to explain. Graphic confusion is likely in the MT; the translation assumes the reading מִיַּרְדֵּן (miyyarden, “from the Jordan”). Another possibility is to read the definite article on the front of “Jordan” (הַיַּרְדֵּן, hayyarden; “the Jordan”).

[23:23]  ³⁰ tn Or “more than.”