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 1:6

1:6 The young man who was telling him this ⁴  said, “I just happened to be on Mount Gilboa and came across Saul leaning on his spear for support. The chariots and leaders of the horsemen were in hot pursuit of him.

2 Samuel 1:24

1:24 O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,

who clothed you in scarlet ⁵  as well as jewelry,

who put gold jewelry on your clothes.

2 Samuel 2:4

2:4 The men of Judah came and there they anointed David as king over the people ⁶  of Judah.

David was told, ⁷  “The people ⁸  of Jabesh Gilead are the ones who buried Saul.”

2 Samuel 2:24

2:24 So Joab and Abishai chased Abner. At sunset they came to the hill of Ammah near Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.

2 Samuel 2:32

2:32 They took Asahel’s body and buried him in his father’s tomb at Bethlehem. ⁹  Joab and his men then traveled all that night and reached Hebron by dawn.

2 Samuel 3:7

3:7 Now Saul had a concubine named Rizpah daughter of Aiah. Ish-bosheth ¹⁰  said to Abner, “Why did you have sexual relations with ¹¹  my father’s concubine?” ¹² 

2 Samuel 3:19

3:19 Then Abner spoke privately ¹³  with the Benjaminites. Abner also went to Hebron to inform David privately ¹⁴  of all that Israel and the entire house of Benjamin had agreed to. ¹⁵ 

2 Samuel 3:26

3:26 Then Joab left David and sent messengers after Abner. They brought him back from the well of Sirah. (But David was not aware of it.)

2 Samuel 3:34

3:34 Your hands ¹⁶  were not bound,

and your feet were not put into irons.

You fell the way one falls before criminals.”

All the people ¹⁷  wept over him again.

2 Samuel 3:37

3:37 All the people and all Israel realized on that day that the killing of Abner son of Ner was not done at the king’s instigation. ¹⁸ 

2 Samuel 4:5

4:5 Now the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite – Recab and Baanah – went at the hottest part of the day to the home of Ish-bosheth, as he was enjoying his midday rest.

2 Samuel 5:7

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

2 Samuel 5:19

5:19 So David asked the Lord, “Should I march up against the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?” The Lord said to David, “March up, for I will indeed ¹⁹  hand the Philistines over to you.”

2 Samuel 5:23

5:23 So David asked the Lord what he should do. ²⁰  This time ²¹  the Lord ²²  said to him, “Don’t march straight up. Instead, circle around behind them and come against them opposite the trees. ²³ 

2 Samuel 6:2

6:2 David and all the men who were with him traveled ²⁴  to ²⁵  Baalah ²⁶  in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by the name ²⁷  of the Lord of hosts, who sits enthroned between the cherubim that are on it.

2 Samuel 6:17

6:17 They brought the ark of the Lord and put it in its place ²⁸  in the middle of the tent that David had pitched for it. Then David offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings before the Lord.

2 Samuel 7:6

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. ²⁹ 

2 Samuel 7:18

David Offers a Prayer to God

7:18 King David went in, sat before the Lord, and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, ³⁰  that you should have brought me to this point?

2 Samuel 8:11

8:11 King David dedicated these things to the Lord, ³¹  along with the dedicated silver and gold that he had taken from ³²  all the nations that he had subdued,

2 Samuel 9:9

9:9 Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s attendant, and said to him, “Everything that belonged to Saul and to his entire house I hereby give to your master’s grandson.

2 Samuel 11:12

11:12 So David said to Uriah, “Stay here another day. Tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem both that day and the following one. ³³ 

2 Samuel 11:23

11:23 The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and attacked us ³⁴  in the field. But we forced them to retreat all the way ³⁵  to the door of the city gate.

2 Samuel 12:21

12:21 His servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? While ³⁶  the child was still alive, you fasted and wept. Once the child was dead you got up and ate food!”

2 Samuel 13:15

13:15 Then Amnon greatly despised her. ³⁷  His disdain toward her surpassed the love he had previously felt toward her. ³⁸  Amnon said to her, “Get up and leave!”

2 Samuel 14:20

14:20 Your servant Joab did this so as to change this situation. But my lord has wisdom like that of the angel of God, and knows everything that is happening in the land.” ³⁹ 

2 Samuel 14:25

14:25 Now in all Israel everyone acknowledged that there was no man as handsome as Absalom. ⁴⁰  From the sole of his feet to the top of his head he was perfect in appearance. ⁴¹ 

2 Samuel 15:11

15:11 Now two hundred men had gone with Absalom from Jerusalem. Since they were invited, they went naively and were unaware of what Absalom was planning. ⁴² 

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 16:4

16:4 The king said to Ziba, “Everything that was Mephibosheth’s now belongs to you.” Ziba replied, “I bow before you. May I find favor in your sight, my lord the king.”

2 Samuel 16:13

16:13 So David and his men went on their way. But Shimei kept going along the side of the hill opposite him, yelling curses as he threw stones and dirt at them. ⁴³ 

2 Samuel 17:11

17:11 My advice therefore is this: Let all Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba – in number like the sand by the sea! – be mustered to you, and you lead them personally into battle.

2 Samuel 17:15

17:15 Then Hushai reported to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Here is what Ahithophel has advised Absalom and the leaders ⁴⁴  of Israel to do, and here is what I have advised.

2 Samuel 18:29

18:29 The king replied, “How is the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz replied, “I saw a great deal of confusion when Joab was sending the king’s servant and me, your servant, but I don’t know what it was all about.”

2 Samuel 24:7

24:7 Then they went to the fortress of Tyre ⁴⁵  and all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they went on to the Negev of Judah, to Beer Sheba.

2 Samuel 24:14

24:14 David said to Gad, “I am very upset! I prefer that we be attacked by the Lord, for his mercy is great; I do not want to be attacked by men!” ⁴⁶ 

[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.

[1:6]  ⁴ tc The Syriac Peshitta and one ms of the LXX lack the words “who was telling him this” of the MT.

[1:24]  ⁵ sn Clothing of scarlet was expensive and beyond the financial reach of most people.

[2:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “house.”

[2:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “and they told David.” The subject appears to be indefinite, allowing one to translate the verb as passive with David as subject.

[2:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “men.”

[2:32]  ⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[3:7]  ¹⁰ tc The Hebrew of the MT reads simply “and he said,” with no expressed subject for the verb. It is not likely that the text originally had no expressed subject for this verb, since the antecedent is not immediately clear from the context. We should probably restore to the Hebrew text the name “Ish-bosheth.” See a few medieval Hebrew mss, Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and Vulgate. Perhaps the name was accidentally omitted by homoioarcton. Note that both the name Ishbosheth and the following preposition אֶל (’el) begin with the letter alef.

[3:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “come to”; KJV, NRSV “gone in to”; NAB “been intimate with”; NIV “sleep with.”

[3:7]  ¹² sn This accusation against Abner is a very serious one, since an act of sexual infringement on the king’s harem would probably have been understood as a blatant declaration of aspirations to kingship. As such it was not merely a matter of ethical impropriety but an act of grave political significance as well.

[3:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “into the ears of.”

[3:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “also Abner went to speak into the ears of David in Hebron.”

[3:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all which was good in the eyes of Israel and in the eyes of all the house of Benjamin.”

[3:34]  ¹⁶ tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew manuscripts and several ancient versions in reading “your hands,” rather than “your hand.”

[3:34]  ¹⁷ tc 4QSam^a lacks the words “all the people.”

[3:37]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “from the king.”

[5:19]  ¹⁹ tn The infinitive absolute lends emphasis to the following verb.

[5:23]  ²⁰ tn The words “what to do” are not in the Hebrew text.

[5:23]  ²¹ tn The words “this time” are not in the Hebrew text.

[5:23]  ²² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:23]  ²³ tn Some translate as “balsam trees” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV, NJB, NLT); cf. KJV, NKJV, ASV “mulberry trees”; NAB “mastic trees”; NEB, REB “aspens.” The exact identification of the type of tree or plant is uncertain.

[6:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “arose and went.”

[6:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “from,” but the following context indicates they traveled to this location.

[6:2]  ²⁶ tn This is another name for Kiriath-jearim (see 1 Chr 13:6).

[6:2]  ²⁷ tc The MT has here a double reference to the name (שֵׁם שֵׁם, shem shem). Many medieval Hebrew mss in the first occurrence point the word differently and read the adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”). This is also the understanding of the Syriac Peshitta (Syr., taman). While this yields an acceptable understanding to the text, it is more likely that the MT dittographic here. The present translation therefore reads שֵׁם only once.

[6:17]  ²⁸ tc The Syriac Peshitta lacks “in its place.”

[7:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “in a tent and in a dwelling.” The expression is a hendiadys, using two terms to express one idea.

[7:18]  ³⁰ tn Heb “house.”

[8:11]  ³¹ tn Heb “also them King David made holy to the Lord.”

[8:11]  ³² tn Heb “with the silver and the gold that he had dedicated from.”

[11:12]  ³³ tn On the chronology involved here see P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 287.

[11:23]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and came out to us.”

[11:23]  ³⁵ tn Heb “but we were on them.”

[12:21]  ³⁶ tc For the MT בַּעֲבוּר (ba’avur, “for the sake of”) we should probably read בְּעוֹד (bÿ’od, “while”). See the Lucianic Greek recension, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Targum.

[13:15]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and Amnon hated her with very great hatred.”

[13:15]  ³⁸ tn Heb “for greater was the hatred with which he hated her than the love with which he loved her.”

[14:20]  ³⁹ tn Heb “to know all that is in the land.”

[14:25]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “Like Absalom there was not a handsome man in all Israel to boast exceedingly.”

[14:25]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “there was not in him a blemish.”

[15:11]  ⁴² tn Heb “being invited and going naively and they did not know anything.”

[16:13]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and he cursed and threw stones, opposite him, pelting [them] with dirt.” The offline vÿqatal construction in the last clause indicates an action that was complementary to the action described in the preceding clause. He simultaneously threw stones and dirt.

[17:15]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “elders.”

[24:7]  ⁴⁵ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[24:14]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “There is great distress to me. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for great is his mercy, but into the hand of man let me not fall.”