2 Samuel 1:10

1:10 So I stood over him and put him to death, since I knew that he couldn’t live in such a condition. ¹  Then I took the crown which was on his head and the ²  bracelet which was on his arm. I have brought them here to my lord.” ³ 

2 Samuel 7:29

7:29 Now be willing to bless your servant’s dynasty ⁴  so that it may stand permanently before you, for you, O sovereign Lord, have spoken. By your blessing may your servant’s dynasty be blessed on into the future!” ⁵ 

2 Samuel 8:2

8:2 He defeated the Moabites. He made them lie on the ground and then used a rope to measure them off. He put two-thirds of them to death and spared the other third. ⁶  The Moabites became David’s subjects and brought tribute. ⁷ 

2 Samuel 10:18

10:18 The Arameans fled before Israel. David killed 700 Aramean charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers. ⁸  He also struck down Shobach, the general in command of the army, who died there.

2 Samuel 15:2

15:2 Now Absalom used to get up early and stand beside the road that led to the city gate. Whenever anyone came by who had a complaint to bring to the king for arbitration, Absalom would call out to him, “What city are you from?” The person would answer, “I, your servant, ⁹  am from one of the tribes of Israel.”

2 Samuel 17:8-9

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. ¹⁰  Your father is an experienced soldier; he will not stay overnight with the army. 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, ¹¹  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 20:1

Sheba’s Rebellion

20:1 Now a wicked man ¹²  named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, ¹³  happened to be there. He blew the trumpet ¹⁴  and said,

“We have no share in David;

we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!

Every man go home, ¹⁵  O Israel!”

2 Samuel 20:10

20:10 Amasa did not protect himself from the knife in Joab’s other hand, and Joab ¹⁶  stabbed him in the abdomen, causing Amasa’s ¹⁷  intestines to spill out on the ground. There was no need to stab him again; the first blow was fatal. ¹⁸  Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bicri.

2 Samuel 20:26

20:26 Ira the Jairite was David’s personal priest. ¹⁹ 

2 Samuel 22:48

22:48 The one true God completely vindicates me; ²⁰ 

he makes nations submit to me. ²¹ 

[1:10]  ¹ tn Heb “after his falling”; NAB “could not survive his wound”; CEV “was too badly wounded to live much longer.”

[1:10]  ² tc The MT lacks the definite article, but this is likely due to textual corruption. It is preferable to read the alef (א) of אֶצְעָדָה (’ets’adah) as a ה (he) giving הַצְּעָדָה (hatsÿ’adah). There is no reason to think that the soldier confiscated from Saul’s dead body only one of two or more bracelets that he was wearing (cf. NLT “one of his bracelets”).

[1:10]  ³ sn The claims that the soldier is making here seem to contradict the story of Saul’s death as presented in 1 Sam 31:3-5. In that passage it appears that Saul took his own life, not that he was slain by a passerby who happened on the scene. Some scholars account for the discrepancy by supposing that conflicting accounts have been brought together in the MT. However, it is likely that the young man is here fabricating the account in a self-serving way so as to gain favor with David, or so he supposes. He probably had come across Saul’s corpse, stolen the crown and bracelet from the body, and now hopes to curry favor with David by handing over to him these emblems of Saul’s royalty. But in so doing the Amalekite greatly miscalculated David’s response to this alleged participation in Saul’s death. The consequence of his lies will instead be his own death.

[7:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “house” (again later in this verse). See the note on “dynastic house” in v. 27.

[7:29]  ⁵ tn Or “permanently”; cf. NLT “it is an eternal blessing.”

[8:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he measured [with] two [lengths] of rope to put to death and [with] the fullness of the rope to keep alive.”

[8:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the Moabites were servants of David, carriers of tribute.”

[10:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “horsemen” (so KJV, NASB, NCV, NRSV, NLT) but the Lucianic recension of the LXX reads “foot soldiers,” as does the parallel text in 1 Chr 19:18. Cf. NAB, NIV.

[15:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “your servant.” So also in vv. 8, 15, 21.

[17:8]  ¹⁰ 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.”

[17:9]  ¹¹ 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].”

[20:1]  ¹² tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”

[20:1]  ¹³ tn The expression used here יְמִינִי (yÿmini) is a short form of the more common “Benjamin.” It appears elsewhere in 1 Sam 9:4 and Esth 2:5. Cf. 1 Sam 9:1.

[20:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.

[20:1]  ¹⁵ tc The MT reads לְאֹהָלָיו (lÿ’ohalav, “to his tents”). For a similar idiom, see 19:9. An ancient scribal tradition understands the reading to be לְאלֹהָיו (le’lohav, “to his gods”). The word is a tiqqun sopherim, and the scribes indicate that they changed the word from “gods” to “tents” so as to soften its theological implications. In a consonantal Hebrew text the change involved only the metathesis of two letters.

[20:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and he did not repeat concerning him, and he died.”

[20:26]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “priest for David.” KJV (“a chief ruler about David”) and ASV (“chief minister unto David”) regarded this office as political.

[22:48]  ²⁰ tn Heb “The God is the one who grants vengeance to me.” The plural form of the noun “vengeance” indicates degree here, suggesting complete vengeance or vindication. In the ancient Near East military victory was sometimes viewed as a sign that one’s God had judged in favor of the victor, avenging and/or vindicating him. See, for example, Judg 11:27, 32-33, 36.

[22:48]  ²¹ tn Heb “and [is the one who] brings down nations beneath me.”