2 Samuel 1:9

1:9 He said to me, ‘Stand over me and finish me off! ¹  I’m very dizzy, ²  even though I’m still alive.’ ³ 

2 Samuel 2:8

David’s Army Clashes with the Army of Saul

2:8 Now Abner son of Ner, the general in command of Saul’s army, had taken Saul’s son Ish-bosheth ⁴  and had brought him to Mahanaim.

2 Samuel 2:14

2:14 Abner said to Joab, “Let the soldiers get up and fight ⁵  before us.” Joab said, “So be it!” ⁶ 

2 Samuel 3:6

Abner Defects to David’s Camp

3:6 As the war continued between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was becoming more influential ⁷  in the house of Saul.

2 Samuel 8:13

8:13 David became famous ⁸  when he returned from defeating the Arameans ⁹  in the Valley of Salt, he defeated ¹⁰  18,000 in all.

2 Samuel 9:6

9:6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed low with his face toward the ground. ¹¹  David said, “Mephibosheth?” He replied, “Yes, at your service.” ¹² 

2 Samuel 10:15

10:15 When the Arameans realized that they had been defeated by Israel, they consolidated their forces. ¹³ 

2 Samuel 13:11

13:11 As she brought them to him to eat, he grabbed her and said to her, “Come on! Get in bed with me, ¹⁴  my sister!”

2 Samuel 15:5

15:5 When someone approached to bow before him, Absalom ¹⁵  would extend his hand and embrace him and kiss him.

2 Samuel 15:17

15:17 The king and all the people set out on foot, pausing ¹⁶  at a spot ¹⁷  some distance away.

2 Samuel 15:26

15:26 However, if he should say, ‘I do not take pleasure in you,’ then he will deal with me in a way that he considers appropriate.” ¹⁸ 

2 Samuel 16:14

16:14 The king and all the people who were with him arrived exhausted at their destination, where David ¹⁹  refreshed himself.

2 Samuel 18:1

The Death of Absalom

18:1 David assembled the army that was with him. He appointed leaders of thousands and leaders of hundreds.

2 Samuel 20:23

20:23 Now Joab was the general in command of all the army of Israel. Benaiah the son of Jehoida was over the Kerethites and the Perethites.

2 Samuel 22:44

22:44 You rescue me from a hostile army; ²⁰ 

you preserve me as a leader of nations;

people over whom I had no authority are now my subjects. ²¹ 

[1:9]  ¹ tn As P. K. McCarter (II Samuel [AB], 59) points out, the Polel of the verb מוּת (mut, “to die”) “refers to dispatching or ‘finishing off’ someone already wounded and near death.” Cf. NLT “put me out of my misery.”

[1:9]  ² tn Heb “the dizziness has seized me.” On the meaning of the Hebrew noun translated “dizziness,” see P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 59-60. The point seems to be that he is unable to kill himself because he is weak and disoriented.

[1:9]  ³ tn The Hebrew text here is grammatically very awkward (Heb “because all still my life in me”). Whether the broken construct phrase is due to the fact that the alleged speaker is in a confused state of mind as he is on the verge of dying, or whether the MT has sustained corruption in the transmission process, is not entirely clear. The former seems likely, although P. K. McCarter understands the MT to be the result of conflation of two shorter forms of text (P. K. McCarter, II Samuel [AB], 57, n. 9). Early translators also struggled with the verse, apparently choosing to leave part of the Hebrew text untranslated. For example, the Lucianic recension of the LXX lacks “all,” while other witnesses (namely, one medieval Hebrew ms, codices A and B of the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta) lack “still.”

[2:8]  ⁴ sn The name Ish-bosheth means in Hebrew “man of shame.” It presupposes an earlier form such as Ish-baal (“man of the Lord”), with the word “baal” being used of Israel’s God. But because the Canaanite storm god was named “Baal,” that part of the name was later replaced with the word “shame.”

[2:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “play.” What is in view here is a gladiatorial contest in which representative groups of soldiers engage in mortal combat before the watching armies. Cf. NAB “perform for us”; NASB “hold (have NRSV) a contest before us”; NLT “put on an exhibition of hand-to-hand combat.”

[2:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “let them arise.”

[3:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “was strengthening himself.” The statement may have a negative sense here, perhaps suggesting that Abner was overstepping the bounds of political propriety in a self-serving way.

[8:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “made a name.”

[8:13]  ⁹ tn So NASB, NCV; NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “Edomites” (see the note on “Aram” in v. 12).

[8:13]  ¹⁰ tn The words “he defeated” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[9:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he fell on his face and bowed down.”

[9:6]  ¹² tn Heb “Look, your servant.”

[10:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “were gathered together.”

[13:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “lie with me” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); NCV “come and have sexual relations with me.”

[15:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Absalom) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and they stood.”

[15:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “house.”

[15:26]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “as [is] good in his eyes.”

[16:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:44]  ²⁰ tn Heb “from the strivings of my people.” In this context רִיב (riv, “striving”) probably has a militaristic sense (as in Judg 12:2; Isa 41:11), and עַם (’am, “people”) probably refers more specifically to an army (for other examples, see the verses listed in BDB 766 s.v. עַם 2.d). The suffix “my” suggests David is referring to attacks by his own countrymen, the “people” being Israel. However, the parallel text in Ps 18:43 omits the suffix.

[22:44]  ²¹ tn Heb “a people whom I did not know serve me.” In this context the verb “know” (יָדַע, yada’) probably refers to formal recognition by treaty. People who were once not under the psalmist’s authority now willingly submit to his rulership to avoid being conquered militarily (see vv. 45-46). The language may recall the events recorded in 2 Sam 8:9-10 and 10:19.