2 Samuel 19:8

19:8 So the king got up and sat at the city gate. When all the people were informed that the king was sitting at the city gate, they ¹  all came before him.

David Goes Back to Jerusalem

But the Israelite soldiers ²  had all fled to their own homes. ³ 

2 Samuel 23:11

23:11 Next in command ⁴  was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines assembled at Lehi, ⁵  where there happened to be an area of a field that was full of lentils, the army retreated before the Philistines.

2 Samuel 11:4

11:4 David sent some messengers to get her. ⁶  She came to him and he had sexual relations with her. ⁷  (Now at that time she was in the process of purifying herself from her menstrual uncleanness.) ⁸  Then she returned to her home.

2 Samuel 23:9

23:9 Next in command ⁹  was Eleazar son of Dodo, ¹⁰  the son of Ahohi. He was one of the three warriors who were with David when they defied the Philistines who were assembled there for battle. When the men of Israel retreated, ¹¹ 

[19:8]  ¹ tn Heb “all the people.”

[19:8]  ² tn The Hebrew text has simply “Israel” (see 18:16-17).

[19:8]  ³ tn Heb “had fled, each to his tent.”

[23:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “after him.”

[23:11]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text is difficult here. The MT reads לַחַיָּה (lachayyah), which implies a rare use of the word חַיָּה (chayyah). The word normally refers to an animal, but if the MT is accepted it would here have the sense of a troop or community of people. BDB 312 s.v. II. חַיָּה, for example, understands the similar reference in v. 13 to be to “a group of allied families, making a raid together.” But this works better in v. 13 than it does in v. 11, where the context seems to suggest a particular staging location for a military operation. (See 1 Chr 11:15.) It therefore seems best to understand the word in v. 11 as a place name with ה (he) directive. In that case the Masoretes mistook the word for the common term for an animal and then tried to make sense of it in this context.

[11:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “and David sent messengers and he took her.”

[11:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “he lay with her” (so NASB, NRSV); TEV “he made love to her”; NIV, CEV, NLT “he slept with her.”

[11:4]  ⁸ tn The parenthetical disjunctive clause further heightens the tension by letting the reader know that Bathsheba, having just completed her menstrual cycle, is ripe for conception. See P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 286. Since she just had her period, it will also be obvious to those close to the scene that Uriah, who has been away fighting, cannot be the father of the child.

[23:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “after him.”

[23:9]  ¹⁰ tc This follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading דֹּדוֹ (dodo) rather than the Kethib of the MT דֹּדַי (dodai; cf. ASV, NIV, NLT). But see 1 Chr 27:4.

[23:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “went up.”