2 Samuel 2:3

2:3 David also brought along the men who were with him, each with his family. They settled in the cities ¹  of Hebron.

2 Samuel 2:31

2:31 But David’s soldiers had slaughtered the Benjaminites and Abner’s men – in all, 360 men had died!

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 ²  in the house of Saul.

2 Samuel 3:20

3:20 When Abner, accompanied by twenty men, came to David in Hebron, David prepared a banquet for Abner and the men who were with him.

2 Samuel 5:9

5:9 So David lived in the fortress and called it the City of David. David built all around it, from the terrace inwards.

2 Samuel 7:20

7:20 What more can David say to you? You have given your servant special recognition, ³  O Lord God!

2 Samuel 8:8

8:8 From Tebah ⁴  and Berothai, Hadadezer’s cities, King David took a great deal of bronze.

2 Samuel 8:13

8:13 David became famous ⁵  when he returned from defeating the Arameans ⁶  in the Valley of Salt, he defeated ⁷  18,000 in all.

2 Samuel 11:3

11:3 So David sent someone to inquire about the woman. The messenger ⁸  said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

2 Samuel 11:7

11:7 When Uriah came to him, David asked about how Joab and the army were doing and how the campaign was going. ⁹ 

2 Samuel 11:16

11:16 So as Joab kept watch on the city, he stationed Uriah at the place where he knew the best enemy soldiers ¹⁰  were.

2 Samuel 12:6

12:6 Because he committed this cold-hearted crime, he must pay for the lamb four times over!” ¹¹ 

2 Samuel 12:16

12:16 Then David prayed to ¹²  God for the child and fasted. ¹³  He would even ¹⁴  go and spend the night lying on the ground.

2 Samuel 12:27

12:27 Joab then sent messengers to David, saying, “I have fought against Rabbah and have captured the water supply of the city. ¹⁵ 

2 Samuel 13:7

13:7 So David sent Tamar to the house saying, “Please go to the house of Amnon your brother and prepare some food for him.”

2 Samuel 14:21

14:21 Then the king said to Joab, “All right! I ¹⁶  will do this thing! Go and bring back the young man Absalom!

2 Samuel 15:3

15:3 Absalom would then say to him, “Look, your claims are legitimate and appropriate. ¹⁷  But there is no representative of the king who will listen to you.”

2 Samuel 15:6

15:6 Absalom acted this way toward everyone in Israel who came to the king for justice. In this way Absalom won the loyalty ¹⁸  of the citizens ¹⁹  of Israel.

2 Samuel 15:16

15:16 So the king and all the members of his royal court ²⁰  set out on foot, though the king left behind ten concubines ²¹  to attend to the palace.

2 Samuel 16:6

16:6 He threw stones at David and all of King David’s servants, as well as all the people and the soldiers who were on his right and on his left.

2 Samuel 16:9

16:9 Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head!”

2 Samuel 17:3

17:3 and will bring the entire army back to you. In exchange for the life of the man you are seeking, you will get back everyone. ²²  The entire army will return unharmed.” ²³ 

2 Samuel 17:29--18:1

17:29 honey, curds, flocks, and cheese. ²⁴  For they said, “The people are no doubt hungry, tired, and thirsty there in the desert.” ²⁵ 

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 18:13

18:13 If I had acted at risk of my own life ²⁶  – and nothing is hidden from the king! – you would have abandoned me.” ²⁷ 

2 Samuel 19:27

19:27 But my servant ²⁸  has slandered me ²⁹  to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like an angel of God. Do whatever seems appropriate to you.

2 Samuel 20:4

20:4 Then the king said to Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together for me in three days, ³⁰  and you be present here with them too.”

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 21:13

21:13 David ³¹  brought the bones of Saul and of Jonathan his son from there; they also gathered up the bones of those who had been executed.

2 Samuel 22:1

David Sings to the Lord

22:1 ³² David sang ³³  to the Lord the words of this song when ³⁴  the Lord rescued him from the power ³⁵  of all his enemies, including Saul. ³⁶ 

2 Samuel 22:9

22:9 Smoke ascended from ³⁷  his nose; ³⁸ 

fire devoured as it came from his mouth; ³⁹ 

he hurled down fiery coals. ⁴⁰ 

2 Samuel 22:36

22:36 You give me ⁴¹  your protective shield; ⁴² 

your willingness to help enables me to prevail. ⁴³ 

2 Samuel 22:42

22:42 They cry out, ⁴⁴  but there is no one to help them; ⁴⁵ 

they cry out to the Lord, ⁴⁶  but he does not answer them.

2 Samuel 23:6

23:6 But evil people are like thorns –

all of them are tossed away,

for they cannot be held in the hand.

[2:3]  ¹ tc The expression “the cities of Hebron” is odd; we would expect the noun to be in the singular, if used at all. Although the Syriac Peshitta has the expected reading “in Hebron,” the MT is clearly the more difficult reading and should probably be retained here.

[3:6]  ² 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.

[7:20]  ³ tn Heb “and you know your servant.” The verb here refers to recognizing another in a special way and giving them special treatment (see 1 Chr 17:18). Some English versions take this to refer to the Lord’s knowledge of David himself: CEV “you know my thoughts”; NLT “know what I am really like.”

[8:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “Betah” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV), but the name should probably be corrected to “Tebah.” See the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:8.

[8:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “made a name.”

[8:13]  ⁶ tn So NASB, NCV; NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “Edomites” (see the note on “Aram” in v. 12).

[8:13]  ⁷ tn The words “he defeated” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[11:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the messenger) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “concerning the peace of Joab and concerning the peace of the people and concerning the peace of the battle.”

[11:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the valiant men.” This refers in context to the strongest or most valiant defenders of the city Joab and the Israelite army were besieging, so the present translation uses “the best enemy soldiers” for clarity.

[12:6]  ¹¹ tc With the exception of the Lucianic recension, the Old Greek translation has here “sevenfold” rather than “fourfold,” a reading that S. R. Driver thought probably to be the original reading (S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 291). However, Exod 22:1 [21:37 HT] specifies fourfold repayment for a stolen sheep, which is consistent with 2 Sam 12:6. Some mss of the Targum and the Syriac Peshitta exaggerate the idea to “fortyfold.”

[12:6]  tn Heb “the lamb he must repay fourfold because he did this thing and because he did not have compassion.”

[12:16]  ¹² tn Heb “sought” or “searched for.”

[12:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “and David fasted.”

[12:16]  ¹⁴ tn The three Hebrew verbs that follow in this verse are perfects with prefixed vav. They may describe repeated past actions or actions which accompanied David’s praying and fasting.

[12:27]  ¹⁵ sn The expression translated the water supply of the city (Heb “the city of the waters”) apparently refers to that part of the fortified city that guarded the water supply of the entire city. Joab had already captured this part of the city, but he now defers to King David for the capture of the rest of the city. In this way the king will receive the credit for this achievement.

[14:21]  ¹⁶ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss have “you” rather than “I.”

[15:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “good and straight.”

[15:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “stole the heart.”

[15:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the men.”

[15:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and all his house.”

[15:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “women, concubines.”

[17:3]  ²² tc Heb “like the returning of all, the man whom you are seeking.” The LXX reads differently: “And I will return all the people to you the way a bride returns to her husband, except for the life of the one man whom you are seeking.” The other early versions also struggled with this verse. Modern translations are divided as well: the NAB, NRSV, REB, and NLT follow the LXX, while the NASB and NIV follow the Hebrew text.

[17:3]  ²³ tn Heb “all of the people will be safe.”

[17:29]  ²⁴ tn Heb “cheese of the herd,” probably referring to cheese from cow’s milk (rather than goat’s milk).

[17:29]  ²⁵ tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV, NLT).

[18:13]  ²⁶ tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, and a number of the ancient versions in reading בְנַפְשִׁי (vÿnafshi, “against my life”) rather than the MT בְנַפְשׁוֹ (vÿnafsho, “against his life”).

[18:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “stood aloof.”

[19:27]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the servant) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:27]  ²⁹ tn Heb “your servant.”

[20:4]  ³⁰ tn The present translation follows the Masoretic accentuation, with the major mark of disjunction (i.e., the atnach) placed at the word “days.” However, some scholars have suggested moving the atnach to “Judah” a couple of words earlier. This would yield the following sense: “Three days, and you be present here with them.” The difference in meaning is slight, and the MT is acceptable as it stands.

[21:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:1]  ³² sn In this long song of thanks, David affirms that God is his faithful protector. He recalls in highly poetic fashion how God intervened in awesome power and delivered him from death. His experience demonstrates that God vindicates those who are blameless and remain loyal to him. True to his promises, God gives the king victory on the battlefield and enables him to subdue nations. A parallel version of the song appears in Ps 18.

[22:1]  ³³ tn Heb “spoke.”

[22:1]  ³⁴ tn Heb “in the day,” or “at the time.”

[22:1]  ³⁵ tn Heb “hand.”

[22:1]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and from the hand of Saul.”

[22:9]  ³⁷ tn Heb “within” or “[from] within.” For a discussion of the use of the preposition בְּ (bet) here, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 163-64.

[22:9]  ³⁸ tn Or “in his anger.” The noun אַף (’af) can carry the abstract meaning “anger,” but the parallelism (note “from his mouth”) suggests the more concrete meaning “nose” here (most English versions, “nostrils”). See also v. 16, “the powerful breath of your nose.”

[22:9]  ³⁹ tn Heb “fire from his mouth devoured.” In this poetic narrative the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not an imperfect. Note the two perfect verbal forms in the verse.

[22:9]  sn For other examples of fire as a weapon in Old Testament theophanies and ancient Near Eastern portrayals of warring gods and kings, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 165-67.

[22:9]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “coals burned from him.” Perhaps the psalmist pictures God’s fiery breath igniting coals (see Job 41:21), which he then hurls as weapons (see Ps 120:4).

[22:36]  ⁴¹ tn Another option is to translate the prefixed verb with vav consecutive with a past tense, “you gave me.” Several prefixed verbal forms with vav consecutive also appear in vv. 38-44. The present translation understands this section as a description of what generally happened when the author charged into battle, but another option is to understand the section as narrative and translate accordingly.

[22:36]  ⁴² tc Ps 18:35 contains an additional line following this one, which reads “your right hand supports me.” It may be omitted here due to homoioarcton. See the note at Ps 18:35.

[22:36]  tn Heb “and you give me the shield of your deliverance”; KJV, ASV “the shield of thy (your NRSV, NLT) salvation”; NIV “your shield of victory.” Ancient Near Eastern literature often refers to a god giving a king special weapons. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 260-61.

[22:36]  ⁴³ tn Heb “your answer makes me great.” David refers to God’s willingness to answer his prayer.

[22:42]  ⁴⁴ tc The translation follows one medieval Hebrew ms and the ancient versions in reading the Piel יְשַׁוְּעוּ (yÿshavvÿ’u, “they cry for help”) rather than the Qal of the MT יִשְׁעוּ (yish’u, “they look about for help”). See Ps 18:41 as well.

[22:42]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “but there is no deliverer.”

[22:42]  ⁴⁶ tn The words “they cry out” are not in the Hebrew text. This reference to the psalmists’ enemies crying out for help to the Lord suggests that the psalmist refers here to enemies within the covenant community, rather than foreigners. However, the militaristic context suggests foreign enemies are in view. Ancient Near Eastern literature indicates that defeated enemies would sometimes cry out for mercy to the god(s) of their conqueror. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 271.