2 Samuel 20:16

20:16 a wise woman called out from the city, “Listen up! Listen up! Tell Joab, ‘Come near so that I may speak to you.’”

2 Samuel 17:5

17:5 But Absalom said, “Call for ¹  Hushai the Arkite, and let’s hear what he has to say.” ² 

2 Samuel 14:16

14:16 Yes! ³  The king may ⁴  listen and deliver his female servant ⁵  from the hand of the man who seeks to remove ⁶  both me and my son from the inheritance God has given us!’ ⁷ 

2 Samuel 15:3

15:3 Absalom would then say to him, “Look, your claims are legitimate and appropriate. ⁸  But there is no representative of the king who will listen to you.”

2 Samuel 13:16

13:16 But she said to him, “No I won’t, for sending me away now would be worse than what you did to me earlier!” ⁹  But he refused to listen to her.

2 Samuel 15:35-36

15:35 Zadok and Abiathar the priests will be there with you. ¹⁰  Everything you hear in the king’s palace ¹¹  you must tell Zadok and Abiathar the priests. 15:36 Furthermore, their two sons are there with them, Zadok’s son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan. You must send them to me with any information you hear.” ¹² 

2 Samuel 14:17

14:17 So your servant said, ‘May the word of my lord the king be my security, for my lord the king is like the angel of God when it comes to deciding between right and wrong! May the Lord your God be with you!’”

2 Samuel 19:35

19:35 I am presently eighty years old. Am I able to discern good and bad? Can I ¹³  taste what I eat and drink? Am I still able to hear the voices of male and female singers? Why should I ¹⁴  continue to be a burden to my lord the king?

2 Samuel 16:21

16:21 Ahithophel replied to Absalom, “Have sex with ¹⁵  your father’s concubines whom he left to care for the palace. All Israel will hear that you have made yourself repulsive to your father. Then your followers will be motivated to support you.” ¹⁶ 

2 Samuel 13:21

13:21 Now King David heard about all these things and was very angry. ¹⁷ 

2 Samuel 5:17

Conflict with the Philistines

5:17 When the Philistines heard that David had been designated ¹⁸  king over Israel, they all ¹⁹  went up to search for David. When David heard about it, he went down to the fortress.

2 Samuel 20:17

20:17 When he approached her, the woman asked, “Are you Joab?” He replied, “I am.” She said to him, “Listen to the words of your servant.” He said, “Go ahead. I’m listening.”

2 Samuel 10:7

10:7 When David heard the news, he sent Joab and the entire army to meet them. ²⁰ 

2 Samuel 5:24

5:24 When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the trees, act decisively. For at that moment the Lord is going before you to strike down the army ²¹  of the Philistines.”

2 Samuel 19:2

19:2 So the victory of that day was turned to mourning as far as all the people were concerned. For the people heard on that day, “The king is grieved over his son.”

2 Samuel 4:1

Ish-bosheth is killed

4:1 When Ish-bosheth ²²  the son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he was very disheartened, ²³  and all Israel was afraid.

2 Samuel 7:22

7:22 Therefore you are great, O Lord God, for there is none like you! There is no God besides you! What we have heard is true! ²⁴ 

2 Samuel 18:5

18:5 The king gave this order to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai: “For my sake deal gently with the young man Absalom.” Now the entire army was listening when the king gave all the leaders this order concerning Absalom.

2 Samuel 17:9

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, ²⁵  whoever hears about it will say, ‘Absalom’s army has been slaughtered!’

2 Samuel 18:12

18:12 The man replied to Joab, “Even if ²⁶  I were receiving ²⁷  a thousand pieces of silver, ²⁸  I would not strike ²⁹  the king’s son! In our very presence ³⁰  the king gave this order to you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’ ³¹ 

2 Samuel 12:18

12:18 On the seventh day the child died. But the servants of David were afraid to inform him that the child had died, for they said, “While the child was still alive he would not listen to us ³²  when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do himself harm!” ³³ 

2 Samuel 22:45

22:45 Foreigners are powerless before me; ³⁴ 

when they hear of my exploits, they submit to me. ³⁵ 

2 Samuel 11:26

11:26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for him. ³⁶ 

2 Samuel 8:9

8:9 When King Toi ³⁷  of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer,

2 Samuel 13:14

13:14 But he refused to listen to her. ³⁸  He overpowered her and humiliated her by raping her. ³⁹ 

2 Samuel 3:28

3:28 When David later heard about this, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the Lord of the shed blood of Abner son of Ner!

2 Samuel 15:10

15:10 Then Absalom sent spies through all the tribes of Israel who said, “When you hear the sound of the horn, you may assume ⁴⁰  that Absalom rules in Hebron.”

2 Samuel 22:7

22:7 In my distress I called to the Lord;

I called to my God. ⁴¹ 

From his heavenly temple ⁴²  he heard my voice;

he listened to my cry for help. 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 22:14

22:14 The Lord thundered ⁴⁷  from the sky;

the sovereign One ⁴⁸  shouted loudly. ⁴⁹ 

2 Samuel 1:11

1:11 David then grabbed his own clothes ⁵⁰  and tore them, as did all the men who were with him.

2 Samuel 3:36

3:36 All the people noticed this and it pleased them. ⁵¹  In fact, everything the king did pleased all the people.

2 Samuel 21:11

21:11 When David was told what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, Saul’s concubine, had done,

2 Samuel 2:4

2:4 The men of Judah came and there they anointed David as king over the people ⁵²  of Judah.

David was told, ⁵³  “The people ⁵⁴  of Jabesh Gilead are the ones who buried Saul.”

2 Samuel 19:21

19:21 Abishai son of Zeruiah replied, “For this should not Shimei be put to death? After all, he cursed the Lord’s anointed!”

2 Samuel 13:31

13:31 Then the king stood up and tore his garments and lay down on the ground. All his servants were standing there with torn garments as well.

2 Samuel 12:5

12:5 Then David became very angry at this man. He said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ⁵⁵ 

2 Samuel 18:13

18:13 If I had acted at risk of my own life ⁵⁶  – and nothing is hidden from the king! – you would have abandoned me.” ⁵⁷ 

2 Samuel 18:33

18:33 (19:1) ⁵⁸  The king then became very upset. He went up to the upper room over the gate and wept. As he went he said, “My son, Absalom! My son, my son, ⁵⁹  Absalom! If only I could have died in your place! Absalom, my son, my son!” ⁶⁰ 

2 Samuel 9:2

9:2 Now there was a servant from Saul’s house named Ziba, so he was summoned to David. The king asked him, “Are you Ziba?” He replied, “At your service.” ⁶¹ 

2 Samuel 13:29

13:29 So Absalom’s servants did to Amnon exactly what Absalom had instructed. Then all the king’s sons got up; each one rode away on his mule and fled.

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 1:20

1:20 Don’t report it in Gath,

don’t spread the news in the streets of Ashkelon, ⁶² 

or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice,

the daughters of the uncircumcised will celebrate!

2 Samuel 18:14

18:14 Joab replied, “I will not wait around like this for you!” He took three spears in his hand and thrust them into the middle of Absalom while he was still alive in the middle of the oak tree. ⁶³ 

2 Samuel 10:5

10:5 Messengers ⁶⁴  told David what had happened, ⁶⁵  so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho ⁶⁶  until your beards have grown again; then you may come back.”

2 Samuel 11:10

11:10 So they informed David, “Uriah has not gone down to his house.” So David said to Uriah, “Haven’t you just arrived from a journey? Why haven’t you gone down to your house?”

2 Samuel 11:19

11:19 He instructed the messenger as follows: “When you finish giving the battle report to the king,

2 Samuel 1:21

1:21 O mountains of Gilboa,

may there be no dew or rain on you, nor fields of grain offerings! ⁶⁷ 

For it was there that the shield of warriors was defiled; ⁶⁸ 

the shield of Saul lies neglected without oil. ⁶⁹ 

2 Samuel 13:28

13:28 Absalom instructed his servants, “Look! When Amnon is drunk ⁷⁰  and I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon down,’ kill him then and there. Don’t fear! Is it not I who have given you these instructions? Be strong and courageous!” ⁷¹ 

2 Samuel 17:14

17:14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite sounds better than the advice of Ahithophel.” Now the Lord had decided ⁷²  to frustrate the sound advice of Ahithophel, so that the Lord could bring disaster on Absalom.

2 Samuel 6:12

6:12 David was told, ⁷³  “The Lord has blessed the family of Obed-Edom and everything he owns because of the ark of God.” So David went and joyfully brought the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David.

2 Samuel 7:27

7:27 for you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have told ⁷⁴  your servant, ‘I will build you a dynastic house.’ ⁷⁵  That is why your servant has had the courage ⁷⁶  to pray this prayer to you.

2 Samuel 20:15

20:15 So Joab’s men ⁷⁷  came and laid siege against him in Abel of Beth Maacah. They prepared a siege ramp outside the city which stood against its outer rampart. As all of Joab’s soldiers were trying to break through ⁷⁸  the wall so that it would collapse,

2 Samuel 23:16

23:16 So the three elite warriors broke through the Philistine forces and drew some water from the cistern in Bethlehem near the gate. They carried it back to David, but he refused to drink it. He poured it out as a drink offering to the Lord

2 Samuel 19:1

19:1 (19:2) Joab was told, “The king is weeping and mourning over Absalom.”

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 ⁷⁹  all came before him.

David Goes Back to Jerusalem

But the Israelite soldiers ⁸⁰  had all fled to their own homes. ⁸¹ 

2 Samuel 10:17

10:17 When David was informed, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan River, ⁸²  and came to Helam. The Arameans deployed their forces against David and fought with him.

[17:5]  ¹ tc In the MT the verb is singular, but in the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate it is plural.

[17:5]  ² tn Heb “what is in his mouth.”

[14:16]  ³ tn Or “for.”

[14:16]  ⁴ tn Or “will.” The imperfect verbal form can have either an indicative or modal nuance. The use of “perhaps” in v. 15b suggests the latter here.

[14:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “in order to deliver his maid.”

[14:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “destroy.”

[14:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “from the inheritance of God.” The expression refers to the property that was granted to her family line in the division of the land authorized by God.

[15:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “good and straight.”

[13:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “No, because this great evil is [worse] than the other which you did with me, by sending me away.” Perhaps the broken syntax reflects her hysteria and outrage.

[15:35]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Will not Zadok and Abiathar the priests be there with you?” The rhetorical question draws attention to the fact that Hushai will not be alone.

[15:35]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from the house of the king.”

[15:36]  ¹² tn Heb “and you must send by their hand to me every word which you hear.” Both of the second person verb forms are plural with Zadok, Abiathar, and Hushai being the understood subjects.

[19:35]  ¹³ tn Heb “your servant.”

[19:35]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your servant.”

[16:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “go to”; NAB “have (+ sexual NCV) relations with”; TEV “have intercourse with”; NLT “Go and sleep with.”

[16:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

[13:21]  ¹⁷ tc The LXX and part of the Old Latin tradition include the following addition to v. 21, also included in some English versions (e.g., NAB, NRSV, CEV): “But he did not grieve the spirit of Amnon his son, because he loved him, since he was his firstborn.” Note David’s attitude toward his son Adonijah in 1 Kgs 1:6.

[5:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “anointed.”

[5:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “all the Philistines.”

[10:7]  ²⁰ tn The words “the news” and “to meet them” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.

[5:24]  ²¹ tn Heb “camp” (so NAB).

[4:1]  ²² tn The MT does not specify the subject of the verb here, but the reference is to Ish-bosheth, so the name has been supplied in the translation for clarity. 4QSam^a and the LXX mistakenly read “Mephibosheth.”

[4:1]  ²³ tn Heb “his hands went slack.”

[7:22]  ²⁴ tn Heb “in all which we heard with our ears.” The phrase translated “in all” בְּכֹל (bÿkhol) should probably be emended to “according to all” כְּכֹל (kÿkhol).

[17:9]  ²⁵ 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].”

[18:12]  ²⁶ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וְלוּ (vÿlu, “and if”) rather than MT וְלֹא (vÿlo’, “and not”).

[18:12]  ²⁷ tn Heb “weighing out in my hand.”

[18:12]  ²⁸ tn Heb “a thousand [shekels] of silver.” This would have been about 25 pounds (11.4 kg) of silver by weight.

[18:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “extend my hand against.”

[18:12]  ³⁰ tn Heb “in our ears.”

[18:12]  ³¹ tc The Hebrew text is very difficult here. The MT reads מִי (mi, “who”), apparently yielding the following sense: “Show care, whoever you might be, for the youth Absalom.” The Syriac Peshitta reads li (“for me”), the Hebrew counterpart of which may also lie behind the LXX rendering μοι (moi, “for me”). This reading seems preferable here, since it restores sense to the passage and most easily explains the rise of the variant.

[12:18]  ³² tn Heb “to our voice.”

[12:18]  ³³ tn Heb “he will do harm.” The object is not stated in the Hebrew text. The statement may be intentionally vague, meaning that he might harm himself or them!

[22:45]  ³⁴ tn For the meaning “to be weak; to be powerless” for the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash), see Ps 109:24. Verse 46, which also mentions foreigners, favors this interpretation. Another option is to translate “cower in fear” (see Deut 33:29; Pss 66:3; 81:15).

[22:45]  ³⁵ tn Heb “at a report of an ear they submit to me.” The report of David’s exploits is so impressive that those who hear it submit to his rulership without putting up a fight.

[11:26]  ³⁶ tn Heb “for her lord.”

[8:9]  ³⁷ tn The name is spelled “Tou” in the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:9. NIV adopts the spelling “Tou” here.

[13:14]  ³⁸ tn Heb “to her voice.”

[13:14]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and he humiliated her and lay with her.”

[15:10]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “say.”

[22:7]  ⁴¹ tn In this poetic narrative the two prefixed verbal forms in v. 7a are best understood as preterites indicating past tense, not imperfects. Note the use of the vav consecutive with the prefixed verbal form that follows in v. 7b.

[22:7]  ⁴² tn Heb “from his temple.” Verse 10, which pictures God descending from the sky, indicates that the heavenly, not earthly, temple is in view.

[22:7]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and my cry for help [entered] his ears.”

[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.

[22:14]  ⁴⁷ tn The shortened theme vowel indicates that the prefixed verbal form is a preterite.

[22:14]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “the Most High.” This divine title (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Ps 47:2.

[22:14]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “offered his voice.” In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not an imperfect. Note the preterite form in the preceding line. The text of Ps 18:13 adds at this point, “hail and coals of fire.” These words are probably accidentally added from v. 12b; they do not appear in 2 Sam 22:14.

[22:14]  sn Thunder is a common motif in Old Testament theophanies and in ancient Near Eastern portrayals of the storm god and warring kings. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 179-83.

[1:11]  ⁵⁰ tc The present translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading “his garments,” rather than “his garment,” the reading of the Kethib.

[3:36]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “it was good in their eyes.”

[2:4]  ⁵² tn Heb “house.”

[2:4]  ⁵³ 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]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “men.”

[12:5]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “the man doing this [is] a son of death.” See 1 Sam 20:31 for another use of this expression, which must mean “he is as good as dead” or “he deserves to die,” as 1 Sam 20:32 makes clear.

[18:13]  ⁵⁶ 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]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “stood aloof.”

[18:33]  ⁵⁸ sn This marks the beginning of ch. 19 in the Hebrew text. Beginning with 18:33, the verse numbers through 19:43 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 18:33 ET = 19:1 HT, 19:1 ET = 19:2 HT, 19:2 ET = 19:3 HT, etc., through 19:43 ET = 19:44 HT. From 20:1 the versification in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible is again the same.

[18:33]  ⁵⁹ tc One medieval Hebrew ms, some mss of the LXX, and the Vulgate lack this repeated occurrence of “my son” due to haplography.

[18:33]  ⁶⁰ tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack this repeated occurrence of “my son” due to haplography.

[9:2]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “your servant.”

[1:20]  ⁶² sn The cities of Gath and Ashkelon are mentioned here by synecdoche of part for the whole. As major Philistine cities they in fact represent all of Philistia. The point is that when the sad news of fallen Israelite leadership reaches the Philistines, it will be for these enemies of Israel the occasion of great joy rather than grief.

[18:14]  ⁶³ tn There is a play on the word “heart” here that is difficult to reproduce in English. Literally the Hebrew text says “he took three spears in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the heart of the oak tree.” This figure of speech involves the use of the same word in different senses and is known as antanaclasis. It is illustrated in the familiar saying from the time of the American Revolution: “If we don’t hang together, we will all hang separately.” The present translation understands “heart” to be used somewhat figuratively for “chest” (cf. TEV, CEV), which explains why Joab’s armor bearers could still “kill” Absalom after he had been stabbed with three spears through the “heart.” Since trees do not have “chests” either, the translation uses “middle.”

[10:5]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the messengers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:5]  ⁶⁵ tn The words “what had happened” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[10:5]  ⁶⁶ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[1:21]  ⁶⁷ tc Instead of the MT’s “fields of grain offerings” the Lucianic recension of the LXX reads “your high places are mountains of death.” Cf. the Old Latin montes mortis (“mountains of death”).

[1:21]  ⁶⁸ tn This is the only biblical occurrence of the Niphal of the verb גָּעַל (ga’al). This verb usually has the sense of “to abhor” or “loathe.” But here it seems to refer to the now dirty and unprotected condition of a previously well-maintained instrument of battle.

[1:21]  ⁶⁹ tc It is preferable to read here Hebrew מָשׁוּחַ (mashuakh) with many Hebrew mss, rather than מָשִׁיחַ (mashiakh) of the MT. Although the Syriac Peshitta understands the statement to pertain to Saul, the point here is not that Saul is not anointed. Rather, it is the shield of Saul that lies discarded and is no longer anointed. In ancient Near Eastern practice a warrior’s shield that was in normal use would have to be anointed regularly in order to ensure that the leather did not become dry and brittle. Like other warriors of his day Saul would have carefully maintained his tools of trade. But now that he is dead, the once-cared-for shield of the mighty warrior lies sadly discarded and woefully neglected, a silent but eloquent commentary on how different things are now compared to the way they were during Saul’s lifetime.

[13:28]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “when good is the heart of Amnon with wine.”

[13:28]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “and become sons of valor.”

[17:14]  ⁷² tn Heb “commanded.”

[6:12]  ⁷³ tn Heb “and it was told to David, saying.”

[7:27]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “have uncovered the ear of.”

[7:27]  ⁷⁵ tn Heb “a house.” This maintains the wordplay from v. 11 (see the note on the word “house” there) and is continued in v. 29.

[7:27]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “has found his heart.”

[20:15]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “they.” The following context makes it clear that this refers to Joab and his army.

[20:15]  ⁷⁸ tc The LXX has here ἐνοοῦσαν (enoousan, “were devising”), which apparently presupposes the Hebrew word מַחֲשָׁבִים (makhashavim) rather than the MT מַשְׁחִיתִם (mashkhitim, “were destroying”). With a number of other scholars Driver thinks that the Greek variant may preserve the original reading, but this seems to be an unnecessary conclusion (but see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 346).

[19:8]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “all the people.”

[19:8]  ⁸⁰ tn The Hebrew text has simply “Israel” (see 18:16-17).

[19:8]  ⁸¹ tn Heb “had fled, each to his tent.”

[10:17]  ⁸² tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.