2 Samuel 22:35

22:35 He trains ¹  my hands for battle; ² 

my arms can bend even the strongest bow. ³ 

2 Samuel 8:8

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

2 Samuel 21:16

21:16 Now Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, ⁵  had a spear ⁶  that weighed three hundred bronze shekels, ⁷  and he was armed with a new weapon. ⁸  He had said that he would kill David.

2 Samuel 8:10

8:10 he ⁹  sent his son Joram ¹⁰  to King David to extend his best wishes ¹¹  and to pronounce a blessing on him for his victory over Hadadezer, for Toi had been at war with Hadadezer. ¹²  He brought with him various items made of silver, gold, and bronze. ¹³ 

2 Samuel 3:34

3:34 Your hands ¹⁴  were not bound,

and your feet were not put into irons.

You fell the way one falls before criminals.”

All the people ¹⁵  wept over him again.

[22:35]  ¹ tn Heb “teaches.”

[22:35]  ² tn The psalmist attributes his skill with weapons to divine enabling. Egyptian reliefs picture gods teaching the king how to shoot a bow. See O. Keel, Symbolism of the Biblical World, 265.

[22:35]  ³ tn Heb “and a bow of bronze is bent by my arms.” The verb נָחֵת (nakhet) apparently means “to pull back; to bend” here (see HALOT 692 s.v. נחת). The bronze bow referred to here was probably laminated with bronze strips, or a purely ceremonial or decorative bow made entirely from bronze. In the latter case the language is hyperbolic, for such a weapon would not be functional in battle.

[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.

[21:16]  ⁵ tn This name has the definite article and may be intended to refer to a group of people rather than a single individual with this name.

[21:16]  ⁶ tn This is the only occurrence of this Hebrew word in the OT. Its precise meaning is therefore somewhat uncertain. As early as the LXX the word was understood to refer to a “spear,” and this seems to be the most likely possibility. Some scholars have proposed emending the text of 2 Sam 21:16 to כוֹבַעוֹ (khova’o; “his helmet”), but in spite of the fact that the word “helmet” appears in 1 Sam 17:5, there is not much evidence for reading that word here.

[21:16]  ⁷ tn Either the word “shekels” should be supplied here, or the Hebrew word מִשְׁקַל (mishqal, “weight”) right before “bronze” is a corrupted form of the word for shekel. If the latter is the case the problem probably resulted from another occurrence of the word מִשְׁקַל just four words earlier in the verse.

[21:16]  sn Three hundred bronze shekels would have weighed about 7.5 pounds (3.4 kg).

[21:16]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text reads simply “a new [thing],” prompting one to ask “A new what?” Several possibilities have been proposed to resolve the problem: perhaps a word has dropped out of the Hebrew text here; or perhaps the word “new” is the result of misreading a different, less common, word; or perhaps a word (e.g., “sword,” so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, CEV, NLT) is simply to be inferred. The translation generally follows the latter possibility, while at the same time being deliberately nonspecific (“weapon”).

[8:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “Toi.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:10]  ¹⁰ tn The name appears as “Hadoram” in the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:10.

[8:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to ask concerning him for peace.”

[8:10]  ¹² tn Heb “and to bless him because he fought with Hadadezer and defeated him, for Hadadezer was a man of battles with Toi.”

[8:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “and in his hand were items of silver and items of gold and items of bronze.”

[3:34]  ¹⁴ tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew manuscripts and several ancient versions in reading “your hands,” rather than “your hand.”

[3:34]  ¹⁵ tc 4QSam^a lacks the words “all the people.”