2 Samuel 22:5

22:5 The waves of death engulfed me;

the currents ¹  of chaos ²  overwhelmed me. ³ 

2 Samuel 4:1

Ish-bosheth is killed

4:1 When Ish-bosheth ⁴  the son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he was very disheartened, ⁵  and all Israel was afraid.

2 Samuel 17:2

17:2 When I catch up with ⁶  him he will be exhausted and worn out. ⁷  I will rout him, and the entire army that is with him will flee. I will kill only the king

2 Samuel 7:10

7:10 I will establish a place for my people Israel and settle ⁸  them there; they will live there and not be disturbed ⁹  any more. Violent men ¹⁰  will not oppress them again, as they did in the beginning

2 Samuel 14:15

14:15 I have now come to speak with my lord the king about this matter, because the people have made me fearful. ¹¹  But your servant said, ‘I will speak to the king! Perhaps the king will do what his female servant ¹²  asks.

2 Samuel 18:33

18:33 (19:1) ¹³  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, ¹⁴  Absalom! If only I could have died in your place! Absalom, my son, my son!” ¹⁵ 

[22:5]  ¹ tn The noun נַחַל (nakhal) usually refers to a river or stream, but in this context the plural form likely refers to the currents of the sea (see vv. 15-16).

[22:5]  ² tn The noun בְלִיַּעַל (bÿliyya’al) is used here as an epithet for death. Elsewhere it is a common noun meaning “wickedness, uselessness” (see HALOT 133-34 s.v. בְּלִיַּעַל). It is often associated with rebellion against authority and other crimes that result in societal disorder and anarchy. The phrase “man/son of wickedness” refers to one who opposes God and the order he has established. The term becomes an appropriate title for death, which, through human forces, launches an attack against God’s chosen servant.

[22:5]  ³ tn In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not an imperfect. (Note the perfect verbal form in the parallel/preceding line.) The verb בָּעַת (ba’at) sometimes by metonymy carries the nuance “frighten,” but the parallelism (note “engulfed” in the preceding line) favors the meaning “overwhelm” here.

[4:1]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “his hands went slack.”

[17:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “and I will come upon him.”

[17:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “exhausted and slack of hands.”

[7:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “plant.”

[7:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “shaken.”

[7:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the sons of violence.”

[14:15]  ¹¹ tc The LXX (ὄψεταί με, opsetai me) has misunderstood the Hebrew יֵרְאֻנִי (yerÿ’uni, Piel perfect, “they have made me fearful”), taking the verb to be a form of the verb רָאָה (ra’ah, “to see”) rather than the verb יָרֵא (yare’, “to fear”). The fact that the Greek translators were working with an unvocalized Hebrew text (i.e., consonants only) made them very susceptible to this type of error.

[14:15]  ¹² tn Here and in v. 16 the woman refers to herself as the king’s אָמָה (’amah), a term that refers to a higher level female servant toward whom the master might have some obligation. Like the other term, this word expresses her humility, but it also suggests that the king might have some obligation to treat her in accordance with the principles of justice.

[18:33]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack this repeated occurrence of “my son” due to haplography.