Text -- 2 Samuel 6:16-23 (NET)

6:16 As the ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked out the window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him. 6:17 They brought the ark of the Lord and put it in its place in the middle of the tent that David had pitched for it. Then David offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings before the Lord. 6:18 When David finished offering the burnt sacrifices and peace offerings, he pronounced a blessing over the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. 6:19 He then handed out to each member of the entire assembly of Israel, both men and women, a portion of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake. Then all the people went home. 6:20 When David went home to pronounce a blessing on his own house, Michal, Saul’s daughter, came out to meet him. She said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself this day! He has exposed himself today before his servants’ slave girls the way a vulgar fool might do!” 6:21 David replied to Michal, “It was before the Lord! I was celebrating before the Lord, who chose me over your father and his entire family and appointed me as leader over the Lord’s people Israel. 6:22 I am willing to shame and humiliate myself even more than this! But with the slave girls whom you mentioned let me be distinguished!” 6:23 Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, had no children to the day of her death.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 2Sa 6:16

¹ tn The Hebrew text adds “in her heart.” Cf. CEV “she was disgusted (+ with him TEV)”; NLT “was filled with contempt for him”; NCV “she hated him.”

NET Notes: 2Sa 6:17

¹ tc The Syriac Peshitta lacks “in its place.”

NET Notes: 2Sa 6:19

¹ tn Heb “to all the people, to all the throng of Israel.”

² tn The Hebrew word used here אֶשְׁפָּר (’espar) is found in the OT only here and in the parallel passage found in 1 Chr 16:3. Its exact meaning is uncertain, although the context indicates that it was a food of some sort (cf. KJV “a good piece of flesh”; NRSV “a portion of meat”). The translation adopted here (“date cake”) follows the lead of the Greek translations of the LXX, Aquila, and Symmachus (cf. NASB, NIV, NLT).

³ tn Heb “and all the people went, each to his house.”

NET Notes: 2Sa 6:20

¹ tn Heb “and David returned to bless his house.”

² tn Heb “David.” The name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

³ tn Heb “honored.”

⁴ tn Heb “one of the foolish ones.”

NET Notes: 2Sa 6:21

¹ tn Heb “all his house”; CEV “anyone else in your family.”

NET Notes: 2Sa 6:22

¹ tn Heb “and I will shame myself still more than this and I will be lowly in my eyes.”