2 Samuel 1:4

1:4 David inquired, “How were things going? ¹  Tell me!” He replied, “The people fled from the battle and many of them ²  fell dead. ³  Even Saul and his son Jonathan are dead!”

2 Samuel 2:16

2:16 As they grappled with one another, each one stabbed his opponent with his sword and they fell dead together. ⁴  So that place is called the Field of Flints; ⁵  it is in Gibeon.

2 Samuel 4:10

4:10 when someone told me that Saul was dead – even though he thought he was bringing good news ⁶  – I seized him and killed him in Ziklag. That was the good news I gave to him!

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.” ⁷ 

2 Samuel 15:19

15:19 Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you come with us? Go back and stay with the new ⁸  king, for you are a foreigner and an exile from your own country. ⁹ 

2 Samuel 18:17

18:17 They took Absalom, threw him into a large pit in the forest, and stacked a huge pile of stones over him. In the meantime all the Israelite soldiers fled to their homes. ¹⁰ 

2 Samuel 18:31

18:31 Then the Cushite arrived and said, ¹¹  “May my lord the king now receive the good news! The Lord has vindicated you today and delivered you from the hand of all who have rebelled against you!” ¹² 

¹ tn Heb “What was the word?”

² tn Heb “from the people.”

³ tn Heb “fell and died.”

⁴ tn Heb “and they grabbed each one the head of his neighbor with his sword in the side of his neighbor and they fell together.”

⁵ tn The meaning of the name “Helkath Hazzurim” (so NIV; KJV, NASB, NRSV similar) is not clear. BHK relates the name to the Hebrew term for “side,” and this is reflected in NAB “the Field of the Sides”; the Greek OT revocalizes the Hebrew to mean something like “Field of Adversaries.” Cf. also TEV, NLT “Field of Swords”; CEV “Field of Daggers.”

⁷ tn Heb “and he was like a bearer of good news in his eyes.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “your servant.”

¹³ tn The word “new” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation to make it clear that David refers to Absalom, not himself.

¹⁴ tn Heb “place.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “and all Israel fled, each to his tent.” In this context this refers to the supporters of Absalom (see vv. 6-7, 16).

¹⁹ tn Heb “And look, the Cushite came and the Cushite said.”

²⁰ tn Heb “for the Lord has vindicated you today from the hand of all those rising against you.”