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 6:20

6:20 When David went home to pronounce a blessing on his own house, ⁴  Michal, Saul’s daughter, came out to meet him. ⁵  She said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished ⁶  himself this day! He has exposed himself today before his servants’ slave girls the way a vulgar fool ⁷  might do!”

2 Samuel 7:7

7:7 Wherever I moved among all the Israelites, I did not say ⁸  to any of the leaders ⁹  whom I appointed to care for ¹⁰  my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?”’

2 Samuel 11:21

11:21 Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone ¹¹  down on him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ just say to him, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.’”

2 Samuel 12:21

12:21 His servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? While ¹²  the child was still alive, you fasted and wept. Once the child was dead you got up and ate food!”

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 ¹³  king, for you are a foreigner and an exile from your own country. ¹⁴ 

2 Samuel 16:2

16:2 The king asked Ziba, “Why did you bring these things?” ¹⁵  Ziba replied, “The donkeys are for the king’s family to ride on, the loaves of bread ¹⁶  and the summer fruit are for the attendants to eat, and the wine is for those who get exhausted in the desert.” ¹⁷ 

2 Samuel 16:9-10

16:9 Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head!” 16:10 But the king said, “What do we have in common, ¹⁸  you sons of Zeruiah? If he curses because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David!’, who can say to him, ‘Why have you done this?’”

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 19:22

19:22 But David said, “What do we have in common, ¹⁹  you sons of Zeruiah? You are like my enemy today! Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Don’t you realize that today I am king over Israel?”

2 Samuel 19:28

19:28 After all, there was no one in the entire house of my grandfather ²⁰  who did not deserve death from my lord the king. But instead you allowed me to eat at your own table! ²¹  What further claim do I have to ask ²²  the king for anything?”

2 Samuel 19:42

19:42 All the men of Judah replied to the men of Israel, “Because the king is our close relative! Why are you so upset about this? Have we eaten at the king’s expense? ²³  Or have we misappropriated anything for our own use?”

2 Samuel 21:4

21:4 The Gibeonites said to him, “We ²⁴  have no claim to silver or gold from Saul or from his family, ²⁵  nor would we be justified in putting to death anyone in Israel.” David asked, ²⁶  “What then are you asking me to do for you?”

2 Samuel 24:3

24:3 Joab replied to the king, “May the Lord your God make the army a hundred times larger right before the eyes of my lord the king! But why does my master the king want to do this?”

2 Samuel 24:17

24:17 When he saw the angel who was destroying the people, David said to the Lord, “Look, it is I who have sinned and done this evil thing! As for these sheep – what have they done? Attack me and my family.” ²⁷ 

¹ tn Heb “What was the word?”

² tn Heb “from the people.”

³ tn Heb “fell and died.”

⁴ tn Heb “and David returned to bless his house.”

⁵ tn Heb “David.” The name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁶ tn Heb “honored.”

⁷ tn Heb “one of the foolish ones.”

⁷ tn Heb “Did I speak a word?” In the Hebrew text the statement is phrased as a rhetorical question.

⁸ tn Heb “tribes” (so KJV, NASB, NCV), but the parallel passage in 1 Chr 17:6 has “judges.”

⁹ tn Heb “whom I commanded to shepherd” (so NIV, NRSV).

¹⁰ sn The upper millstone (Heb “millstone of riding”) refers to the heavy circular stone that was commonly rolled over a circular base in order to crush and grind such things as olives.

¹³ tc For the MT בַּעֲבוּר (ba’avur, “for the sake of”) we should probably read בְּעוֹד (bÿ’od, “while”). See the Lucianic Greek recension, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Targum.

¹⁶ 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.

¹⁷ tn Heb “place.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “What are these to you?”

²⁰ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וְהַלֶּחֶם (vÿhallekhem, “and the bread”) rather than וּלְהַלֶּחֶם (ulÿhallekhem, “and to the bread”) of the Kethib. The syntax of the MT is confused here by the needless repetition of the preposition, probably taken from the preceding word.

²¹ tn The Hebrew text adds “to drink.”

²² tn Heb “What to me and to you?”

²⁵ tn Heb “what to me and to you.”

²⁸ tn Heb “father.”

²⁹ tn Heb “and you placed your servant among those who eat at your table.”

³⁰ tn Heb “to cry out to.”

³¹ tn Heb “from the king.”

³⁴ tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading לָנוּ (lanu, “to us”) rather than the MT לִי (li, “to me”). But for a contrary opinion see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 53, 350.

³⁵ tn Heb “house.”

³⁶ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³⁷ tn Heb “let your hand be against me and against the house of my father.”