2 Samuel 11:11

11:11 Uriah replied to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah reside in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and my lord’s soldiers are camping in the open field. Should I go to my house to eat and drink and have marital relations ¹  with my wife? As surely as you are alive, ²  I will not do this thing!”

2 Samuel 11:1

David Commits Adultery with Bathsheba

11:1 In the spring of the year, at the time when kings ³  normally conduct wars, ⁴  David sent out Joab with his officers ⁵  and the entire Israelite army. ⁶  They defeated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed behind in Jerusalem. ⁷ 

2 Samuel 1:26

1:26 I grieve over you, my brother Jonathan!

You were very dear to me.

Your love was more special to me than the love of women.

2 Samuel 17:1

The Death of Ahithophel

17:1 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me pick out twelve thousand men. Then I will go and pursue David this very night.

2 Samuel 20:3

20:3 Then David went to his palace ⁸  in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace and placed them under confinement. ⁹  Though he provided for their needs, he did not have sexual relations with them. ¹⁰  They remained in confinement until the day they died, living out the rest of their lives as widows.

2 Samuel 1:26

1:26 I grieve over you, my brother Jonathan!

You were very dear to me.

Your love was more special to me than the love of women.

2 Samuel 1:2

1:2 On the third day a man arrived from the camp of Saul with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. ¹¹  When he approached David, the man ¹²  threw himself to the ground. ¹³ 

2 Samuel 2:2

2:2 So David went up, along with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail, formerly the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

¹ tn Heb “and lay.”

² tn Heb “as you live and as your soul lives.”

³ tc Codex Leningrad (B19A), on which BHS is based, has here “messengers” (הַמַּלְאכִים, hammal’khim), probably as the result of contamination from the occurrence of that word in v. 4. The present translation follows most Hebrew mss and the ancient versions, which read “kings” (הַמֶּלָאכִים, hammela’kim).

⁴ tn Heb “go out.”

⁵ tn Heb “and his servants with him.”

⁶ tn Heb “all Israel.”

⁷ tn The disjunctive clause contrasts David’s inactivity with the army’s activity.

⁸ tn Heb “house.”

⁹ tn Heb “and he placed them in a guarded house.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “he did not come to them”; NAB “has no further relations with them”; NIV “did not lie with them”; TEV “did not have intercourse with them”; NLT “would no longer sleep with them.”

¹¹ sn Tearing one’s clothing and throwing dirt on one’s head were outward expressions of grief in the ancient Near East, where such demonstrable reactions were a common response to tragic news.

¹² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man mentioned at the beginning of v. 2) has been specified in the translation to avoid confusion as to who fell to the ground.

¹³ tn Heb “he fell to the ground and did obeisance.”