20:3 Then David went to his palace 10 in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace and placed them under confinement. 11 Though he provided for their needs, he did not have sexual relations with them. 12 They remained in confinement until the day they died, living out the rest of their lives as widows.
1 tn Heb “raise up against you disaster.”
2 tn Heb “house” (so NAB, NRSV); NCV, TEV, CEV “family.”
3 tn Or “friend.”
4 tn Heb “will lie with” (so NIV, NRSV); TEV “will have intercourse with”; CEV, NLT “will go to bed with.”
5 tn Heb “in the eyes of this sun.”
6 tn Heb “go to”; NAB “have (+ sexual NCV) relations with”; TEV “have intercourse with”; NLT “Go and sleep with.”
7 tn Heb “and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”
8 sn That is, on top of the flat roof of the palace, so it would be visible to the public.
9 tn Heb “went to”; NAB “he visited his father’s concubines”; NIV “lay with his father’s concubines”; TEV “went in and had intercourse with.”
10 tn Heb “house.”
11 tn Heb “and he placed them in a guarded house.”
12 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.”
13 tn Although συσχηματίζεσθε (suschmatizesqe) could be either a passive or middle, the passive is more likely since it would otherwise have to be a direct middle (“conform yourselves”) and, as such, would be quite rare for NT Greek. It is very telling that being “conformed” to the present world is viewed as a passive notion, for it may suggest that it happens, in part, subconsciously. At the same time, the passive could well be a “permissive passive,” suggesting that there may be some consciousness of the conformity taking place. Most likely, it is a combination of both.
14 tn Grk “to this age.”
15 sn The verb translated test and approve (δοκιμάζω, dokimazw) carries the sense of “test with a positive outcome,” “test so as to approve.”