2 Samuel 14:15-17

14:15 I have now come to speak with my lord the king about this matter, because the people have made me fearful. ¹  But your servant said, ‘I will speak to the king! Perhaps the king will do what his female servant ²  asks. 14:16 Yes! ³  The king may ⁴  listen and deliver his female servant ⁵  from the hand of the man who seeks to remove ⁶  both me and my son from the inheritance God has given us!’ ⁷  14:17 So your servant said, ‘May the word of my lord the king be my security, for my lord the king is like the angel of God when it comes to deciding between right and wrong! May the Lord your God be with you!’”

¹ tc The LXX (ὄψεταί με, opsetai me) has misunderstood the Hebrew יֵרְאֻנִי (yerÿ’uni, Piel perfect, “they have made me fearful”), taking the verb to be a form of the verb רָאָה (ra’ah, “to see”) rather than the verb יָרֵא (yare’, “to fear”). The fact that the Greek translators were working with an unvocalized Hebrew text (i.e., consonants only) made them very susceptible to this type of error.

² tn Here and in v. 16 the woman refers to herself as the king’s אָמָה (’amah), a term that refers to a higher level female servant toward whom the master might have some obligation. Like the other term, this word expresses her humility, but it also suggests that the king might have some obligation to treat her in accordance with the principles of justice.

³ tn Or “for.”

⁴ tn Or “will.” The imperfect verbal form can have either an indicative or modal nuance. The use of “perhaps” in v. 15b suggests the latter here.

⁵ tn Heb “in order to deliver his maid.”

⁶ tn Heb “destroy.”

⁷ tn Heb “from the inheritance of God.” The expression refers to the property that was granted to her family line in the division of the land authorized by God.