2 Samuel 14:2

14:2 So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He told her, “Pretend to be in mourning ¹  and put on garments for mourning. Don’t anoint yourself with oil. Instead, act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for some time. ² 

2 Samuel 14:2

14:2 So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He told her, “Pretend to be in mourning ³  and put on garments for mourning. Don’t anoint yourself with oil. Instead, act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for some time. ⁴ 

2 Samuel 11:6

11:6 So David sent a message to Joab that said, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David.

2 Samuel 20:20

20:20 Joab answered, “Get serious! ⁵  I don’t want to swallow up or destroy anything!

Jeremiah 6:1

The Destruction of Jerusalem Depicted

6:1 “Run for safety, people of Benjamin!

Get out of Jerusalem! ⁶ 

Sound the trumpet ⁷  in Tekoa!

Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem!

For disaster lurks ⁸  out of the north;

it will bring great destruction. ⁹ 

¹ tn The Hebrew Hitpael verbal form here indicates pretended rather than genuine action.

² tn Heb “these many days.”

³ tn The Hebrew Hitpael verbal form here indicates pretended rather than genuine action.

⁴ tn Heb “these many days.”

⁵ tn Heb “Far be it, far be it from me.” The expression is clearly emphatic, as may be seen in part by the repetition. P. K. McCarter, however, understands it to be coarser than the translation adopted here. He renders it as “I’ll be damned if…” (II Samuel [AB], 426, 429), which (while it is not a literal translation) may not be too far removed from the way a soldier might have expressed himself.

⁶ tn Heb “Flee for safety, people of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem.”

⁷ tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.

⁸ tn Heb “leans down” or “looks down.” This verb personifies destruction leaning/looking down from its window in the sky, ready to attack.

⁹ tn Heb “[It will be] a severe fracture.” The nation is pictured as a limb being fractured.