16:5 Then King David reached 1 Bahurim. There a man from Saul’s extended family named Shimei son of Gera came out, yelling curses as he approached. 2
16:1 When David had gone a short way beyond the summit, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth was there to meet him. He had a couple of donkeys that were saddled, and on them were two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred raisin cakes, a hundred baskets of summer fruit, 3 and a container of wine.
1:1 After the death of Saul, 5 when David had returned from defeating the Amalekites, 6 he stayed at Ziklag 7 for two days.
3:19 Then Abner spoke privately 8 with the Benjaminites. Abner also went to Hebron to inform David privately 9 of all that Israel and the entire house of Benjamin had agreed to. 10
4:1 When Ish-bosheth 11 the son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he was very disheartened, 12 and all Israel was afraid.
23:7 The one who touches them
must use an iron instrument
or the wooden shaft of a spear.
They are completely burned up right where they lie!” 13
23:2 The Lord’s spirit spoke through me;
his word was on my tongue.
1 tn Heb “came to.” The form of the verb in the MT is odd. Some prefer to read וַיַּבֹא (vayyavo’), preterite with vav consecutive) rather than וּבָא (uva’), apparently perfect with vav), but this is probably an instance where the narrative offline vÿqatal construction introduces a new scene.
2 tn Heb “And look, from there a man was coming out from the clan of the house of Saul and his name was Shimei son of Gera, continually going out and cursing.”
3 tn Heb “a hundred summer fruit.”
4 tc The present translation reads with the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
5 sn This chapter is closely linked to 1 Sam 31. It should be kept in mind that 1 and 2 Samuel were originally a single book, not separate volumes. Whereas in English Bible tradition the books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and Ezra-Nehemiah are each regarded as two separate books, this was not the practice in ancient Hebrew tradition. Early canonical records, for example, counted them as single books respectively. The division into two books goes back to the Greek translation of the OT and was probably initiated because of the cumbersome length of copies due to the Greek practice (unlike that of Hebrew) of writing vowels. The present division into two books can be a little misleading in terms of perceiving the progression of the argument of the book; in some ways it is preferable to treat the books of 1-2 Samuel in a unified fashion.
6 sn The Amalekites were a nomadic people who inhabited Judah and the Transjordan. They are mentioned in Gen 36:15-16 as descendants of Amalek who in turn descended from Esau. In Exod 17:8-16 they are described as having acted in a hostile fashion toward Israel as the Israelites traveled to Canaan from Egypt. In David’s time the Amalekites were viewed as dangerous enemies who raided, looted, and burned Israelite cities (see 1 Sam 30).
7 sn Ziklag was a city in the Negev which had been given to David by Achish king of Gath. For more than a year David used it as a base from which he conducted military expeditions (see 1 Sam 27:5-12). According to 1 Sam 30:1-19, Ziklag was destroyed by the Amalekites while Saul fought the Philistines.
8 tn Heb “into the ears of.”
9 tn Heb “also Abner went to speak into the ears of David in Hebron.”
10 tn Heb “all which was good in the eyes of Israel and in the eyes of all the house of Benjamin.”
11 tn The MT does not specify the subject of the verb here, but the reference is to Ish-bosheth, so the name has been supplied in the translation for clarity. 4QSama and the LXX mistakenly read “Mephibosheth.”
12 tn Heb “his hands went slack.”
13 tn Heb “and with fire they are completely burned up in [the place where they] remain.” The infinitive absolute is used before the finite verb to emphasize that they are completely consumed by the fire.
14 tn Heb “arose.”
15 tn Heb “his hand.”