2 Samuel 17:4

17:4 This seemed like a good idea to Absalom and to all the leaders ¹  of Israel.

2 Samuel 18:10

18:10 When one ²  of the men saw this, he reported it to Joab saying, “I saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.

2 Samuel 19:1

19:1 (19:2) Joab was told, “The king is weeping and mourning over Absalom.”

2 Samuel 16:16

16:16 When David’s friend Hushai the Arkite came to Absalom, Hushai said to him, ³  “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

2 Samuel 16:18

16:18 Hushai replied to Absalom, “No, I will be loyal to the one whom the Lord, these people, and all the men of Israel have chosen. ⁴ 

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 13:4

13:4 He asked Amnon, ⁵  “Why are you, the king’s son, ⁶  so depressed every morning? Can’t you tell me?” So Amnon said to him, “I’m in love with Tamar the sister of my brother Absalom.”

2 Samuel 16:21

16:21 Ahithophel replied to Absalom, “Have sex with ⁷  your father’s concubines whom he left to care for the palace. All Israel will hear that you have made yourself repulsive to your father. Then your followers will be motivated to support you.” ⁸ 

2 Samuel 17:9

17:9 At this very moment he is hiding out in one of the caves or in some other similar place. If it should turn out that he attacks our troops first, ⁹  whoever hears about it will say, ‘Absalom’s army has been slaughtered!’

2 Samuel 17:15

17:15 Then Hushai reported to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Here is what Ahithophel has advised Absalom and the leaders ¹⁰  of Israel to do, and here is what I have advised.

2 Samuel 17:25

17:25 Absalom had made Amasa general in command of the army in place of Joab. (Now Amasa was the son of an Israelite man named Jether, who had married ¹¹  Abigail the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.)

2 Samuel 18:18

18:18 Prior to this ¹²  Absalom had set up a monument ¹³  and dedicated it to himself in the King’s Valley, reasoning “I have no son who will carry on my name.” He named the monument after himself, and to this day it is known as Absalom’s Memorial.

¹ tn Heb “elders.”

² tc 4QSam^a lacks the word “one.”

³ tn Heb “to Absalom.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁴ tn Heb “No for with the one whom the Lord has chosen, and this people, and all the men of Israel, I will be and with him I will stay.” The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading לוֹ (lo, “[I will be] to him”) rather than the MT לֹא (lo’, “[I will] not be”), which makes very little sense here.

⁵ tn Heb “and he said to him.”

⁶ tn An more idiomatic translation might be “Why are you of all people…?”

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.”

⁷ tn Heb “that he falls on them [i.e., Absalom’s troops] at the first [encounter]; or “that some of them [i.e., Absalom’s troops] fall at the first [encounter].”

⁸ tn Heb “elders.”

⁹ tn Heb “come to.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “and.” This disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) describes an occurrence that preceded the events just narrated.

¹¹ tn Heb “a pillar.”