18:28 Then Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, “Greetings!” 2 He bowed down before the king with his face toward the ground and said, “May the Lord your God be praised because he has defeated 3 the men who opposed 4 my lord the king!”
18:29 The king replied, “How is the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz replied, “I saw a great deal of confusion when Joab was sending the king’s servant and me, your servant, but I don’t know what it was all about.” 18:30 The king said, “Turn aside and take your place here.” So he turned aside and waited.
18:31 Then the Cushite arrived and said, 5 “May my lord the king now receive the good news! The Lord has vindicated you today and delivered you from the hand of all who have rebelled against you!” 6 18:32 The king asked the Cushite, “How is the young man Absalom?” The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who have plotted against you 7 be like that young man!”
18:33 (19:1) 8 The king then became very upset. He went up to the upper room over the gate and wept. As he went he said, “My son, Absalom! My son, my son, 9 Absalom! If only I could have died in your place! Absalom, my son, my son!” 10
1 tn Heb “I am seeing the running of the first one like the running of Ahimaaz.”
2 tn Heb “Peace.”
3 tn Heb “delivered over.”
4 tn Heb “lifted their hand against.”
5 tn Heb “And look, the Cushite came and the Cushite said.”
6 tn Heb “for the
7 tn Heb “and all those rising against you for evil.”
8 sn This marks the beginning of ch. 19 in the Hebrew text. Beginning with 18:33, the verse numbers through 19:43 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 18:33 ET = 19:1 HT, 19:1 ET = 19:2 HT, 19:2 ET = 19:3 HT, etc., through 19:43 ET = 19:44 HT. From 20:1 the versification in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible is again the same.
9 tc One medieval Hebrew
10 tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack this repeated occurrence of “my son” due to haplography.