19:24 Now Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, 1 came down to meet the king. From the day the king had left until the day he safely 2 returned, Mephibosheth 3 had not cared for his feet 4 nor trimmed 5 his mustache nor washed his clothes.
21:7 The king had mercy on Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, in light of the Lord’s oath that had been taken between David and Jonathan son of Saul.
21:1 During David’s reign there was a famine for three consecutive years. So David inquired of the Lord. 9 The Lord said, “It is because of Saul and his bloodstained family, 10 because he murdered the Gibeonites.”
12:7 Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I chose 12 you to be king over Israel and I rescued you from the hand of Saul. 12:8 I gave you your master’s house, and put your master’s wives into your arms. 13 I also gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all that somehow seems insignificant, I would have given you so much more as well!
41:8 “You, my servant Israel,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
offspring of Abraham my friend, 17
41:9 you whom I am bringing back 18 from the earth’s extremities,
and have summoned from the remote regions –
I told you, “You are my servant.”
I have chosen you and not rejected you.
41:10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you!
Don’t be frightened, for I am your God! 19
I strengthen you –
yes, I help you –
yes, I uphold you with my saving right hand! 20
2:5 This is what the Lord says:
“What fault could your ancestors 21 have possibly found in me
that they strayed so far from me? 22
They paid allegiance to 23 worthless idols, and so became worthless to me. 24
1 tn Heb “son.”
2 tn Heb “in peace.” So also in v. 31.
3 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Mephibosheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “done his feet.”
5 tn Heb “done.”
6 tn Heb “father.”
7 tn Heb “and you placed your servant among those who eat at your table.”
8 tn Heb “to cry out to.”
9 tn Heb “sought the face of the
10 tn Heb “and the house of bloodshed.”
11 tc With the exception of the Lucianic recension, the Old Greek translation has here “sevenfold” rather than “fourfold,” a reading that S. R. Driver thought probably to be the original reading (S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 291). However, Exod 22:1 [21:37 HT] specifies fourfold repayment for a stolen sheep, which is consistent with 2 Sam 12:6. Some
12 tn Heb “anointed.”
13 tn Heb “and the wives of your lord into your chest [or “lap”].” The words “I put” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.
14 tn Heb “what is good in his eyes.”
15 sn Threshing sledges were heavy boards used in ancient times for loosening grain from husks. On the bottom sides of these boards sharp stones were embedded, and the boards were then dragged across the grain on a threshing floor by an ox or donkey.
16 tn Heb “the equipment of the oxen.”
17 tn Or perhaps, “covenantal partner” (see 1 Kgs 5:15 HT [5:1 ET]; 2 Chr 20:7).
18 tn Heb “whom I have taken hold of [i.e., to lead back].”
19 tn According to BDB (1043 s.v. שָׁעָה), the verb תִּשְׁתָּע (tishta’) in the second line of the poetic couplet is a Hitpael form from the root שָׁעָה (sha’ah, “gaze,” with metathesis of the stem prefix and the first root letter). Taking the Hitpael as iterative, one may then translate “do not anxiously look about.” However, the alleged Hitpael form of שָׁעָה (sha’ah) only occurs here and in verse 23. HALOT 1671 s.v. שׁתע proposes that the verb is instead a Qal form from the root שׁתע (“fear”) which is attested in cognate Semitic languages, including Ugaritic (discovered after the publishing of BDB), suggests the existence of this root. The poetic structure of v. 10 also supports the proposal, for the form in question is in synonymous parallelism to יָרֵא (yare’, “fear”).
20 tn The “right hand” is a symbol of the Lord’s power to deliver (Exod 15:6, 12) and protect (Ps 63:9 HT [63:8 ET]). Here צֶדֶק (tsedeq) has its well-attested nuance of “vindicated righteousness,” i.e., “victory, deliverance” (see 45:8; 51:5, and BDB 841-42 s.v.).
21 tn Heb “fathers.”
22 tn Or “I did not wrong your ancestors in any way. Yet they went far astray from me.” Both translations are an attempt to render the rhetorical question which demands a negative answer.
23 tn Heb “They went/followed after.” This idiom is found most often in Deuteronomy or covenant contexts. It refers to loyalty to God and to his covenant or his commandments (e.g., 1 Kgs 14:8; 2 Chr 34:31) with the metaphor of a path or way underlying it (e.g., Deut 11:28; 28:14). To “follow other gods” was to abandon this way and this loyalty (i.e., to “abandon” or “forget” God, Judg 2:12; Hos 2:13) and to follow the customs or religious traditions of the pagan nations (e.g., 2 Kgs 17:15). The classic text on “following” God or another god is 1 Kgs 18:18, 21 where Elijah taunts the people with “halting between two opinions” whether the
24 tn The words “to me” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit from the context: Heb “they followed after the worthless thing/things and became worthless.” There is an obvious wordplay on the verb “became worthless” and the noun “worthless thing,” which is probably to be understood collectively and to refer to idols as it does in Jer 8:19; 10:8; 14:22; Jonah 2:8.