2 Samuel 2:10

2:10 Ish-bosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he began to rule over Israel. He ruled two years. However, the people ¹  of Judah followed David.

2 Samuel 4:2

4:2 Now Saul’s son ²  had two men who were in charge of raiding units; one was named Baanah and the other Recab. They were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, who was a Benjaminite. (Beeroth is regarded as belonging to Benjamin,

2 Samuel 8:2

8:2 He defeated the Moabites. He made them lie on the ground and then used a rope to measure them off. He put two-thirds of them to death and spared the other third. ³  The Moabites became David’s subjects and brought tribute. ⁴ 

2 Samuel 12:1

Nathan the Prophet Confronts David

12:1 So the Lord sent Nathan ⁵  to David. When he came to David, ⁶  Nathan ⁷  said, ⁸  “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.

2 Samuel 13:6

13:6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. When the king came in to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come in so she can make a couple of cakes in my sight. Then I will eat from her hand.”

2 Samuel 18:24

18:24 Now David was sitting between the inner and outer gates, ⁹  and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate at the wall. When he looked, he saw a man running by himself.

2 Samuel 21:8

21:8 So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah’s daughter Rizpah whom she had born to Saul, and the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab ¹⁰  whom she had born to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.

2 Samuel 23:20

23:20 Benaiah son of Jehoida was a brave warrior ¹¹  from Kabzeel who performed great exploits. He struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab. ¹²  He also went down and killed a lion in a cistern on a snowy day.

¹ tn Heb “house.”

² tc The present translation, “Saul’s son had two men,” is based on the reading “to the son of Saul,” rather than the MT’s “the son of Saul.” The context requires the preposition to indicate the family relationship.

³ tn Heb “and he measured [with] two [lengths] of rope to put to death and [with] the fullness of the rope to keep alive.”

⁴ tn Heb “and the Moabites were servants of David, carriers of tribute.”

⁴ tc A few medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta add “the prophet.” The words are included in a few modern English version (e.g., TEV, CEV, NLT).

⁵ tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Nathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn The Hebrew text repeats “to him.”

⁵ tn Heb “the two gates.”

⁶ tc The MT reads “Michal” here, but two Hebrew manuscripts read “Merab,” along with some LXX manuscripts. Cf. 1 Sam 18:19.

⁷ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading חַיִל (khayil, “valor”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, חַי (khay, “life”).

⁸ tc Heb “the two of Ariel, Moab.” The precise meaning of אריאל is uncertain; some read “warrior.” The present translation assumes that the word is a proper name and that בני, “sons of,” has accidentally dropped from the text by homoioarcton (note the preceding שׁני).