2 Samuel 2:2-4

2:2 So David went up, along with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail, formerly the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. 2:3 David also brought along the men who were with him, each with his family. They settled in the cities ¹  of Hebron. 2:4 The men of Judah came and there they anointed David as king over the people ²  of Judah.

David was told, ³  “The people ⁴  of Jabesh Gilead are the ones who buried Saul.”

2 Samuel 3:1

3:1 However, the war was prolonged between the house of Saul and the house of David. David was becoming steadily stronger, while the house of Saul was becoming increasingly weaker.

Job 17:9

17:9 But the righteous man holds to his way,

and the one with clean hands grows stronger. ⁵ 

¹ tc The expression “the cities of Hebron” is odd; we would expect the noun to be in the singular, if used at all. Although the Syriac Peshitta has the expected reading “in Hebron,” the MT is clearly the more difficult reading and should probably be retained here.

² tn Heb “house.”

³ tn Heb “and they told David.” The subject appears to be indefinite, allowing one to translate the verb as passive with David as subject.

⁴ tn Heb “men.”

⁵ tn The last two words are the imperfect verb יֹסִיף (yosif) which means “he adds,” and the abstract noun “energy, strength.” This noun is not found elsewhere; its Piel verb occurs in Job 4:4 and 16:5. “he increases strength.”