2 Samuel 2:22

2:22 So Abner spoke again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me! I do not want to strike you to the ground. ¹  How then could I show ²  my face in the presence of Joab your brother?”

2 Samuel 3:25

3:25 You know Abner the son of Ner! Surely he came here to spy on you and to determine when you leave and when you return ³  and to discover everything that you are doing!”

2 Samuel 15:3

15:3 Absalom would then say to him, “Look, your claims are legitimate and appropriate. ⁴  But there is no representative of the king who will listen to you.”

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. ⁵ 

2 Samuel 17:6

17:6 So Hushai came to Absalom. Absalom said to him, “Here is what Ahithophel has advised. Should we follow his advice? If not, what would you recommend?”

¹ tn Heb “Why should I strike you to the ground?”

² tn Heb “lift.”

³ tn Heb “your going out and your coming in.” The expression is a merism. It specifically mentions the polar extremities of the actions but includes all activity in between the extremities as well, thus encompassing the entirety of one’s activities.

⁵ tn Heb “good and straight.”

⁷ 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.