20:1 Now a wicked man 1 named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, 2 happened to be there. He blew the trumpet 3 and said,
“We have no share in David;
we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!
Every man go home, 4 O Israel!”
20:1 Now a wicked man 5 named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, 6 happened to be there. He blew the trumpet 7 and said,
“We have no share in David;
we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!
Every man go home, 8 O Israel!”
1 tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”
2 tn The expression used here יְמִינִי (yÿmini) is a short form of the more common “Benjamin.” It appears elsewhere in 1 Sam 9:4 and Esth 2:5. Cf. 1 Sam 9:1.
3 tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.
4 tc The MT reads לְאֹהָלָיו (lÿ’ohalav, “to his tents”). For a similar idiom, see 19:9. An ancient scribal tradition understands the reading to be לְאלֹהָיו (le’lohav, “to his gods”). The word is a tiqqun sopherim, and the scribes indicate that they changed the word from “gods” to “tents” so as to soften its theological implications. In a consonantal Hebrew text the change involved only the metathesis of two letters.
5 tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”
6 tn The expression used here יְמִינִי (yÿmini) is a short form of the more common “Benjamin.” It appears elsewhere in 1 Sam 9:4 and Esth 2:5. Cf. 1 Sam 9:1.
7 tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.
8 tc The MT reads לְאֹהָלָיו (lÿ’ohalav, “to his tents”). For a similar idiom, see 19:9. An ancient scribal tradition understands the reading to be לְאלֹהָיו (le’lohav, “to his gods”). The word is a tiqqun sopherim, and the scribes indicate that they changed the word from “gods” to “tents” so as to soften its theological implications. In a consonantal Hebrew text the change involved only the metathesis of two letters.
9 tn Heb “sought” or “searched for.”
10 tn Heb “and David fasted.”
11 tn The three Hebrew verbs that follow in this verse are perfects with prefixed vav. They may describe repeated past actions or actions which accompanied David’s praying and fasting.