2 Samuel 23:18

23:18 Abishai son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, was head of the three. ¹  He killed three hundred men with his spear and gained fame among the three. ² 

2 Samuel 23:1

David’s Final Words

23:1 These are the final words of David:

“The oracle of David son of Jesse,

the oracle of the man raised up as

the ruler chosen by the God of Jacob, ³ 

Israel’s beloved ⁴  singer of songs:

2 Samuel 24:6

24:6 Then they went on to Gilead and to the region of Tahtim Hodshi, coming to Dan Jaan and on around to Sidon. ⁵ 

2 Samuel 1:9

1:9 He said to me, ‘Stand over me and finish me off! ⁶  I’m very dizzy, ⁷  even though I’m still alive.’ ⁸ 

¹ tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, and Vulgate in reading הַשְּׁלֹשָׁה (hashÿlosa, “the three”) rather than the Kethib of the MT הַשָּׁלִשִׁי (hashalisi, “the third,” or “adjutant”). Two medieval Hebrew mss and the Syriac Peshitta have “thirty.”

² tn Heb “and he was wielding his spear against three hundred, [who were] slain, and to him there was a name among the three.”

³ tn Heb “the anointed one of the God of Jacob.”

⁴ tn Or “pleasant.”

⁵ map For location see Map1-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

⁶ tn As P. K. McCarter (II Samuel [AB], 59) points out, the Polel of the verb מוּת (mut, “to die”) “refers to dispatching or ‘finishing off’ someone already wounded and near death.” Cf. NLT “put me out of my misery.”

⁷ tn Heb “the dizziness has seized me.” On the meaning of the Hebrew noun translated “dizziness,” see P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 59-60. The point seems to be that he is unable to kill himself because he is weak and disoriented.

⁸ tn The Hebrew text here is grammatically very awkward (Heb “because all still my life in me”). Whether the broken construct phrase is due to the fact that the alleged speaker is in a confused state of mind as he is on the verge of dying, or whether the MT has sustained corruption in the transmission process, is not entirely clear. The former seems likely, although P. K. McCarter understands the MT to be the result of conflation of two shorter forms of text (P. K. McCarter, II Samuel [AB], 57, n. 9). Early translators also struggled with the verse, apparently choosing to leave part of the Hebrew text untranslated. For example, the Lucianic recension of the LXX lacks “all,” while other witnesses (namely, one medieval Hebrew ms, codices A and B of the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta) lack “still.”