2 Samuel 3:18

3:18 Act now! For the Lord has said to David, ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save¹ my people Israel from² the Philistines and from all their enemies.’”

2 Samuel 3:22

Abner Is Killed

3:22 Now David’s soldiers³ and Joab were coming back from a raid, bringing a great deal of plunder with them. Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, for David⁴ had sent him away and he had left in peace.

2 Samuel 10:2

10:2 David said, “I will express my loyalty⁵ to Hanun son of Nahash just as his father was loyal⁶ to me.” So David sent his servants with a message expressing sympathy over his father’s death.⁷ When David’s servants entered the land of the Ammonites,

2 Samuel 10:19

10:19 When all the kings who were subject to Hadadezer⁸ saw they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subjects of Israel.⁹ The Arameans were no longer willing to help the Ammonites.

2 Samuel 14:30

14:30 So he said to his servants, “Look, Joab has a portion of field adjacent to mine and he has some barley there. Go and set it on fire.”¹⁰ So Absalom’s servants set Joab’s¹¹ portion of the field on fire.

2 Samuel 17:20

17:20 When the servants of Absalom approached the woman at her home, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman replied to them, “They crossed over the stream.” Absalom’s men¹² searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.¹³

2 Samuel 18:9

18:9 Then Absalom happened to come across David’s men. Now as Absalom was riding on his¹⁴ mule, it¹⁵ went under the branches of a large oak tree. His head got caught in the oak and he was suspended in midair,¹⁶ while the mule he had been riding kept going.

2 Samuel 19:26

19:26 He replied, “My lord the king, my servant deceived me! I¹⁷ said, ‘Let me get my donkey saddled so that I can ride on it and go with the king,’ for I¹⁸ am lame.

2 Samuel 20:6

20:6 Then David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba son of Bicri will cause greater disaster for us than Absalom did! Take your lord’s servants and pursue him. Otherwise he will secure¹⁹ fortified cities for himself and get away from us.”

¹tc The present translation follows the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate in reading “I will save,” rather than the MT “he saved.” The context calls for the 1st person common singular imperfect of the verb rather than the 3rd person masculine singular perfect.

²tn Heb “from the hand of.”

³tn Heb “And look, the servants of David.”

⁴tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵tn Heb “do loyalty.”

⁶tn Heb “did loyalty.”

⁷tn Heb “and David sent to console him by the hand of his servants concerning his father.”

⁷tn Heb “the servants of Hadadezer.”

⁸tn Heb “and they served them.”

⁹tc The LXX adds here the following words: “And the servants of Absalom burned them up. And the servants of Joab came to him, rending their garments. They said….”

¹⁰tn The word “Joab’s” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹¹tn Heb “they”; the referents (Absalom’s men) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹²map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹³tn Heb “the.”

¹⁴tn Heb “the donkey.”

¹⁵tn Heb “between the sky and the ground.”

¹⁵tn Heb “your servant.”

¹⁶tn Heb “your servant.”

¹⁷tn Heb “find.” The perfect verbal form is unexpected with the preceding word “otherwise.” We should probably read instead the imperfect. Although it is possible to understand the perfect here as indicating that the feared result is thought of as already having taken place (cf. BDB 814 s.v. פֶּן 2), it is more likely that the perfect is simply the result of scribal error. In this context the imperfect would be more consistent with the following verb וְהִצִּיל (vÿhitsil, “and he will get away”).