2 Samuel 4:2

4:2 Now Saul’s son ¹  had two men who were in charge of raiding units; one was named Baanah and the other Recab. They were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, who was a Benjaminite. (Beeroth is regarded as belonging to Benjamin,

2 Samuel 10:2

10:2 David said, “I will express my loyalty ²  to Hanun son of Nahash just as his father was loyal ³  to me.” So David sent his servants with a message expressing sympathy over his father’s death. ⁴  When David’s servants entered the land of the Ammonites,

2 Samuel 18:12

18:12 The man replied to Joab, “Even if ⁵  I were receiving ⁶  a thousand pieces of silver, ⁷  I would not strike ⁸  the king’s son! In our very presence ⁹  the king gave this order to you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’ ¹⁰ 

2 Samuel 20:10

20:10 Amasa did not protect himself from the knife in Joab’s other hand, and Joab ¹¹  stabbed him in the abdomen, causing Amasa’s ¹²  intestines to spill out on the ground. There was no need to stab him again; the first blow was fatal. ¹³  Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bicri.

¹ tc The present translation, “Saul’s son had two men,” is based on the reading “to the son of Saul,” rather than the MT’s “the son of Saul.” The context requires the preposition to indicate the family relationship.

² tn Heb “do loyalty.”

³ tn Heb “did loyalty.”

⁴ tn Heb “and David sent to console him by the hand of his servants concerning his father.”

³ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וְלוּ (vÿlu, “and if”) rather than MT וְלֹא (vÿlo’, “and not”).

⁴ tn Heb “weighing out in my hand.”

⁵ tn Heb “a thousand [shekels] of silver.” This would have been about 25 pounds (11.4 kg) of silver by weight.

⁶ tn Heb “extend my hand against.”

⁷ tn Heb “in our ears.”

⁸ tc The Hebrew text is very difficult here. The MT reads מִי (mi, “who”), apparently yielding the following sense: “Show care, whoever you might be, for the youth Absalom.” The Syriac Peshitta reads li (“for me”), the Hebrew counterpart of which may also lie behind the LXX rendering μοι (moi, “for me”). This reading seems preferable here, since it restores sense to the passage and most easily explains the rise of the variant.

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

⁵ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Heb “and he did not repeat concerning him, and he died.”