2 Samuel 4:8

4:8 They brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David in Hebron, saying to the king, “Look! The head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who sought your life! The Lord has granted vengeance to my lord the king this day against ¹  Saul and his descendants!”

2 Samuel 7:23

7:23 Who is like your people, Israel, a unique nation ²  on the earth? Their God ³  went ⁴  to claim ⁵  a nation for himself and to make a name for himself! You did great and awesome acts for your land, ⁶  before your people whom you delivered for yourself from the Egyptian empire and its gods. ⁷ 

2 Samuel 8:2

8:2 He defeated the Moabites. He made them lie on the ground and then used a rope to measure them off. He put two-thirds of them to death and spared the other third. ⁸  The Moabites became David’s subjects and brought tribute. ⁹ 

2 Samuel 11:21

11:21 Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone ¹⁰  down on him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ just say to him, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.’”

2 Samuel 14:2

14:2 So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He told her, “Pretend to be in mourning ¹¹  and put on garments for mourning. Don’t anoint yourself with oil. Instead, act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for some time. ¹² 

¹ tn Heb “from.”

² tn Heb “a nation, one.”

³ tn Heb “whose God” or “because God.” In the Hebrew text this clause is subordinated to what precedes. The clauses are separated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁴ tn The verb is plural in Hebrew, agreeing grammatically with the divine name, which is a plural of degree.

⁵ tn Heb “redeem.”

⁶ tn Heb “and to do for you [plural form] the great [thing] and awesome [things] for your land.”

⁷ tn Heb “from Egypt, nations and their gods.” The LXX has “nations and tents,” which reflects a mistaken metathesis of letters in אֶלֹהָיו (e’lohav, “its gods”) and אֹהָלָיו (’ohalav, “its tents”).

³ tn Heb “and he measured [with] two [lengths] of rope to put to death and [with] the fullness of the rope to keep alive.”

⁴ tn Heb “and the Moabites were servants of David, carriers of tribute.”

⁴ sn The upper millstone (Heb “millstone of riding”) refers to the heavy circular stone that was commonly rolled over a circular base in order to crush and grind such things as olives.

⁵ tn The Hebrew Hitpael verbal form here indicates pretended rather than genuine action.

⁶ tn Heb “these many days.”