5:1 All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron saying, “Look, we are your very flesh and blood! 1 5:2 In the past, when Saul was our king, you were the real leader in Israel. 2 The Lord said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel; you will rule over Israel.’”
5:3 When all the leaders 3 of Israel came to the king at Hebron, King David made an agreement with them 4 in Hebron before the Lord. They designated 5 David as king over Israel. 5:4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign and he reigned for forty years. 5:5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah for seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem 6 he reigned for thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.
5:6 Then the king and his men advanced to Jerusalem 7 against the Jebusites who lived in the land. The Jebusites 8 said to David, “You cannot invade this place! Even the blind and the lame will turn you back, saying, ‘David cannot invade this place!’”
5:7 But David captured the fortress of Zion (that is, the city of David). 5:8 David said on that day, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites must approach the ‘lame’ and the ‘blind’ who are David’s enemies 9 by going through the water tunnel.” 10 For this reason it is said, “The blind and the lame cannot enter the palace.” 11
5:9 So David lived in the fortress and called it the City of David. David built all around it, from the terrace inwards. 5:10 David’s power grew steadily, for the Lord God 12 who commands armies 13 was with him. 14
5:11 King Hiram of Tyre 15 sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs, carpenters, and stonemasons. They built a palace 16 for David. 5:12 David realized that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and that he had elevated his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel. 5:13 David married more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he arrived from Hebron. Even more sons and daughters were born to David. 5:14 These are the names of children born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 5:15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, 5:16 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
5:17 When the Philistines heard that David had been designated 17 king over Israel, they all 18 went up to search for David. When David heard about it, he went down to the fortress. 5:18 Now the Philistines had arrived and spread out in the valley of Rephaim. 5:19 So David asked the Lord, “Should I march up against the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?” The Lord said to David, “March up, for I will indeed 19 hand the Philistines over to you.”
5:20 So David marched against Baal Perazim and defeated them there. Then he said, “The Lord has burst out against my enemies like water bursts out.” So he called the name of that place Baal Perazim. 20 5:21 The Philistines 21 abandoned their idols 22 there, and David and his men picked them up.
1 tn Heb “look we are your bone and your flesh.”
2 tn Heb “you were the one leading out and the one leading in Israel.”
3 tn Heb “elders.”
4 tn Heb “and the king, David, cut for them a covenant.”
5 tn Heb “anointed.”
6 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
7 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
8 tn The Hebrew text has “he” rather than “the Jebusites.” The referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. In the Syriac Peshitta and some
9 tc There is some confusion among the witnesses concerning this word. The Kethib is the Qal perfect 3cp שָׂנְאוּ (sanÿ’u, “they hated”), referring to the Jebusites’ attitude toward David. The Qere is the Qal passive participle construct plural שְׂנֻאֵי (sÿnu’e, “hated”), referring to David’s attitude toward the Jebusites. 4QSama has the Qal perfect 3rd person feminine singular שָׂנְאָה (sanÿ’ah, “hated”), the subject of which would be “the soul of David.” The difference is minor and the translation adopted above works for either the Kethib or the Qere.
10 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term has been debated. For a survey of various views, see P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 139-40.
11 tn Heb “the house.” TEV takes this as a reference to the temple (“the Lord’s house”).
12 tc 4QSama and the LXX lack the word “God,” probably due to harmonization with the more common biblical phrase “the
13 tn Traditionally, “the
14 tn The translation assumes that the disjunctive clause is circumstantial-causal, giving the reason for David’s success.
15 map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.
16 tn Heb “a house.”
17 tn Heb “anointed.”
18 tn Heb “all the Philistines.”
19 tn The infinitive absolute lends emphasis to the following verb.
20 tn The name means “Lord of the outbursts.”
21 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Philistines) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
22 tc For “idols” the LXX and Vulgate have “gods.”