5:6 Then the king and his men advanced to Jerusalem 1 against the Jebusites who lived in the land. The Jebusites 2 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 3 by going through the water tunnel.” 4 For this reason it is said, “The blind and the lame cannot enter the palace.” 5
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 6 who commands armies 7 was with him. 8
5:11 King Hiram of Tyre 9 sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs, carpenters, and stonemasons. They built a palace 10 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.
1 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
2 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
3 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.
4 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.
5 tn Heb “the house.” TEV takes this as a reference to the temple (“the Lord’s house”).
6 tc 4QSama and the LXX lack the word “God,” probably due to harmonization with the more common biblical phrase “the
7 tn Traditionally, “the
8 tn The translation assumes that the disjunctive clause is circumstantial-causal, giving the reason for David’s success.
9 map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.
10 tn Heb “a house.”