2 Samuel 6:17

6:17 They brought the ark of the Lord and put it in its place ¹  in the middle of the tent that David had pitched for it. Then David offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings before the Lord.

2 Samuel 6:1

David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem

6:1 David again assembled ²  all the best ³  men in Israel, thirty thousand in number.

2 Samuel 15:3

15:3 Absalom would then say to him, “Look, your claims are legitimate and appropriate. ⁴  But there is no representative of the king who will listen to you.”

2 Samuel 15:12

15:12 While he was offering sacrifices, Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s adviser, ⁵  to come from his city, Giloh. ⁶  The conspiracy was gaining momentum, and the people were starting to side with Absalom.

Acts 7:46

7:46 He ⁷  found favor ⁸  with ⁹  God and asked that he could ¹⁰  find a dwelling place ¹¹  for the house ¹²  of Jacob.

¹ tc The Syriac Peshitta lacks “in its place.”

² tn The translation understands the verb to be a defective spelling of וַיְּאֱסֹף (vayyÿ’esof) due to quiescence of the letter א (alef). The root therefore is אסף (’sf, “to gather”). The Masoretes, however, pointed the verb as וַיֹּסֶף (vayyosef), understanding it to be a form of יָסַף (yasaf, “to add”). This does not fit the context, which calls for a verb of gathering.

³ tn Or “chosen.”

⁴ tn Heb “good and straight.”

⁵ tn Traditionally, “counselor,” but this term is more often associated with psychological counseling today, so “adviser” was used in the translation instead.

⁶ tn Heb “Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, the adviser of David, from his city, from Giloh, while he was sacrificing.” It is not entirely clear who (Absalom or Ahithophel) was offering the sacrifices.

⁷ tn Grk “David, who” The relative pronoun was replaced by the pronoun “he” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style.

⁸ tn Or “grace.”

⁹ tn Grk “before,” “in the presence of.”

¹⁰ tn The words “that he could” are not in the Greek text, but are implied as the (understood) subject of the infinitive εὑρεῖν (Jeurein). This understands David’s request as asking that he might find the dwelling place. The other possibility would be to supply “that God” as the subject of the infinitive: “and asked that God find a dwelling place.” Unfortunately this problem is complicated by the extremely difficult problem with the Greek text in the following phrase (“house of Jacob” vs. “God of Jacob”).

¹¹ tn On this term see BDAG 929 s.v. σκήνωμα a (Ps 132:5).

¹² tc Some mss read θεῷ (qew, “God”) here, a variant much easier to understand in the context. The reading “God” is supported by א² A C E Ψ 33 1739 Ï lat sy co. The more difficult οἴκῳ (oikw, “house”) is supported by Ì⁷⁴ א* B D H 049 pc. Thus the second reading is preferred both externally because of better ms evidence and internally because it is hard to see how a copyist finding the reading “God” would change it to “house,” while it is easy to see how (given the LXX of Ps 132:5) a copyist might assimilate the reading and change “house” to “God.” However, some scholars think the reading “house” is so difficult as to be unacceptable. Others (like Lachmann and Hort) resorted to conjectural emendation at this point. Others (Ropes) sought an answer in an underlying Aramaic expression. Not everyone thinks the reading “house” is too difficult to be accepted as original (see Lake and Cadbury). A. F. J. Klijn, “Stephen’s Speech – Acts vii.2-53,” NTS 4 (1957): 25-31, compared the idea of a “house within the house of Israel” with the Manual of Discipline from Qumran, a possible parallel that seems to support the reading “house” as authentic. (For the more detailed discussion from which this note was derived, see TCGNT 308-9.)