2 Samuel 6:17-19

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. 6:18 When David finished offering the burnt sacrifices and peace offerings, he pronounced a blessing over the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. 6:19 He then handed out to each member of the entire assembly of Israel, ²  both men and women, a portion of bread, a date cake, ³  and a raisin cake. Then all the people went home. ⁴ 

2 Samuel 6:2

6:2 David and all the men who were with him traveled ⁵  to ⁶  Baalah ⁷  in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by the name ⁸  of the Lord of hosts, who sits enthroned between the cherubim that are on it.

2 Samuel 7:4-7

7:4 That night the Lord told Nathan, ⁹  7:5 “Go, tell my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord says: Do you really intend to build a house for me to live in? 7:6 I have not lived in a house from the time I brought the Israelites up from Egypt to the present day. Instead, I was traveling with them and living in a tent. ¹⁰  7:7 Wherever I moved among all the Israelites, I did not say ¹¹  to any of the leaders ¹²  whom I appointed to care for ¹³  my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?”’

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

² tn Heb “to all the people, to all the throng of Israel.”

³ tn The Hebrew word used here אֶשְׁפָּר (’espar) is found in the OT only here and in the parallel passage found in 1 Chr 16:3. Its exact meaning is uncertain, although the context indicates that it was a food of some sort (cf. KJV “a good piece of flesh”; NRSV “a portion of meat”). The translation adopted here (“date cake”) follows the lead of the Greek translations of the LXX, Aquila, and Symmachus (cf. NASB, NIV, NLT).

⁴ tn Heb “and all the people went, each to his house.”

⁵ tn Heb “arose and went.”

⁶ tn Heb “from,” but the following context indicates they traveled to this location.

⁷ tn This is another name for Kiriath-jearim (see 1 Chr 13:6).

⁸ tc The MT has here a double reference to the name (שֵׁם שֵׁם, shem shem). Many medieval Hebrew mss in the first occurrence point the word differently and read the adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”). This is also the understanding of the Syriac Peshitta (Syr., taman). While this yields an acceptable understanding to the text, it is more likely that the MT dittographic here. The present translation therefore reads שֵׁם only once.

⁹ tn Heb “the word of the Lord was [i.e., came] to Nathan.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “in a tent and in a dwelling.” The expression is a hendiadys, using two terms to express one idea.

¹¹ tn Heb “Did I speak a word?” In the Hebrew text the statement is phrased as a rhetorical question.

¹² tn Heb “tribes” (so KJV, NASB, NCV), but the parallel passage in 1 Chr 17:6 has “judges.”

¹³ tn Heb “whom I commanded to shepherd” (so NIV, NRSV).