2 Samuel 6:19-20

6:19 He then handed out to each member of the entire assembly of Israel, ¹  both men and women, a portion of bread, a date cake, ²  and a raisin cake. Then all the people went home. ³  6:20 When David went home to pronounce a blessing on his own house, ⁴  Michal, Saul’s daughter, came out to meet him. ⁵  She said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished ⁶  himself this day! He has exposed himself today before his servants’ slave girls the way a vulgar fool ⁷  might do!”

2 Samuel 6:1

David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem

6:1 David again assembled ⁸  all the best ⁹  men in Israel, thirty thousand in number.

2 Samuel 8:1

David Subjugates Nearby Nations

8:1 Later David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. David took Metheg Ammah ¹⁰  from the Philistines. ¹¹ 

¹ tn Heb “to all the people, to all the throng of Israel.”

² 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).

³ tn Heb “and all the people went, each to his house.”

⁴ tn Heb “and David returned to bless his house.”

⁵ tn Heb “David.” The name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁶ tn Heb “honored.”

⁷ tn Heb “one of the foolish ones.”

⁸ 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.

⁹ tn Or “chosen.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “the bridle of one cubit.” Many English versions treat this as a place name because the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:1 reads “Gath” (which is used by NLT here). It is possible that “the bridle of one cubit” is to be understood as “the token of surrender,” referring to the Philistine’s defeat rather than a specific place (cf. TEV, CEV).

¹¹ tn Heb “from the hand [i.e., control] of the Philistines.”