2 Samuel 7:2-3

7:2 The king said to Nathan the prophet, “Look! I am living in a palace made from cedar, while the ark of God sits in the middle of a tent.” 7:3 Nathan replied to the king, “You should go ¹  and do whatever you have in mind, ²  for the Lord is with you.”

2 Samuel 7:1

The Lord Establishes a Covenant with David

7:1 The king settled into his palace, ³  for the Lord gave him relief ⁴  from all his enemies on all sides. ⁵ 

2 Samuel 5:3

5:3 When all the leaders ⁶  of Israel came to the king at Hebron, King David made an agreement with them ⁷  in Hebron before the Lord. They designated ⁸  David as king over Israel.

2 Samuel 8:17

8:17 Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar ⁹  were priests; Seraiah was scribe;

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 

2 Samuel 17:1

The Death of Ahithophel

17:1 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me pick out twelve thousand men. Then I will go and pursue David this very night.

2 Samuel 22:7

22:7 In my distress I called to the Lord;

I called to my God. ¹² 

From his heavenly temple ¹³  he heard my voice;

he listened to my cry for help. ¹⁴ 

2 Samuel 1:2-4

1:2 On the third day a man arrived from the camp of Saul with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. ¹⁵  When he approached David, the man ¹⁶  threw himself to the ground. ¹⁷ 

1:3 David asked him, “Where are you coming from?” He replied, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.” 1:4 David inquired, “How were things going? ¹⁸  Tell me!” He replied, “The people fled from the battle and many of them ¹⁹  fell dead. ²⁰  Even Saul and his son Jonathan are dead!”

¹ tc Several medieval Hebrew mss and the Syriac Peshitta lack this word.

² tn Heb “all that is in your heart.”

³ tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).

⁴ tn Or “rest.”

⁵ tn The translation understands the disjunctive clause in v. 1b as circumstantial-causal.

⁶ tn Heb “elders.”

⁷ tn Heb “and the king, David, cut for them a covenant.”

⁸ tn Heb “anointed.”

⁹ tc Here Ahimelech is called “the son of Abiathar,” but NCV, CEV, and REB reverse this to conform with 1 Sam 22:20. Most recent English versions (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) retain the order found in the MT.

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.”

¹² tn In this poetic narrative the two prefixed verbal forms in v. 7a are best understood as preterites indicating past tense, not imperfects. Note the use of the vav consecutive with the prefixed verbal form that follows in v. 7b.

¹³ tn Heb “from his temple.” Verse 10, which pictures God descending from the sky, indicates that the heavenly, not earthly, temple is in view.

¹⁴ tn Heb “and my cry for help [entered] his ears.”

¹⁵ sn Tearing one’s clothing and throwing dirt on one’s head were outward expressions of grief in the ancient Near East, where such demonstrable reactions were a common response to tragic news.

¹⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man mentioned at the beginning of v. 2) has been specified in the translation to avoid confusion as to who fell to the ground.

¹⁷ tn Heb “he fell to the ground and did obeisance.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “What was the word?”

¹⁹ tn Heb “from the people.”

²⁰ tn Heb “fell and died.”