2 Samuel 8:2

8:2 He defeated the Moabites. He made them lie on the ground and then used a rope to measure them off. He put two-thirds of them to death and spared the other third. ¹  The Moabites became David’s subjects and brought tribute. ² 

2 Samuel 12:1

Nathan the Prophet Confronts David

12:1 So the Lord sent Nathan ³  to David. When he came to David, ⁴  Nathan ⁵  said, ⁶  “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.

2 Samuel 18:24

18:24 Now David was sitting between the inner and outer gates, ⁷  and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate at the wall. When he looked, he saw a man running by himself.

2 Samuel 21:8

21:8 So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah’s daughter Rizpah whom she had born to Saul, and the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab ⁸  whom she had born to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.

2 Samuel 23:20

23:20 Benaiah son of Jehoida was a brave warrior ⁹  from Kabzeel who performed great exploits. He struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab. ¹⁰  He also went down and killed a lion in a cistern on a snowy day.

¹ tn Heb “and he measured [with] two [lengths] of rope to put to death and [with] the fullness of the rope to keep alive.”

² tn Heb “and the Moabites were servants of David, carriers of tribute.”

³ tc A few medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta add “the prophet.” The words are included in a few modern English version (e.g., TEV, CEV, NLT).

⁴ tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Nathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn The Hebrew text repeats “to him.”

⁵ tn Heb “the two gates.”

⁷ tc The MT reads “Michal” here, but two Hebrew manuscripts read “Merab,” along with some LXX manuscripts. Cf. 1 Sam 18:19.

⁹ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading חַיִל (khayil, “valor”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, חַי (khay, “life”).

¹⁰ tc Heb “the two of Ariel, Moab.” The precise meaning of אריאל is uncertain; some read “warrior.” The present translation assumes that the word is a proper name and that בני, “sons of,” has accidentally dropped from the text by homoioarcton (note the preceding שׁני).