2 Samuel 1:1

David Learns of the Deaths of Saul and Jonathan

1:1 After the death of Saul, ¹  when David had returned from defeating the Amalekites, ²  he stayed at Ziklag ³  for two days.

2 Samuel 20:4

20:4 Then the king said to Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together for me in three days, ⁴  and you be present here with them too.”

2 Samuel 24:8

24:8 They went through all the land and after nine months and twenty days came back to Jerusalem. ⁵ 

2 Samuel 21:9

21:9 He turned them over to the Gibeonites, and they executed them on a hill before the Lord. The seven of them ⁶  died ⁷  together; they were put to death during harvest time – during the first days of the beginning ⁸  of the barley harvest.

2 Samuel 7:12

7:12 When the time comes for you to die, ⁹  I will raise up your descendant, one of your own sons, to succeed you, ¹⁰  and I will establish his kingdom.

2 Samuel 16:23

16:23 In those days Ahithophel’s advice was considered as valuable as a prophetic revelation. ¹¹  Both David and Absalom highly regarded the advice of Ahithophel. ¹² 

2 Samuel 21:1

The Gibeonites Demand Revenge

21:1 During David’s reign there was a famine for three consecutive years. So David inquired of the Lord. ¹³  The Lord said, “It is because of Saul and his bloodstained family, ¹⁴  because he murdered the Gibeonites.”

2 Samuel 24:13

24:13 Gad went to David and told him, “Shall seven ¹⁵  years of famine come upon your land? Or shall you flee for three months from your enemy with him in hot pursuit? Or shall there be three days of plague in your land? Now decide ¹⁶  what I should tell the one who sent me.”

2 Samuel 19:34

19:34 Barzillai replied to the king, “How many days do I have left to my life, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?

2 Samuel 14:2

14:2 So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He told her, “Pretend to be in mourning ¹⁷  and put on garments for mourning. Don’t anoint yourself with oil. Instead, act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for some time. ¹⁸ 

2 Samuel 20:18

20:18 She said, “In the past they would always say, ‘Let them inquire in Abel,’ and that is how they settled things.

2 Samuel 24:15

24:15 So the Lord sent a plague through Israel from the morning until the completion of the appointed time. Seventy thousand men died from Dan to Beer Sheba.

2 Samuel 2:11

2:11 David was king in Hebron over the people of Judah for seven and a half years. ¹⁹ 

2 Samuel 13:37

13:37 But Absalom fled and went to King Talmai son of Ammihud of Geshur. And David ²⁰  grieved over his son every day.

2 Samuel 20:5

20:5 So Amasa went out to call Judah together. But in doing so he took longer than the time that the king had allotted him.

2 Samuel 11:27

11:27 When the time of mourning passed, David had her brought to his palace. ²¹  She became his wife and she bore him a son. But what David had done upset the Lord. ²² 

2 Samuel 13:18

13:18 (Now she was wearing a long robe, ²³  for this is what the king’s virgin daughters used to wear.) So Amnon’s ²⁴  attendant removed her and bolted the door ²⁵  behind her.

[1:1]  ¹ sn This chapter is closely linked to 1 Sam 31. It should be kept in mind that 1 and 2 Samuel were originally a single book, not separate volumes. Whereas in English Bible tradition the books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and Ezra-Nehemiah are each regarded as two separate books, this was not the practice in ancient Hebrew tradition. Early canonical records, for example, counted them as single books respectively. The division into two books goes back to the Greek translation of the OT and was probably initiated because of the cumbersome length of copies due to the Greek practice (unlike that of Hebrew) of writing vowels. The present division into two books can be a little misleading in terms of perceiving the progression of the argument of the book; in some ways it is preferable to treat the books of 1-2 Samuel in a unified fashion.

[1:1]  ² sn The Amalekites were a nomadic people who inhabited Judah and the Transjordan. They are mentioned in Gen 36:15-16 as descendants of Amalek who in turn descended from Esau. In Exod 17:8-16 they are described as having acted in a hostile fashion toward Israel as the Israelites traveled to Canaan from Egypt. In David’s time the Amalekites were viewed as dangerous enemies who raided, looted, and burned Israelite cities (see 1 Sam 30).

[1:1]  ³ sn Ziklag was a city in the Negev which had been given to David by Achish king of Gath. For more than a year David used it as a base from which he conducted military expeditions (see 1 Sam 27:5-12). According to 1 Sam 30:1-19, Ziklag was destroyed by the Amalekites while Saul fought the Philistines.

[20:4]  ⁴ tn The present translation follows the Masoretic accentuation, with the major mark of disjunction (i.e., the atnach) placed at the word “days.” However, some scholars have suggested moving the atnach to “Judah” a couple of words earlier. This would yield the following sense: “Three days, and you be present here with them.” The difference in meaning is slight, and the MT is acceptable as it stands.

[24:8]  ⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[21:9]  ¹⁰ tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading שְׁבַעְתָּם (shÿva’tam, “the seven of them”) rather than MT שִׁבַעְתִּים (shiva’tim, “seventy”).

[21:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “fell.”

[21:9]  ¹² tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading בִּתְחִלַּת (bithkhillat, “in the beginning”) rather than MT תְחִלַּת (tÿkhillat, “beginning of”).

[7:12]  ¹³ tn Heb, “when your days are full and you lie down with your ancestors.”

[7:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your seed after you who comes out from your insides.”

[16:23]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “And the advice of Ahithophel which he advised in those days was as when one inquires of the word of God.”

[16:23]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “So was all the advice of Ahithophel, also to David, also to Absalom.”

[21:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “sought the face of the Lord.”

[21:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and the house of bloodshed.”

[24:13]  ²² tc The LXX has here “three” rather than “seven,” and is followed by NAB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, NLT. See 1 Chr 21:12.

[24:13]  ²³ tn Heb “now know and see.”

[14:2]  ²⁵ tn The Hebrew Hitpael verbal form here indicates pretended rather than genuine action.

[14:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “these many days.”

[2:11]  ²⁸ tn Heb “And the number of the days in which David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.”

[13:37]  ³¹ tc The Hebrew text leaves the word “David” to be inferred. The Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate add the word “David.” Most of the Greek tradition includes the words “King David” here.

[11:27]  ³⁴ tn Heb “David sent and gathered her to his house.”

[11:27]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and the thing which David had done was evil in the eyes of the Lord.” Note the verbal connection with v. 25. Though David did not regard the matter as evil, the Lord certainly did.

[13:18]  ³⁷ tn The Hebrew expression used here (כְּתֹנֶת פַּסִּים, kÿtonet passim) is found only here and in Gen 37:3, 23, 32. Hebrew פַּס (pas) can refer to the palm of the hand or the sole of the foot; here the idea is probably that of a long robe reaching to the feet and having sleeves reaching to the wrists. The notion of a “coat of many colors” (KJV, ASV “garment of divers colors”), a familiar translation for the phrase in Genesis, is based primarily on the translation adopted in the LXX χιτῶνα ποικίλον (citona poikilion) and does not have a great deal of support.

[13:18]  ³⁸ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Amnon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:18]  ³⁹ tn The Hebrew verb is a perfect with nonconsecutive vav, probably indicating an action (locking the door) that complements the preceding one (pushing her out the door).