2 Samuel 1:10

1:10 So I stood over him and put him to death, since I knew that he couldn’t live in such a condition. ¹  Then I took the crown which was on his head and the ²  bracelet which was on his arm. I have brought them here to my lord.” ³ 

2 Samuel 2:23

2:23 But Asahel ⁴  refused to turn aside. So Abner struck him in the abdomen with the back end of his ⁵  spear. The spear came out his back; Asahel ⁶  collapsed on the spot and died there right before Abner. ⁷  Everyone who now comes to the place where Asahel fell dead pauses in respect. ⁸ 

2 Samuel 7:23

7:23 Who is like your people, Israel, a unique nation ⁹  on the earth? Their God ¹⁰  went ¹¹  to claim ¹²  a nation for himself and to make a name for himself! You did great and awesome acts for your land, ¹³  before your people whom you delivered for yourself from the Egyptian empire and its gods. ¹⁴ 

2 Samuel 10:2-3

10:2 David said, “I will express my loyalty ¹⁵  to Hanun son of Nahash just as his father was loyal ¹⁶  to me.” So David sent his servants with a message expressing sympathy over his father’s death. ¹⁷  When David’s servants entered the land of the Ammonites, 10:3 the Ammonite officials said to their lord Hanun, “Do you really think David is trying to honor your father by sending these messengers to express his sympathy? ¹⁸  No, David has sent his servants to you to get information about the city and spy on it so they can overthrow it!” ¹⁹ 

2 Samuel 16:11

16:11 Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “My own son, my very own flesh and blood, ²⁰  is trying to take my life. So also now this Benjaminite! Leave him alone so that he can curse, for the Lord has spoken to him.

2 Samuel 19:9

19:9 All the people throughout all the tribes of Israel were arguing among themselves saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies. He rescued us from the hand of the Philistines, but now he has fled from the land because of Absalom.

2 Samuel 19:22

19:22 But David said, “What do we have in common, ²¹  you sons of Zeruiah? You are like my enemy today! Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Don’t you realize that today I am king over Israel?”

2 Samuel 20:8

20:8 When they were near the big rock that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to them. Now Joab was dressed in military attire and had a dagger in its sheath belted to his waist. When he advanced, it fell out. ²² 

2 Samuel 20:21-22

20:21 That’s not the way things are. There is a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Sheba son of Bicri. He has rebelled ²³  against King David. Give me just this one man, and I will leave the city.” The woman said to Joab, “This very minute ²⁴  his head will be thrown over the wall to you!”

20:22 Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice and they cut off Sheba’s head and threw it out to Joab. Joab ²⁵  blew the trumpet, and his men ²⁶  dispersed from the city, each going to his own home. ²⁷  Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.

2 Samuel 23:17

23:17 and said, “O Lord, I will not do this! ²⁸  It is equivalent to the blood of the men who risked their lives by going.” ²⁹  So he refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three elite warriors. ³⁰ 

[1:10]  ¹ tn Heb “after his falling”; NAB “could not survive his wound”; CEV “was too badly wounded to live much longer.”

[1:10]  ² tc The MT lacks the definite article, but this is likely due to textual corruption. It is preferable to read the alef (א) of אֶצְעָדָה (’ets’adah) as a ה (he) giving הַצְּעָדָה (hatsÿ’adah). There is no reason to think that the soldier confiscated from Saul’s dead body only one of two or more bracelets that he was wearing (cf. NLT “one of his bracelets”).

[1:10]  ³ sn The claims that the soldier is making here seem to contradict the story of Saul’s death as presented in 1 Sam 31:3-5. In that passage it appears that Saul took his own life, not that he was slain by a passerby who happened on the scene. Some scholars account for the discrepancy by supposing that conflicting accounts have been brought together in the MT. However, it is likely that the young man is here fabricating the account in a self-serving way so as to gain favor with David, or so he supposes. He probably had come across Saul’s corpse, stolen the crown and bracelet from the body, and now hopes to curry favor with David by handing over to him these emblems of Saul’s royalty. But in so doing the Amalekite greatly miscalculated David’s response to this alleged participation in Saul’s death. The consequence of his lies will instead be his own death.

[2:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Asahel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “the.” The article functions here as a possessive pronoun.

[2:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Asahel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abner) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “and they stand.”

[7:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “a nation, one.”

[7:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “whose God” or “because God.” In the Hebrew text this clause is subordinated to what precedes. The clauses are separated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:23]  ⁹ tn The verb is plural in Hebrew, agreeing grammatically with the divine name, which is a plural of degree.

[7:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “redeem.”

[7:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and to do for you [plural form] the great [thing] and awesome [things] for your land.”

[7:23]  ¹² tn Heb “from Egypt, nations and their gods.” The LXX has “nations and tents,” which reflects a mistaken metathesis of letters in אֶלֹהָיו (e’lohav, “its gods”) and אֹהָלָיו (’ohalav, “its tents”).

[10:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “do loyalty.”

[10:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “did loyalty.”

[10:2]  ¹² tn Heb “and David sent to console him by the hand of his servants concerning his father.”

[10:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “Is David honoring your father in your eyes when he sends to you ones consoling?”

[10:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Is it not to explore the city and to spy on it and to overthrow it [that] David has sent his servants to you?”

[16:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “who came out from my entrails.” David’s point is that is his own son, his child whom he himself had fathered, was now wanting to kill him.

[19:22]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “what to me and to you.”

[20:8]  ²² sn The significance of the statement it fell out here is unclear. If the dagger fell out of its sheath before Joab got to Amasa, how then did he kill him? Josephus, Ant. 7.11.7 (7.284), suggested that as Joab approached Amasa he deliberately caused the dagger to fall to the ground at an opportune moment as though by accident. When he bent over and picked it up, he then stabbed Amasa with it. Others have tried to make a case for thinking that two swords are referred to – the one that fell out and another that Joab kept concealed until the last moment. But nothing in the text clearly supports this view. Perhaps Josephus’ understanding is best, but it is by no means obvious in the text either.

[20:21]  ²⁵ tn Heb “lifted his hand.”

[20:21]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Look!”

[20:22]  ²⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:22]  ²⁹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (Joab’s men) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:22]  ³⁰ tn Heb “his tents.”

[23:17]  ³¹ tn Heb “Far be it to me, O Lord, from doing this.”

[23:17]  ³² tn Heb “[Is it not] the blood of the men who were going with their lives?”

[23:17]  ³³ tn Heb “These things the three warriors did.”