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 3:21

3:21 Abner said to David, “Let me leave so that I may go and gather all Israel to my lord the king so that they may make an agreement ⁴  with you. Then you will rule over all that you desire.” So David sent Abner away, and he left in peace.

2 Samuel 7:29

7:29 Now be willing to bless your servant’s dynasty ⁵  so that it may stand permanently before you, for you, O sovereign Lord, have spoken. By your blessing may your servant’s dynasty be blessed on into the future!” ⁶ 

2 Samuel 9:11

9:11 Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do everything that my lord the king has instructed his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth was a regular guest ⁷  at David’s table, ⁸  just as though he were one of the king’s sons.

2 Samuel 14:15

14:15 I have now come to speak with my lord the king about this matter, because the people have made me fearful. ⁹  But your servant said, ‘I will speak to the king! Perhaps the king will do what his female servant ¹⁰  asks.

2 Samuel 14:18

14:18 Then the king replied to the woman, “Don’t hide any information from me when I question you.” The woman said, “Let my lord the king speak!”

2 Samuel 14:22

14:22 Then Joab bowed down with his face toward the ground and thanked ¹¹  the king. Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord the king, because the king has granted the request of your ¹²  servant!”

2 Samuel 16:9

16:9 Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head!”

2 Samuel 18:32

18:32 The king asked the Cushite, “How is the young man Absalom?” The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who have plotted against you ¹³  be like that young man!”

2 Samuel 19:20

19:20 For I, your servant, ¹⁴  know that I sinned, and I have come today as the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.”

2 Samuel 19:26

19:26 He replied, “My lord the king, my servant deceived me! I ¹⁵  said, ‘Let me get my donkey saddled so that I can ride on it and go with the king,’ for I ¹⁶  am lame.

2 Samuel 19:37

19:37 Let me ¹⁷  return so that I may die in my own city near the grave of my father and my mother. But look, here is your servant Kimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king. Do for him whatever seems appropriate to you.”

2 Samuel 24:3

24:3 Joab replied to the king, “May the Lord your God make the army a hundred times larger right before the eyes of my lord the king! But why does my master the king want to do this?”

2 Samuel 24:21

24:21 Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David replied, “To buy from you the threshing floor so I can build an altar for the Lord, so that the plague may be removed from the people.”

[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.

[3:21]  ⁴ tn After the cohortatives, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.

[7:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “house” (again later in this verse). See the note on “dynastic house” in v. 27.

[7:29]  ⁸ tn Or “permanently”; cf. NLT “it is an eternal blessing.”

[9:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “eating.”

[9:11]  ¹¹ tc Heb “my table.” But the first person reference to David is awkward here since the quotation of David’s words has already been concluded in v. 10; nor does the “my” refer to Ziba, since the latter part of v. 11 does not seem to be part of Ziba’s response to the king. The ancient versions are not unanimous in the way that they render the phrase. The LXX has “the table of David” (τῆς τραπέζης Δαυιδ, th" trapezh" Dauid); the Syriac Peshitta has “the table of the king” (patureh demalka’); the Vulgate has “your table” (mensam tuam). The present translation follows the LXX.

[14:15]  ¹³ tc The LXX (ὄψεταί με, opsetai me) has misunderstood the Hebrew יֵרְאֻנִי (yerÿ’uni, Piel perfect, “they have made me fearful”), taking the verb to be a form of the verb רָאָה (ra’ah, “to see”) rather than the verb יָרֵא (yare’, “to fear”). The fact that the Greek translators were working with an unvocalized Hebrew text (i.e., consonants only) made them very susceptible to this type of error.

[14:15]  ¹⁴ tn Here and in v. 16 the woman refers to herself as the king’s אָמָה (’amah), a term that refers to a higher level female servant toward whom the master might have some obligation. Like the other term, this word expresses her humility, but it also suggests that the king might have some obligation to treat her in accordance with the principles of justice.

[14:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “blessed.”

[14:22]  ¹⁷ tc The present translation reads with the Qere “your” rather than the MT “his.”

[18:32]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and all those rising against you for evil.”

[19:20]  ²² tn The Hebrew text has simply “your servant.”

[19:26]  ²⁵ tn Heb “your servant.”

[19:26]  ²⁶ tn Heb “your servant.”

[19:37]  ²⁸ tn Heb “your servant.”