2 Samuel 1:20

1:20 Don’t report it in Gath,

don’t spread the news in the streets of Ashkelon, ¹ 

or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice,

the daughters of the uncircumcised will celebrate!

2 Samuel 12:28

12:28 So now assemble the rest of the army ²  and besiege the city and capture it. Otherwise I will capture the city and it will be named for me.”

2 Samuel 15:14

15:14 So David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, ³  “Come on! ⁴  Let’s escape! ⁵  Otherwise no one will be delivered from Absalom! Go immediately, or else he will quickly overtake us and bring ⁶  disaster on us and kill the city’s residents with the sword.” ⁷ 

2 Samuel 17:16

17:16 Now send word quickly to David and warn him, ⁸  “Don’t spend the night at the fords of the desert ⁹  tonight. Instead, be sure you cross over, ¹⁰  or else the king and everyone who is with him may be overwhelmed.” ¹¹ 

2 Samuel 20:6

20:6 Then David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba son of Bicri will cause greater disaster for us than Absalom did! Take your lord’s servants and pursue him. Otherwise he will secure ¹²  fortified cities for himself and get away from us.”

[1:20]  ¹ sn The cities of Gath and Ashkelon are mentioned here by synecdoche of part for the whole. As major Philistine cities they in fact represent all of Philistia. The point is that when the sad news of fallen Israelite leadership reaches the Philistines, it will be for these enemies of Israel the occasion of great joy rather than grief.

[12:28]  ² tn Heb “people.” So also in vv. 29, 31.

[15:14]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[15:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “Arise!”

[15:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “let’s flee.”

[15:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “thrust.”

[15:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”

[17:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “send quickly and tell David saying.”

[17:16]  ⁵ tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV).

[17:16]  ⁶ tn That is, “cross over the Jordan River.”

[17:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “swallowed up.”

[20:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “find.” The perfect verbal form is unexpected with the preceding word “otherwise.” We should probably read instead the imperfect. Although it is possible to understand the perfect here as indicating that the feared result is thought of as already having taken place (cf. BDB 814 s.v. פֶּן 2), it is more likely that the perfect is simply the result of scribal error. In this context the imperfect would be more consistent with the following verb וְהִצִּיל (vÿhitsil, “and he will get away”).