2 Samuel 1:23

1:23 Saul and Jonathan were greatly loved ¹  during their lives,

and not even in their deaths were they separated.

They were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions.

2 Samuel 19:6

19:6 You seem to love your enemies and hate your friends! For you have as much as declared today that leaders and servants don’t matter to you. I realize now ²  that if ³  Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, ⁴  it would be all right with you.

2 Samuel 12:24

12:24 So David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and had marital relations with her. ⁵  She gave birth to a son, and David ⁶  named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved the child ⁷ 

2 Samuel 13:1

The Rape of Tamar

13:1 Now David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar. In the course of time David’s son Amnon fell madly in love with her. ⁸ 

2 Samuel 13:15

13:15 Then Amnon greatly despised her. ⁹  His disdain toward her surpassed the love he had previously felt toward her. ¹⁰  Amnon said to her, “Get up and leave!”

2 Samuel 13:4

13:4 He asked Amnon, ¹¹  “Why are you, the king’s son, ¹²  so depressed every morning? Can’t you tell me?” So Amnon said to him, “I’m in love with Tamar the sister of my brother Absalom.”

[1:23]  ¹ tn Heb “beloved and dear.”

[19:6]  ² tn Heb “today.”

[19:6]  ³ tc The translation follows the Qere, 4QSam^a, and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading לוּ (lu, “if”) rather than MT לֹא (lo’, “not”).

[19:6]  ⁴ tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack “today.”

[12:24]  ³ tn Heb “and he lay with her.”

[12:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity. While some translations render the pronoun as third person plural (“they”), implying that both David and Bathsheba together named the child, it is likely that the name “Solomon,” which is related to the Hebrew word for “peace” (and may be derived from it) had special significance for David, who would have regarded the birth of a second child to Bathsheba as a confirming sign that God had forgiven his sin and was at peace with him.

[12:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “him,” referring to the child.

[13:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “Amnon the son of David loved her.” The following verse indicates the extreme nature of his infatuation, so the translation uses “madly in love” here.

[13:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “and Amnon hated her with very great hatred.”

[13:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “for greater was the hatred with which he hated her than the love with which he loved her.”

[13:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he said to him.”

[13:4]  ⁷ tn An more idiomatic translation might be “Why are you of all people…?”