2 Samuel 11:18

11:18 Then Joab sent a full battle report to David. ¹ 

2 Samuel 1:25

1:25 How the warriors have fallen

in the midst of battle!

Jonathan lies slain on your high places!

2 Samuel 11:7

11:7 When Uriah came to him, David asked about how Joab and the army were doing and how the campaign was going. ² 

2 Samuel 11:19

11:19 He instructed the messenger as follows: “When you finish giving the battle report to the king,

2 Samuel 18:6

18:6 Then the army marched out to the field to fight against Israel. The battle took place in the forest of Ephraim.

2 Samuel 2:17

2:17 Now the battle was very severe that day; Abner and the men of Israel were overcome by David’s soldiers. ³ 

2 Samuel 3:1

3:1 However, the war was prolonged between the house of Saul and the house of David. David was becoming steadily stronger, while the house of Saul was becoming increasingly weaker.

2 Samuel 3:6

Abner Defects to David’s Camp

3:6 As the war continued between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was becoming more influential ⁴  in the house of Saul.

2 Samuel 10:9

10:9 When Joab saw that the battle would be fought on two fronts, he chose some of Israel’s best men and deployed them against the Arameans. ⁵ 

2 Samuel 11:15

11:15 In the letter he wrote: “Station Uriah in the thick of the battle and then withdraw from him so he will be cut down and killed.”

2 Samuel 18:8

18:8 The battle there was spread out over the whole area, and the forest consumed more soldiers than the sword devoured that day.

2 Samuel 21:18

21:18 Later there was another battle with the Philistines, this time in Gob. On that occasion Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the descendants of Rapha.

2 Samuel 1:4

1:4 David inquired, “How were things going? ⁶  Tell me!” He replied, “The people fled from the battle and many of them ⁷  fell dead. ⁸  Even Saul and his son Jonathan are dead!”

2 Samuel 21:19

21:19 Yet another battle occurred with the Philistines in Gob. On that occasion Elhanan the son of Jair ⁹  the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, ¹⁰  the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

[11:18]  ¹ tn Heb “Joab sent and related to David all the matters of the battle.”

[11:7]  ² tn Heb “concerning the peace of Joab and concerning the peace of the people and concerning the peace of the battle.”

[2:17]  ³ tn Heb “servants.” So also elsewhere.

[3:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “was strengthening himself.” The statement may have a negative sense here, perhaps suggesting that Abner was overstepping the bounds of political propriety in a self-serving way.

[10:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “and Joab saw that the face of the battle was to him before and behind and he chose from all the best in Israel and arranged to meet Aram.”

[1:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “What was the word?”

[1:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “from the people.”

[1:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “fell and died.”

[21:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “Jaare-Oregim,” but the second word, which means “weavers,” is probably accidentally included. It appears at the end of the verse. The term is omitted in the parallel account in 1 Chr 20:5, which has simply “Jair.”

[21:19]  ⁸ sn The Hebrew text as it stands reads, “Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite.” Who killed Goliath the Gittite? According to 1 Sam 17:4-58 it was David who killed Goliath, but according to the MT of 2 Sam 21:19 it was Elhanan who killed him. Many scholars believe that the two passages are hopelessly at variance with one another. Others have proposed various solutions to the difficulty, such as identifying David with Elhanan or positing the existence of two Goliaths. But in all likelihood the problem is the result of difficulties in the textual transmission of the Samuel passage; in fact, from a text-critical point of view the books of Samuel are the most poorly preserved of all the books of the Hebrew Bible. The parallel passage in 1 Chr 20:5 reads, “Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath.” Both versions are textually corrupt. The Chronicles text has misread “Bethlehemite” (בֵּית הַלַּחְמִי, bet hallakhmi) as the accusative sign followed by a proper name אֶת לַחְמִי (’et lakhmi). (See the note at 1 Chr 20:5.) The Samuel text misread the word for “brother” (אַח, ’akh) as the accusative sign (אֵת, ’et), thereby giving the impression that Elhanan, not David, killed Goliath. Thus in all probability the original text read, “Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath.”