2 Samuel 11:25

11:25 David said to the messenger, “Tell Joab, ‘Don’t let this thing upset you. ¹  There is no way to anticipate whom the sword will cut down. ²  Press the battle against the city and conquer ³  it.’ Encourage him with these words.” ⁴ 

2 Samuel 11:1

David Commits Adultery with Bathsheba

11:1 In the spring of the year, at the time when kings ⁵  normally conduct wars, ⁶  David sent out Joab with his officers ⁷  and the entire Israelite army. ⁸  They defeated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed behind in Jerusalem. ⁹ 

2 Samuel 20:1

Sheba’s Rebellion

20:1 Now a wicked man ¹⁰  named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, ¹¹  happened to be there. He blew the trumpet ¹²  and said,

“We have no share in David;

we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!

Every man go home, ¹³  O Israel!”

[11:25]  ¹ tn Heb “let not this matter be evil in your eyes.”

[11:25]  ² tn Heb “according to this and according to this the sword devours.”

[11:25]  ³ tn Heb “overthrow.”

[11:25]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text does not have “with these words.” They are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[11:1]  ⁵ tc Codex Leningrad (B19A), on which BHS is based, has here “messengers” (הַמַּלְאכִים, hammal’khim), probably as the result of contamination from the occurrence of that word in v. 4. The present translation follows most Hebrew mss and the ancient versions, which read “kings” (הַמֶּלָאכִים, hammela’kim).

[11:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “go out.”

[11:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “and his servants with him.”

[11:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “all Israel.”

[11:1]  ⁹ tn The disjunctive clause contrasts David’s inactivity with the army’s activity.

[20:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”

[20:1]  ¹¹ tn The expression used here יְמִינִי (yÿmini) is a short form of the more common “Benjamin.” It appears elsewhere in 1 Sam 9:4 and Esth 2:5. Cf. 1 Sam 9:1.

[20:1]  ¹² tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.

[20:1]  ¹³ tc The MT reads לְאֹהָלָיו (lÿ’ohalav, “to his tents”). For a similar idiom, see 19:9. An ancient scribal tradition understands the reading to be לְאלֹהָיו (le’lohav, “to his gods”). The word is a tiqqun sopherim, and the scribes indicate that they changed the word from “gods” to “tents” so as to soften its theological implications. In a consonantal Hebrew text the change involved only the metathesis of two letters.