2 Samuel 16:11-23

16:11 Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “My own son, my very own flesh and blood, ¹  is trying to take my life. So also now this Benjaminite! Leave him alone so that he can curse, for the Lord has spoken to him. 16:12 Perhaps the Lord will notice my affliction ²  and this day grant me good in place of his curse.” ³ 

16:13 So David and his men went on their way. But Shimei kept going along the side of the hill opposite him, yelling curses as he threw stones and dirt at them. ⁴  16:14 The king and all the people who were with him arrived exhausted at their destination, where David ⁵  refreshed himself.

The Advice of Ahithophel

16:15 Now when Absalom and all the men ⁶  of Israel arrived in Jerusalem, ⁷  Ahithophel was with him. 16:16 When David’s friend Hushai the Arkite came to Absalom, Hushai said to him, ⁸  “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

16:17 Absalom said to Hushai, “Do you call this loyalty to your friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend?” 16:18 Hushai replied to Absalom, “No, I will be loyal to the one whom the Lord, these people, and all the men of Israel have chosen. ⁹  16:19 Moreover, whom should I serve? Should it not be his son? Just as I served your father, so I will serve you.” ¹⁰ 

16:20 Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give us your advice. What should we do?” 16:21 Ahithophel replied to Absalom, “Have sex with ¹¹  your father’s concubines whom he left to care for the palace. All Israel will hear that you have made yourself repulsive to your father. Then your followers will be motivated to support you.” ¹²  16:22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, ¹³  and Absalom had sex with ¹⁴  his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

16:23 In those days Ahithophel’s advice was considered as valuable as a prophetic revelation. ¹⁵  Both David and Absalom highly regarded the advice of Ahithophel. ¹⁶ 

[16:11]  ¹ tn Heb “who came out from my entrails.” David’s point is that is his own son, his child whom he himself had fathered, was now wanting to kill him.

[16:12]  ² tc The Hebrew text is difficult here. It is probably preferable to read with the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate בְּעוֹנִי (bÿ’onyi, “on my affliction”) rather than the Kethib of the MT בָּעַוֹנִי (ba’avoni, “on my wrongdoing”). While this Kethib reading is understandable as an objective genitive (i.e., “the wrong perpetrated upon me”), it does not conform to normal Hebrew idiom for this idea. The Qere of the MT בְּעֵינֵי (bÿ’eni, “on my eyes”), usually taken as synecdoche to mean “my tears,” does not commend itself as a likely meaning. The Hebrew word is one of the so-called tiqqune sopherim, or “emendations of the scribes.”

[16:12]  ³ tn Heb “and the Lord will restore to me good in place of his curse this day.”

[16:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he cursed and threw stones, opposite him, pelting [them] with dirt.” The offline vÿqatal construction in the last clause indicates an action that was complementary to the action described in the preceding clause. He simultaneously threw stones and dirt.

[16:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “and all the people, the men of Israel.”

[16:15]  ⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[16:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “to Absalom.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[16:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “No for with the one whom the Lord has chosen, and this people, and all the men of Israel, I will be and with him I will stay.” The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading לוֹ (lo, “[I will be] to him”) rather than the MT לֹא (lo’, “[I will] not be”), which makes very little sense here.

[16:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Just as I served before your father, so I will be before you.”

[16:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “go to”; NAB “have (+ sexual NCV) relations with”; TEV “have intercourse with”; NLT “Go and sleep with.”

[16:21]  ¹² tn Heb “and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

[16:22]  ¹³ sn That is, on top of the flat roof of the palace, so it would be visible to the public.

[16:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “went to”; NAB “he visited his father’s concubines”; NIV “lay with his father’s concubines”; TEV “went in and had intercourse with.”

[16:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “And the advice of Ahithophel which he advised in those days was as when one inquires of the word of God.”

[16:23]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “So was all the advice of Ahithophel, also to David, also to Absalom.”