2 Samuel 16:21--17:4

16:21 Ahithophel replied to Absalom, “Have sex with ¹  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.” ²  16:22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, ³  and Absalom had sex with ⁴  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. ⁵  Both David and Absalom highly regarded the advice of Ahithophel. ⁶ 

The Death of Ahithophel

17:1 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me pick out twelve thousand men. Then I will go and pursue David this very night. 17:2 When I catch up with ⁷  him he will be exhausted and worn out. ⁸  I will rout him, and the entire army that is with him will flee. I will kill only the king 17:3 and will bring the entire army back to you. In exchange for the life of the man you are seeking, you will get back everyone. ⁹  The entire army will return unharmed.” ¹⁰ 

17:4 This seemed like a good idea to Absalom and to all the leaders ¹¹  of Israel.

Psalms 50:18-19

50:18 When you see a thief, you join him; ¹² 

you associate with men who are unfaithful to their wives. ¹³ 

50:19 You do damage with words, ¹⁴ 

and use your tongue to deceive. ¹⁵ 

Proverbs 19:27

19:27 If you stop listening to ¹⁶  instruction, my child,

you will stray ¹⁷  from the words of knowledge.

Mark 6:24-25

6:24 So ¹⁸  she went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” Her mother ¹⁹  said, “The head of John the baptizer.” ²⁰  6:25 Immediately she hurried back to the king and made her request: ²¹  “I want the head of John the Baptist on a platter immediately.”

Acts 23:15

23:15 So now you and the council ²²  request the commanding officer ²³  to bring him down to you, as if you were going to determine ²⁴  his case ²⁵  by conducting a more thorough inquiry. ²⁶  We are ready to kill him ²⁷  before he comes near this place.” ²⁸ 

[16:21]  ¹ tn Heb “go to”; NAB “have (+ sexual NCV) relations with”; TEV “have intercourse with”; NLT “Go and sleep with.”

[16:21]  ² tn Heb “and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

[16:22]  ³ sn That is, on top of the flat roof of the palace, so it would be visible to the public.

[16:22]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “So was all the advice of Ahithophel, also to David, also to Absalom.”

[17:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “and I will come upon him.”

[17:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “exhausted and slack of hands.”

[17:3]  ⁹ tc Heb “like the returning of all, the man whom you are seeking.” The LXX reads differently: “And I will return all the people to you the way a bride returns to her husband, except for the life of the one man whom you are seeking.” The other early versions also struggled with this verse. Modern translations are divided as well: the NAB, NRSV, REB, and NLT follow the LXX, while the NASB and NIV follow the Hebrew text.

[17:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “all of the people will be safe.”

[17:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “elders.”

[50:18]  ¹² tn Heb “you run with him.”

[50:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “and with adulterers [is] your portion.”

[50:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your mouth you send with evil.”

[50:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and your tongue binds together [i.e., “frames”] deceit.”

[19:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Stop listening…!” The infinitive construct לִשְׁמֹעַ (lishmoa’) functions as the direct object of the imperative: “stop heeding [or, listening to].” Of course in this proverb which shows the consequences of doing so, this is irony. The sage is instructing not to stop. The conditional protasis construction does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation.

[19:27]  ¹⁷ tn The second line has an infinitive construct לִשְׁגוֹת (lishgot), meaning “to stray; to go astray; to err.” It indicates the result of the instruction – stop listening, and as a result you will go astray. The LXX took it differently: “A son who ceases to attend to discipline is likely to stray from words of knowledge.” RSV sees the final clause as the purpose of the instructions to be avoided: “do not listen to instructions to err.”

[6:24]  ¹⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

[6:24]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “She said”; the referent (the girl’s mother) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:24]  ²⁰ tn While Matthew and Luke consistently use the noun βαπτίστης (baptisths, “the Baptist”) to refer to John, as a kind of a title, Mark employs the substantival participle ὁ βαπτίζων (Jo baptizwn, “the one who baptizes, the baptizer”) to describe him (though twice he does use the noun [Mark 6:25; 8:28]).

[6:25]  ²¹ tn Grk “she asked, saying.” The participle λέγουσα (legousa) is redundant and has not been translated.

[23:15]  ²² tn Grk “the Sanhedrin” (the Sanhedrin was the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).

[23:15]  ²³ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 10.

[23:15]  ²⁴ tn Or “decide.” BDAG 227 s.v. διαγινώσκω has “ἀκριβέστερον τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ to make a more thorough examination of his case Ac 23:15.”

[23:15]  ²⁵ tn Grk “determine the things about him.”

[23:15]  ²⁶ tn The expression “more thorough inquiry” reflects the comparative form of ἀκριβέστερον (akribesteron).

[23:15]  ²⁷ sn “We are ready to kill him.” Now those Jews involved in the conspiracy, along with the leaders as accomplices, are going to break one of the ten commandments.

[23:15]  ²⁸ tn The words “this place” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.