2 Samuel 17:23

17:23 When Ahithophel realized that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and returned to his house in his hometown. After setting his household in order, he hanged himself. So he died and was buried in the grave ¹  of his father.

2 Samuel 17:1

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.

2 Samuel 20:1

Sheba’s Rebellion

20:1 Now a wicked man ²  named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, ³  happened to be there. He blew the trumpet ⁴  and said,

“We have no share in David;

we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!

Every man go home, ⁵  O Israel!”

2 Samuel 21:4

21:4 The Gibeonites said to him, “We ⁶  have no claim to silver or gold from Saul or from his family, ⁷  nor would we be justified in putting to death anyone in Israel.” David asked, ⁸  “What then are you asking me to do for you?”

2 Samuel 21:2

21:2 So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them. (Now the Gibeonites were not descendants of Israel; they were a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had made a promise to ⁹  them, but Saul tried to kill them because of his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)

2 Samuel 1:20

1:20 Don’t report it in Gath,

don’t spread the news in the streets of Ashkelon, ¹⁰ 

or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice,

the daughters of the uncircumcised will celebrate!

Job 20:5

20:5 that the elation of the wicked is brief, ¹¹ 

the joy of the godless ¹²  lasts but a moment. ¹³ 

[17:23]  ¹ tc The Greek recensions of Origen and Lucian have here “house” for “grave.”

[20:1]  ² tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”

[20:1]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.

[20:1]  ⁵ 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.

[21:4]  ⁶ tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading לָנוּ (lanu, “to us”) rather than the MT לִי (li, “to me”). But for a contrary opinion see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 53, 350.

[21:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “house.”

[21:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “swore an oath to.”

[1:20]  ¹⁰ sn The cities of Gath and Ashkelon are mentioned here by synecdoche of part for the whole. As major Philistine cities they in fact represent all of Philistia. The point is that when the sad news of fallen Israelite leadership reaches the Philistines, it will be for these enemies of Israel the occasion of great joy rather than grief.

[20:5]  ¹¹ tn The expression in the text is “quite near.” This indicates that it is easily attained, and that its end is near.

[20:5]  ¹² tn For the discussion of חָנֵף (khanef, “godless”) see Job 8:13.

[20:5]  ¹³ tn The phrase is “until a moment,” meaning it is short-lived. But see J. Barr, “Hebrew ’ad, especially at Job 1:18 and Neh 7:3,” JSS 27 (1982): 177-88.