2 Samuel 18:16

18:16 Then Joab blew the trumpet ¹  and the army turned back from chasing Israel, for Joab had called for the army to halt.

2 Samuel 20:21-22

20:21 That’s not the way things are. There is a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Sheba son of Bicri. He has rebelled ²  against King David. Give me just this one man, and I will leave the city.” The woman said to Joab, “This very minute ³  his head will be thrown over the wall to you!”

20:22 Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice and they cut off Sheba’s head and threw it out to Joab. Joab ⁴  blew the trumpet, and his men ⁵  dispersed from the city, each going to his own home. ⁶  Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.

2 Samuel 20:1

Sheba’s Rebellion

20:1 Now a wicked man ⁷  named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, ⁸  happened to be there. He blew the trumpet ⁹  and said,

“We have no share in David;

we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!

Every man go home, ¹⁰  O Israel!”

2 Samuel 22:35-36

22:35 He trains ¹¹  my hands for battle; ¹² 

my arms can bend even the strongest bow. ¹³ 

22:36 You give me ¹⁴  your protective shield; ¹⁵ 

your willingness to help enables me to prevail. ¹⁶ 

Proverbs 22:10

22:10 Drive out the scorner ¹⁷  and contention will leave;

strife and insults will cease. ¹⁸ 

[18:16]  ¹ tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet).

[20:21]  ² tn Heb “lifted his hand.”

[20:21]  ³ tn Heb “Look!”

[20:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “they”; the referent (Joab’s men) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “his tents.”

[20:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”

[20:1]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.

[20:1]  ¹⁰ 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.

[22:35]  ¹¹ tn Heb “teaches.”

[22:35]  ¹² tn The psalmist attributes his skill with weapons to divine enabling. Egyptian reliefs picture gods teaching the king how to shoot a bow. See O. Keel, Symbolism of the Biblical World, 265.

[22:35]  ¹³ tn Heb “and a bow of bronze is bent by my arms.” The verb נָחֵת (nakhet) apparently means “to pull back; to bend” here (see HALOT 692 s.v. נחת). The bronze bow referred to here was probably laminated with bronze strips, or a purely ceremonial or decorative bow made entirely from bronze. In the latter case the language is hyperbolic, for such a weapon would not be functional in battle.

[22:36]  ¹⁴ tn Another option is to translate the prefixed verb with vav consecutive with a past tense, “you gave me.” Several prefixed verbal forms with vav consecutive also appear in vv. 38-44. The present translation understands this section as a description of what generally happened when the author charged into battle, but another option is to understand the section as narrative and translate accordingly.

[22:36]  ¹⁵ tc Ps 18:35 contains an additional line following this one, which reads “your right hand supports me.” It may be omitted here due to homoioarcton. See the note at Ps 18:35.

[22:36]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “your answer makes me great.” David refers to God’s willingness to answer his prayer.

[22:10]  ¹⁷ sn This proverb, written in loose synonymous parallelism, instructs that the scorner should be removed because he causes strife. The “scorner” is לֵץ (lets), the one the book of Proverbs says cannot be changed with discipline or correction, but despises and disrupts anything that is morally or socially constructive.

[22:10]  ¹⁸ tc The LXX freely adds “when he sits in council (ἐν συνεδρίῳ, ejn sunedriw), he insults everyone.” The MT does not suggest that the setting is in a court of law; so the LXX addition is highly unlikely.