2 Samuel 18:17

18:17 They took Absalom, threw him into a large pit in the forest, and stacked a huge pile of stones over him. In the meantime all the Israelite soldiers fled to their homes. ¹ 

2 Samuel 19:8

19:8 So the king got up and sat at the city gate. When all the people were informed that the king was sitting at the city gate, they ²  all came before him.

David Goes Back to Jerusalem

But the Israelite soldiers ³  had all fled to their own homes. ⁴ 

2 Samuel 20:1

Sheba’s Rebellion

20:1 Now a wicked man ⁵  named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, ⁶  happened to be there. He blew the trumpet ⁷  and said,

“We have no share in David;

we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!

Every man go home, ⁸  O Israel!”

2 Samuel 20:22

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 ⁹  blew the trumpet, and his men ¹⁰  dispersed from the city, each going to his own home. ¹¹  Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.

[18:17]  ¹ tn Heb “and all Israel fled, each to his tent.” In this context this refers to the supporters of Absalom (see vv. 6-7, 16).

[19:8]  ² tn Heb “all the people.”

[19:8]  ³ tn The Hebrew text has simply “Israel” (see 18:16-17).

[19:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “had fled, each to his tent.”

[20:1]  ³ tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”

[20:1]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.

[20:1]  ⁶ 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.

[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.”