2 Samuel 2:1

David is Anointed King

2:1 Afterward David inquired of the Lord, “Should I go up to one of the cities of Judah?” The Lord told him, “Go up.” David asked, “Where should I go?” The Lord replied, ¹  “To Hebron.”

2 Samuel 3:18

3:18 Act now! For the Lord has said to David, ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save ²  my people Israel from ³  the Philistines and from all their enemies.’”

2 Samuel 3:21-22

3:21 Abner said to David, “Let me leave so that I may go and gather all Israel to my lord the king so that they may make an agreement ⁴  with you. Then you will rule over all that you desire.” So David sent Abner away, and he left in peace.

Abner Is Killed

3:22 Now David’s soldiers ⁵  and Joab were coming back from a raid, bringing a great deal of plunder with them. Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, for David ⁶  had sent him away and he had left in peace.

2 Samuel 3:31

3:31 David instructed Joab and all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes! Put on sackcloth! Lament before Abner!” Now King David followed ⁷  behind the funeral bier.

2 Samuel 3:35

3:35 Then all the people came and encouraged David to eat food while it was still day. But David took an oath saying, “God will punish me severely ⁸  if I taste bread or anything whatsoever before the sun sets!”

2 Samuel 5:3

5:3 When all the leaders ⁹  of Israel came to the king at Hebron, King David made an agreement with them ¹⁰  in Hebron before the Lord. They designated ¹¹  David as king over Israel.

2 Samuel 5:8

5:8 David said on that day, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites must approach the ‘lame’ and the ‘blind’ who are David’s enemies ¹²  by going through the water tunnel.” ¹³  For this reason it is said, “The blind and the lame cannot enter the palace.” ¹⁴ 

2 Samuel 5:19-20

5:19 So David asked the Lord, “Should I march up against the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?” The Lord said to David, “March up, for I will indeed ¹⁵  hand the Philistines over to you.”

5:20 So David marched against Baal Perazim and defeated them there. Then he said, “The Lord has burst out against my enemies like water bursts out.” So he called the name of that place Baal Perazim. ¹⁶ 

2 Samuel 6:16-17

6:16 As the ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked out the window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him. ¹⁷  6:17 They brought the ark of the Lord and put it in its place ¹⁸  in the middle of the tent that David had pitched for it. Then David offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings before the Lord.

2 Samuel 6:20

6:20 When David went home to pronounce a blessing on his own house, ¹⁹  Michal, Saul’s daughter, came out to meet him. ²⁰  She said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished ²¹  himself this day! He has exposed himself today before his servants’ slave girls the way a vulgar fool ²²  might do!”

2 Samuel 8:4

8:4 David seized from him 1,700 charioteers ²³  and 20,000 infantrymen. David cut the hamstrings of all but a hundred of the chariot horses. ²⁴ 

2 Samuel 10:3

10:3 the Ammonite officials said to their lord Hanun, “Do you really think David is trying to honor your father by sending these messengers to express his sympathy? ²⁵  No, David has sent his servants to you to get information about the city and spy on it so they can overthrow it!” ²⁶ 

2 Samuel 11:27

11:27 When the time of mourning passed, David had her brought to his palace. ²⁷  She became his wife and she bore him a son. But what David had done upset the Lord. ²⁸ 

2 Samuel 17:21

17:21 After the men had left, Ahimaaz and Jonathan ²⁹  climbed out of the well. Then they left and informed King David. They advised David, “Get up and cross the stream ³⁰  quickly, for Ahithophel has devised a plan to catch you.” ³¹ 

2 Samuel 21:1

The Gibeonites Demand Revenge

21:1 During David’s reign there was a famine for three consecutive years. So David inquired of the Lord. ³²  The Lord said, “It is because of Saul and his bloodstained family, ³³  because he murdered the Gibeonites.”

2 Samuel 24:10

24:10 David felt guilty ³⁴  after he had numbered the army. David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly by doing this! Now, O Lord, please remove the guilt of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”

[2:1]  ¹ tn Heb “he said.” The referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[3:18]  ² tc The present translation follows the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate in reading “I will save,” rather than the MT “he saved.” The context calls for the 1st person common singular imperfect of the verb rather than the 3rd person masculine singular perfect.

[3:18]  ³ tn Heb “from the hand of.”

[3:21]  ³ tn After the cohortatives, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.

[3:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “And look, the servants of David.”

[3:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:31]  ⁵ tn Heb “was walking.”

[3:35]  ⁶ tn Heb “Thus God will do to me and thus he will add.”

[5:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “elders.”

[5:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “and the king, David, cut for them a covenant.”

[5:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “anointed.”

[5:8]  ⁸ tc There is some confusion among the witnesses concerning this word. The Kethib is the Qal perfect 3cp שָׂנְאוּ (sanÿ’u, “they hated”), referring to the Jebusites’ attitude toward David. The Qere is the Qal passive participle construct plural שְׂנֻאֵי (sÿnu’e, “hated”), referring to David’s attitude toward the Jebusites. 4QSam^a has the Qal perfect 3rd person feminine singular שָׂנְאָה (sanÿ’ah, “hated”), the subject of which would be “the soul of David.” The difference is minor and the translation adopted above works for either the Kethib or the Qere.

[5:8]  ⁹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term has been debated. For a survey of various views, see P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 139-40.

[5:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the house.” TEV takes this as a reference to the temple (“the Lord’s house”).

[5:19]  ⁹ tn The infinitive absolute lends emphasis to the following verb.

[5:20]  ¹⁰ tn The name means “Lord of the outbursts.”

[6:16]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text adds “in her heart.” Cf. CEV “she was disgusted (+ with him TEV)”; NLT “was filled with contempt for him”; NCV “she hated him.”

[6:17]  ¹² tc The Syriac Peshitta lacks “in its place.”

[6:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “and David returned to bless his house.”

[6:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “David.” The name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[6:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “honored.”

[6:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “one of the foolish ones.”

[8:4]  ¹⁴ tc The LXX has “one thousand chariots and seven thousand charioteers,” a reading adopted in the text of the NIV. See the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:4.

[8:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and David cut the hamstrings of all the chariot horses, and he left from them a hundred chariot horses.”

[10:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Is David honoring your father in your eyes when he sends to you ones consoling?”

[10:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Is it not to explore the city and to spy on it and to overthrow it [that] David has sent his servants to you?”

[11:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “David sent and gathered her to his house.”

[11:27]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and the thing which David had done was evil in the eyes of the Lord.” Note the verbal connection with v. 25. Though David did not regard the matter as evil, the Lord certainly did.

[17:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “they”; the referents (Ahimaaz and Jonathan) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:21]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the water.”

[17:21]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “for thus Ahithophel has devised against you.” The expression “thus” is narrative shorthand, referring to the plan outlined by Ahithophel (see vv. 1-3). The men would surely have outlined the plan in as much detail as they had been given by the messenger.

[21:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “sought the face of the Lord.”

[21:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and the house of bloodshed.”

[24:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and the heart of David struck him.”