2 Samuel 2:5

2:5 So David sent messengers to the people of Jabesh Gilead and told them, “May you be blessed by the Lord because you have shown this kindness ¹  to your lord Saul by burying him.

2 Samuel 3:25

3:25 You know Abner the son of Ner! Surely he came here to spy on you and to determine when you leave and when you return ²  and to discover everything that you are doing!”

2 Samuel 7:27

7:27 for you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have told ³  your servant, ‘I will build you a dynastic house.’ ⁴  That is why your servant has had the courage ⁵  to pray this prayer to you.

2 Samuel 7:29

7:29 Now be willing to bless your servant’s dynasty ⁶  so that it may stand permanently before you, for you, O sovereign Lord, have spoken. By your blessing may your servant’s dynasty be blessed on into the future!” ⁷ 

2 Samuel 9:7

9:7 David said to him, “Don’t be afraid, because I will certainly extend kindness to you for the sake of Jonathan your father. You will be a regular guest at my table.” ⁸ 

2 Samuel 9:10

9:10 You will cultivate ⁹  the land for him – you and your sons and your servants. You will bring its produce ¹⁰  and it will be ¹¹  food for your master’s grandson to eat. ¹²  But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, will be a regular guest at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

2 Samuel 11:10

11:10 So they informed David, “Uriah has not gone down to his house.” So David said to Uriah, “Haven’t you just arrived from a journey? Why haven’t you gone down to your house?”

2 Samuel 12:7

12:7 Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I chose ¹³  you to be king over Israel and I rescued you from the hand of Saul.

2 Samuel 13:4

13:4 He asked Amnon, ¹⁴  “Why are you, the king’s son, ¹⁵  so depressed every morning? Can’t you tell me?” So Amnon said to him, “I’m in love with Tamar the sister of my brother Absalom.”

2 Samuel 13:13

13:13 How could I ever be rid of my humiliation? And you would be considered one of the fools ¹⁶  in Israel! Just ¹⁷  speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.”

2 Samuel 16:8

16:8 The Lord has punished you for ¹⁸  all the spilled blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you rule. Now the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. Disaster has overtaken you, for you are a man of bloodshed!”

2 Samuel 17:6

17:6 So Hushai came to Absalom. Absalom said to him, “Here is what Ahithophel has advised. Should we follow his advice? If not, what would you recommend?”

2 Samuel 17:8

17:8 Hushai went on to say, “You know your father and his men – they are soldiers and are as dangerous as a bear out in the wild that has been robbed of her cubs. ¹⁹  Your father is an experienced soldier; he will not stay overnight with the army.

2 Samuel 18:20

18:20 But Joab said to him, “You will not be a bearer of good news today. You will bear good news some other day, but not today, ²⁰  for the king’s son is dead.”

2 Samuel 18:22

18:22 Ahimaaz the son of Zadok again spoke to Joab, “Whatever happens, let me go after the Cushite.” But Joab said, “Why is it that you want to go, my son? You have no good news that will bring you a reward.”

2 Samuel 19:13

19:13 Say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my flesh and blood? ²¹  God will punish me severely, ²²  if from this time on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!’”

2 Samuel 20:6

20:6 Then David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba son of Bicri will cause greater disaster for us than Absalom did! Take your lord’s servants and pursue him. Otherwise he will secure ²³  fortified cities for himself and get away from us.”

2 Samuel 21:4

21:4 The Gibeonites said to him, “We ²⁴  have no claim to silver or gold from Saul or from his family, ²⁵  nor would we be justified in putting to death anyone in Israel.” David asked, ²⁶  “What then are you asking me to do for you?”

[2:5]  ¹ tn Or “loyalty.”

[3:25]  ² tn Heb “your going out and your coming in.” The expression is a merism. It specifically mentions the polar extremities of the actions but includes all activity in between the extremities as well, thus encompassing the entirety of one’s activities.

[7:27]  ³ tn Heb “have uncovered the ear of.”

[7:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “a house.” This maintains the wordplay from v. 11 (see the note on the word “house” there) and is continued in v. 29.

[7:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “has found his heart.”

[7:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “house” (again later in this verse). See the note on “dynastic house” in v. 27.

[7:29]  ⁵ tn Or “permanently”; cf. NLT “it is an eternal blessing.”

[9:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “and you will eat food over my table continually.”

[9:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “work.”

[9:10]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text implies, but does not actually contain, the words “its produce” here.

[9:10]  ⁸ tc The words “it will be,” though present in the MT, are absent from the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate.

[9:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he will eat it.”

[12:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “anointed.”

[13:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he said to him.”

[13:4]  ⁹ tn An more idiomatic translation might be “Why are you of all people…?”

[13:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “and you will be like one of the fools.”

[13:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Now.”

[16:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “has brought back upon you.”

[17:8]  ¹¹ tc The LXX (with the exception of the recensions of Origen and Lucian) repeats the description as follows: “Just as a female bear bereft of cubs in a field.”

[18:20]  ¹² tn Heb “but this day you will not bear good news.”

[19:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “my bone and my flesh.”

[19:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Thus God will do to me and thus he will add.”

[20:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “find.” The perfect verbal form is unexpected with the preceding word “otherwise.” We should probably read instead the imperfect. Although it is possible to understand the perfect here as indicating that the feared result is thought of as already having taken place (cf. BDB 814 s.v. פֶּן 2), it is more likely that the perfect is simply the result of scribal error. In this context the imperfect would be more consistent with the following verb וְהִצִּיל (vÿhitsil, “and he will get away”).

[21:4]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “house.”

[21:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.