Discovery Box2 Samuel 20:1
Context20:1 Now a wicked man 1 named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, 2 happened to be there. He blew the trumpet 3 and said,
“We have no share in David;
we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!
Every man go home, 4 O Israel!”
2 Samuel 20:6
Context20:6 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 5 fortified cities for himself and get away from us.”
2 Samuel 20:1
Context20:1 Now a wicked man 6 named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, 7 happened to be there. He blew the trumpet 8 and said,
“We have no share in David;
we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!
Every man go home, 9 O Israel!”
2 Samuel 12:16
Context12:16 Then David prayed to 10 God for the child and fasted. 11 He would even 12 go and spend the night lying on the ground.
[20:1] 1 tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”
[20:1] 2 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] 3 tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.
[20:1] 4 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.
[20:6] 5 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”).
[20:1] 6 tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”
[20:1] 7 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] 8 tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.
[20:1] 9 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.
[12:16] 10 tn Heb “sought” or “searched for.”
[12:16] 11 tn Heb “and David fasted.”
[12:16] 12 tn The three Hebrew verbs that follow in this verse are perfects with prefixed vav. They may describe repeated past actions or actions which accompanied David’s praying and fasting.
