2 Samuel 20:14

20:14 Sheba ¹  traveled through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of ²  Beth Maacah and all the Berite region. When they had assembled, ³  they too joined him.

2 Samuel 20:2

20:2 So all the men of Israel deserted ⁴  David and followed Sheba son of Bicri. But the men of Judah stuck by their king all the way from the Jordan River ⁵  to Jerusalem. ⁶ 

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 ⁷  fortified cities for himself and get away from us.”

[20:14]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Sheba) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:14]  ² tc In keeping with the form of the name in v. 15, the translation deletes the “and” found in the MT.

[20:14]  ³ tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, and the ancient versions in reading וַיִּקָּהֲלוּ (vayyiqqahalu, “and they were gathered together”) rather than the Kethib of the MT וַיִּקְלֻהוּ (vayyiqluhu, “and they cursed him”). The Kethib is the result of metathesis.

[20:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “went up from after.”

[20:2]  ⁵ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[20:2]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[20:6]  ⁷ 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”).