2 Samuel 21:10

21:10 Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain fell on them, ¹  she did not allow the birds of the air to feed ²  on them by day, nor the wild animals ³  by night.

2 Samuel 21:14

21:14 They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin at Zela in the grave of his father Kish. After they had done everything ⁴  that the king had commanded, God responded to their prayers ⁵  for the land.

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. ⁶  The Lord said, “It is because of Saul and his bloodstained family, ⁷  because he murdered the Gibeonites.”

2 Samuel 18:1

The Death of Absalom

18:1 David assembled the army that was with him. He appointed leaders of thousands and leaders of hundreds.

Joel 2:23

2:23 Citizens of Zion, ⁸  rejoice!

Be glad because of what the Lord your God has done! ⁹ 

For he has given to you the early rains ¹⁰  as vindication.

He has sent ¹¹  to you the rains –

both the early and the late rains ¹²  as formerly.

[21:10]  ¹ tn Heb “until water was poured on them from the sky.”

[21:10]  ² tn Heb “rest.”

[21:10]  ³ tn Heb “the beasts of the field.”

[21:14]  ⁴ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss have here כְּכֹל (kÿkhol, “according to all”).

[21:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “was entreated.” The verb is an example of the so-called niphal tolerativum, with the sense that God allowed himself to be supplicated through prayer (cf. GKC 137 §51.c).

[21:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “sought the face of the Lord.”

[21:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the house of bloodshed.”

[2:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “sons of Zion.”

[2:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “be glad in the Lord your God.”

[2:23]  ¹⁰ tn Normally the Hebrew word הַמּוֹרֶה (hammoreh) means “the teacher,” but here and in Ps 84:7 it refers to “early rains.” Elsewhere the word for “early rains” is יוֹרֶה (yoreh). The phrase here הַמּוֹרֶה לִצְדָקָה (hammoreh litsdaqah) is similar to the expression “teacher of righteousness” (Heb., מוֹרֶה הַצֶּדֶק , moreh hatsedeq) found in the Dead Sea Scrolls referring to a particular charismatic leader, although the Qumran community seems not to have invoked this text in support of that notion.

[2:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “caused to come down.”

[2:23]  ¹² sn For half the year Palestine is generally dry. The rainy season begins with the early rains usually in late October to early December, followed by the latter rains in March and April. Without these rains productive farming would not be possible, as Joel’s original readers knew only too well.