2 Samuel 22:21

22:21 The Lord repaid ¹  me for my godly deeds; ² 

he rewarded ³  my blameless behavior. ⁴ 

2 Samuel 22:35

22:35 He trains ⁵  my hands for battle; ⁶ 

my arms can bend even the strongest bow. ⁷ 

2 Samuel 3:12

3:12 Then Abner sent messengers ⁸  to David saying, “To whom does the land belong? Make an agreement ⁹  with me, and I will do whatever I can ¹⁰  to cause all Israel to turn to you.”

2 Samuel 14:30

14:30 So he said to his servants, “Look, Joab has a portion of field adjacent to mine and he has some barley there. Go and set it on fire.” ¹¹  So Absalom’s servants set Joab’s ¹²  portion of the field on fire.

2 Samuel 16:21

16:21 Ahithophel replied to Absalom, “Have sex with ¹³  your father’s concubines whom he left to care for the palace. All Israel will hear that you have made yourself repulsive to your father. Then your followers will be motivated to support you.” ¹⁴ 

2 Samuel 18:12

18:12 The man replied to Joab, “Even if ¹⁵  I were receiving ¹⁶  a thousand pieces of silver, ¹⁷  I would not strike ¹⁸  the king’s son! In our very presence ¹⁹  the king gave this order to you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’ ²⁰ 

[22:21]  ¹ tn In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not imperfect.

[22:21]  ² tn Heb “according to my righteousness.” As vv. 22-25 make clear, David refers here to his unwavering obedience to God’s commands. He explains that the Lord was pleased with him and willing to deliver him because he had been loyal to God and obedient to his commandments. Ancient Near Eastern literature contains numerous parallels. A superior (a god or king) would typically reward a subject (a king or the servant of a king, respectively) for loyalty and obedience. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 211-13.

[22:21]  ³ tn The unreduced Hiphil prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, in which case the psalmist would be generalizing. However, both the preceding and following contexts (see especially v. 25) suggest he is narrating his experience. Despite its unreduced form, the verb is better taken as a preterite. For other examples of unreduced Hiphil preterites, see Pss 55:14a; 68:9a, 10b; 80:8a; 89:43a; 107:38b; 116:6b.

[22:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “according to the purity of my hands he repaid to me.” Hands suggest activity and behavior.

[22:35]  ⁵ tn Heb “teaches.”

[22:35]  ⁶ tn The psalmist attributes his skill with weapons to divine enabling. Egyptian reliefs picture gods teaching the king how to shoot a bow. See O. Keel, Symbolism of the Biblical World, 265.

[22:35]  ⁷ tn Heb “and a bow of bronze is bent by my arms.” The verb נָחֵת (nakhet) apparently means “to pull back; to bend” here (see HALOT 692 s.v. נחת). The bronze bow referred to here was probably laminated with bronze strips, or a purely ceremonial or decorative bow made entirely from bronze. In the latter case the language is hyperbolic, for such a weapon would not be functional in battle.

[3:12]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text adds here, “on his behalf.”

[3:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “cut a covenant.” So also in vv. 13, 21.

[3:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and behold, my hand is with you.”

[14:30]  ¹³ tc The LXX adds here the following words: “And the servants of Absalom burned them up. And the servants of Joab came to him, rending their garments. They said….”

[14:30]  ¹⁴ tn The word “Joab’s” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[16:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “go to”; NAB “have (+ sexual NCV) relations with”; TEV “have intercourse with”; NLT “Go and sleep with.”

[16:21]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

[18:12]  ²¹ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וְלוּ (vÿlu, “and if”) rather than MT וְלֹא (vÿlo’, “and not”).

[18:12]  ²² tn Heb “weighing out in my hand.”

[18:12]  ²³ tn Heb “a thousand [shekels] of silver.” This would have been about 25 pounds (11.4 kg) of silver by weight.

[18:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “extend my hand against.”

[18:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “in our ears.”

[18:12]  ²⁶ tc The Hebrew text is very difficult here. The MT reads מִי (mi, “who”), apparently yielding the following sense: “Show care, whoever you might be, for the youth Absalom.” The Syriac Peshitta reads li (“for me”), the Hebrew counterpart of which may also lie behind the LXX rendering μοι (moi, “for me”). This reading seems preferable here, since it restores sense to the passage and most easily explains the rise of the variant.