2 Samuel 22:47

22:47 The Lord is alive! ¹ 

My protector ²  is praiseworthy! ³ 

The God who delivers me ⁴  is exalted as king! ⁵ 

2 Samuel 2:27

2:27 Joab replied, “As surely as God lives, if you had not said this, it would have been morning before the people would have abandoned pursuit ⁶  of their brothers!”

2 Samuel 12:5

12:5 Then David became very angry at this man. He said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ⁷ 

2 Samuel 12:22

12:22 He replied, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, ⁸  ‘Perhaps ⁹  the Lord will show pity and the child will live.

2 Samuel 18:14

18:14 Joab replied, “I will not wait around like this for you!” He took three spears in his hand and thrust them into the middle of Absalom while he was still alive in the middle of the oak tree. ¹⁰ 

2 Samuel 4:9

4:9 David replied to Recab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered my life from all adversity,

2 Samuel 12:21

12:21 His servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? While ¹¹  the child was still alive, you fasted and wept. Once the child was dead you got up and ate food!”

2 Samuel 14:11

14:11 She replied, “In that case, ¹²  let the king invoke the name of ¹³  the Lord your God so that the avenger of blood may not kill! Then they will not destroy my son!” He replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, not a single hair of your son’s head ¹⁴  will fall to the ground.”

2 Samuel 15:21

15:21 But Ittai replied to the king, “As surely as the Lord lives and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king is, whether dead or alive, ¹⁵  there I ¹⁶  will be as well!”

2 Samuel 19:6

19:6 You seem to love your enemies and hate your friends! For you have as much as declared today that leaders and servants don’t matter to you. I realize now ¹⁷  that if ¹⁸  Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, ¹⁹  it would be all right with you.

2 Samuel 23:20

23:20 Benaiah son of Jehoida was a brave warrior ²⁰  from Kabzeel who performed great exploits. He struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab. ²¹  He also went down and killed a lion in a cistern on a snowy day.

2 Samuel 12:18

12:18 On the seventh day the child died. But the servants of David were afraid to inform him that the child had died, for they said, “While the child was still alive he would not listen to us ²²  when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do himself harm!” ²³ 

2 Samuel 14:19

14:19 The king said, “Did Joab put you up to all of this?” ²⁴  The woman answered, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, there is no deviation to the right or to the left from all that my lord the king has said. For your servant Joab gave me instructions. He has put all these words in your servant’s mouth.

[22:47]  ¹ tn Elsewhere the construction חַי־יְהוָה (khay-yÿhvah) as used exclusively as an oath formula, but this is not the case here, for no oath follows. Here the statement is an affirmation of the Lord’s active presence and intervention. In contrast to pagan deities, he demonstrates that he is the living God by rescuing and empowering the psalmist.

[22:47]  ² tn Heb “my rocky cliff,” which is a metaphor for protection.

[22:47]  ³ tn Or “blessed [i.e., praised] be.”

[22:47]  ⁴ tn Heb “the God of the rock of my deliverance.” The term צוּר (tsur, “rock”) is probably accidentally repeated from the previous line. The parallel version in Ps 18:46 has simply “the God of my deliverance.”

[22:47]  ⁵ tn The words “as king” are supplied in the translation for clarification. In the Psalms the verb רוּם (rum, “be exalted”) when used of God, refers to his exalted position as king (Pss 99:2; 113:4; 138:6) and/or his self-revelation as king through his mighty deeds of deliverance (Pss 21:13; 46:10; 57:5, 11).

[2:27]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew verb נַעֲלָה (na’alah) used here is the Niphal perfect 3rd person masculine singular of עָלָה (’alah, “to go up”). In the Niphal this verb “is used idiomatically, of getting away from so as to abandon…especially of an army raising a siege…” (see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 244).

[12:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the man doing this [is] a son of death.” See 1 Sam 20:31 for another use of this expression, which must mean “he is as good as dead” or “he deserves to die,” as 1 Sam 20:32 makes clear.

[12:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “said.”

[12:22]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Who knows?”

[18:14]  ²¹ tn There is a play on the word “heart” here that is difficult to reproduce in English. Literally the Hebrew text says “he took three spears in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the heart of the oak tree.” This figure of speech involves the use of the same word in different senses and is known as antanaclasis. It is illustrated in the familiar saying from the time of the American Revolution: “If we don’t hang together, we will all hang separately.” The present translation understands “heart” to be used somewhat figuratively for “chest” (cf. TEV, CEV), which explains why Joab’s armor bearers could still “kill” Absalom after he had been stabbed with three spears through the “heart.” Since trees do not have “chests” either, the translation uses “middle.”

[12:21]  ²⁶ tc For the MT בַּעֲבוּר (ba’avur, “for the sake of”) we should probably read בְּעוֹד (bÿ’od, “while”). See the Lucianic Greek recension, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Targum.

[14:11]  ³¹ tn The words “in that case” are not in the Hebrew text, but may be inferred from the context. They are supplied in the translation for the sake of clarification.

[14:11]  ³² tn Heb “let the king remember.”

[14:11]  ³³ tn Heb “of your son.”

[15:21]  ³⁶ tn Heb “whether for death or for life.”

[15:21]  ³⁷ tn Heb “your servant.”

[19:6]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “today.”

[19:6]  ⁴² tc The translation follows the Qere, 4QSam^a, and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading לוּ (lu, “if”) rather than MT לֹא (lo’, “not”).

[19:6]  ⁴³ tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack “today.”

[23:20]  ⁴⁶ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading חַיִל (khayil, “valor”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, חַי (khay, “life”).

[23:20]  ⁴⁷ tc Heb “the two of Ariel, Moab.” The precise meaning of אריאל is uncertain; some read “warrior.” The present translation assumes that the word is a proper name and that בני, “sons of,” has accidentally dropped from the text by homoioarcton (note the preceding שׁני).

[12:18]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “to our voice.”

[12:18]  ⁵² tn Heb “he will do harm.” The object is not stated in the Hebrew text. The statement may be intentionally vague, meaning that he might harm himself or them!

[14:19]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?”