2 Samuel 22:5

22:5 The waves of death engulfed me;

the currents ¹  of chaos ²  overwhelmed me. ³ 

2 Samuel 24:16

24:16 When the angel ⁴  extended his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented from his judgment. ⁵  He told the angel who was killing the people, “That’s enough! Stop now!” ⁶  (Now the Lord’s angel was near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.)

2 Samuel 1:1

David Learns of the Deaths of Saul and Jonathan

1:1 After the death of Saul, ⁷  when David had returned from defeating the Amalekites, ⁸  he stayed at Ziklag ⁹  for two days.

2 Samuel 8:13

8:13 David became famous ¹⁰  when he returned from defeating the Arameans ¹¹  in the Valley of Salt, he defeated ¹²  18,000 in all.

2 Samuel 20:20

20:20 Joab answered, “Get serious! ¹³  I don’t want to swallow up or destroy anything!

2 Samuel 22:9

22:9 Smoke ascended from ¹⁴  his nose; ¹⁵ 

fire devoured as it came from his mouth; ¹⁶ 

he hurled down fiery coals. ¹⁷ 

2 Samuel 22:39

22:39 I wipe them out and beat them to death;

they cannot get up;

they fall at my feet.

2 Samuel 14:11

14:11 She replied, “In that case, ¹⁸  let the king invoke the name of ¹⁹  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 ²⁰  will fall to the ground.”

2 Samuel 6:7

6:7 The Lord was so furious with Uzzah, ²¹  he ²²  killed him on the spot ²³  for his negligence. ²⁴  He died right there beside the ark of God.

2 Samuel 14:16

14:16 Yes! ²⁵  The king may ²⁶  listen and deliver his female servant ²⁷  from the hand of the man who seeks to remove ²⁸  both me and my son from the inheritance God has given us!’ ²⁹ 

2 Samuel 18:7

18:7 The army of Israel was defeated there by David’s men. ³⁰  The slaughter there was great that day – 20,000 soldiers were killed.

2 Samuel 2:26

2:26 Then Abner called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize that this will turn bitter in the end? When will you tell the people to turn aside from pursuing their brothers?”

2 Samuel 17:16

17:16 Now send word quickly to David and warn him, ³¹  “Don’t spend the night at the fords of the desert ³²  tonight. Instead, be sure you cross over, ³³  or else the king and everyone who is with him may be overwhelmed.” ³⁴ 

2 Samuel 20:15

20:15 So Joab’s men ³⁵  came and laid siege against him in Abel of Beth Maacah. They prepared a siege ramp outside the city which stood against its outer rampart. As all of Joab’s soldiers were trying to break through ³⁶  the wall so that it would collapse,

2 Samuel 20:19

20:19 I represent the peaceful and the faithful in Israel. You are attempting to destroy an important city ³⁷  in Israel. Why should you swallow up the Lord’s inheritance?”

2 Samuel 17:9

17:9 At this very moment he is hiding out in one of the caves or in some other similar place. If it should turn out that he attacks our troops first, ³⁸  whoever hears about it will say, ‘Absalom’s army has been slaughtered!’

2 Samuel 24:17

24:17 When he saw the angel who was destroying the people, David said to the Lord, “Look, it is I who have sinned and done this evil thing! As for these sheep – what have they done? Attack me and my family.” ³⁹ 

[22:5]  ¹ tn The noun נַחַל (nakhal) usually refers to a river or stream, but in this context the plural form likely refers to the currents of the sea (see vv. 15-16).

[22:5]  ² tn The noun בְלִיַּעַל (bÿliyya’al) is used here as an epithet for death. Elsewhere it is a common noun meaning “wickedness, uselessness” (see HALOT 133-34 s.v. בְּלִיַּעַל). It is often associated with rebellion against authority and other crimes that result in societal disorder and anarchy. The phrase “man/son of wickedness” refers to one who opposes God and the order he has established. The term becomes an appropriate title for death, which, through human forces, launches an attack against God’s chosen servant.

[22:5]  ³ tn In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not an imperfect. (Note the perfect verbal form in the parallel/preceding line.) The verb בָּעַת (ba’at) sometimes by metonymy carries the nuance “frighten,” but the parallelism (note “engulfed” in the preceding line) favors the meaning “overwhelm” here.

[24:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “messenger.”

[24:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “concerning the calamity.”

[24:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “Now, drop your hand.”

[1:1]  ⁷ sn This chapter is closely linked to 1 Sam 31. It should be kept in mind that 1 and 2 Samuel were originally a single book, not separate volumes. Whereas in English Bible tradition the books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and Ezra-Nehemiah are each regarded as two separate books, this was not the practice in ancient Hebrew tradition. Early canonical records, for example, counted them as single books respectively. The division into two books goes back to the Greek translation of the OT and was probably initiated because of the cumbersome length of copies due to the Greek practice (unlike that of Hebrew) of writing vowels. The present division into two books can be a little misleading in terms of perceiving the progression of the argument of the book; in some ways it is preferable to treat the books of 1-2 Samuel in a unified fashion.

[1:1]  ⁸ sn The Amalekites were a nomadic people who inhabited Judah and the Transjordan. They are mentioned in Gen 36:15-16 as descendants of Amalek who in turn descended from Esau. In Exod 17:8-16 they are described as having acted in a hostile fashion toward Israel as the Israelites traveled to Canaan from Egypt. In David’s time the Amalekites were viewed as dangerous enemies who raided, looted, and burned Israelite cities (see 1 Sam 30).

[1:1]  ⁹ sn Ziklag was a city in the Negev which had been given to David by Achish king of Gath. For more than a year David used it as a base from which he conducted military expeditions (see 1 Sam 27:5-12). According to 1 Sam 30:1-19, Ziklag was destroyed by the Amalekites while Saul fought the Philistines.

[8:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “made a name.”

[8:13]  ¹¹ tn So NASB, NCV; NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “Edomites” (see the note on “Aram” in v. 12).

[8:13]  ¹² tn The words “he defeated” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[20:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “Far be it, far be it from me.” The expression is clearly emphatic, as may be seen in part by the repetition. P. K. McCarter, however, understands it to be coarser than the translation adopted here. He renders it as “I’ll be damned if…” (II Samuel [AB], 426, 429), which (while it is not a literal translation) may not be too far removed from the way a soldier might have expressed himself.

[22:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “within” or “[from] within.” For a discussion of the use of the preposition בְּ (bet) here, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 163-64.

[22:9]  ¹⁷ tn Or “in his anger.” The noun אַף (’af) can carry the abstract meaning “anger,” but the parallelism (note “from his mouth”) suggests the more concrete meaning “nose” here (most English versions, “nostrils”). See also v. 16, “the powerful breath of your nose.”

[22:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “fire from his mouth devoured.” In this poetic narrative the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not an imperfect. Note the two perfect verbal forms in the verse.

[22:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “coals burned from him.” Perhaps the psalmist pictures God’s fiery breath igniting coals (see Job 41:21), which he then hurls as weapons (see Ps 120:4).

[14:11]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Heb “let the king remember.”

[14:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “of your son.”

[6:7]  ²² tn Heb “and the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah.”

[6:7]  ²³ tn Heb “God.”

[6:7]  ²⁴ tc Heb “there.” Since this same term occurs later in the verse it is translated “on the spot” here for stylistic reasons.

[6:7]  ²⁵ tc The phrase “his negligence” is absent from the LXX.

[14:16]  ²⁵ tn Or “for.”

[14:16]  ²⁶ tn Or “will.” The imperfect verbal form can have either an indicative or modal nuance. The use of “perhaps” in v. 15b suggests the latter here.

[14:16]  ²⁷ tn Heb “in order to deliver his maid.”

[14:16]  ²⁸ tn Heb “destroy.”

[14:16]  ²⁹ tn Heb “from the inheritance of God.” The expression refers to the property that was granted to her family line in the division of the land authorized by God.

[18:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “servants” (also in v. 9).

[17:16]  ³¹ tn Heb “send quickly and tell David saying.”

[17:16]  ³² tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV).

[17:16]  ³³ tn That is, “cross over the Jordan River.”

[17:16]  ³⁴ tn Heb “swallowed up.”

[20:15]  ³⁴ tn Heb “they.” The following context makes it clear that this refers to Joab and his army.

[20:15]  ³⁵ tc The LXX has here ἐνοοῦσαν (enoousan, “were devising”), which apparently presupposes the Hebrew word מַחֲשָׁבִים (makhashavim) rather than the MT מַשְׁחִיתִם (mashkhitim, “were destroying”). With a number of other scholars Driver thinks that the Greek variant may preserve the original reading, but this seems to be an unnecessary conclusion (but see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 346).

[20:19]  ³⁷ tn Heb “a city and a mother.” The expression is a hendiadys, meaning that this city was an important one in Israel and had smaller cities dependent on it.

[17:9]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “that he falls on them [i.e., Absalom’s troops] at the first [encounter]; or “that some of them [i.e., Absalom’s troops] fall at the first [encounter].”

[24:17]  ⁴³ tn Heb “let your hand be against me and against the house of my father.”