2 Samuel 22:9

22:9 Smoke ascended from ¹  his nose; ² 

fire devoured as it came from his mouth; ³ 

he hurled down fiery coals. ⁴ 

2 Samuel 22:16

22:16 The depths ⁵  of the sea were exposed;

the inner regions ⁶  of the world were uncovered

by the Lord’s battle cry, ⁷ 

by the powerful breath from his nose. ⁸ 

2 Samuel 6:7

6:7 The Lord was so furious with Uzzah, ⁹  he ¹⁰  killed him on the spot ¹¹  for his negligence. ¹²  He died right there beside the ark of God.

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! ¹³ 

2 Samuel 14:4

14:4 So the Tekoan woman went ¹⁴  to the king. She bowed down with her face to the ground in deference to him and said, “Please help me, ¹⁵  O king!”

2 Samuel 24:1

David Displeases the Lord by Taking a Census

24:1 The Lord’s anger again raged against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go count Israel and Judah.” ¹⁶ 

2 Samuel 24:20

24:20 When Araunah looked out and saw the king and his servants approaching him, he ¹⁷  went out and bowed to the king with his face ¹⁸  to the ground.

2 Samuel 14:33

14:33 So Joab went to the king and informed him. The king ¹⁹  summoned Absalom, and he came to the king. Absalom ²⁰  bowed down before the king with his face toward the ground and the king kissed him. ²¹ 

2 Samuel 18:28

18:28 Then Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, “Greetings!” ²²  He bowed down before the king with his face toward the ground and said, “May the Lord your God be praised because he has defeated ²³  the men who opposed ²⁴  my lord the king!”

[22:9]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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).

[22:16]  ⁵ tn Or “channels.”

[22:16]  ⁶ tn Or “foundations.”

[22:16]  ⁷ tn The noun is derived from the verb גָעַר (nag’ar) which is often understood to mean “rebuke.” In some cases it is apparent that scolding or threatening is in view (see Gen 37:10; Ruth 2:16; Zech 3:2). However, in militaristic contexts this translation is inadequate, for the verb refers in this setting to the warrior’s battle cry, which terrifies and paralyzes the enemy. See A. Caquot, TDOT 3:53, and note the use of the verb in Pss 68:30; 106:9; and Nah 1:4, as well as the related noun in Job 26:11; Pss 9:5; 76:6; 104:7; Isa 50:2; 51:20; 66:15.

[22:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “blast of the breath” (literally, “breath of breath”) employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.

[6:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “and the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah.”

[6:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “God.”

[6:7]  ¹¹ tc Heb “there.” Since this same term occurs later in the verse it is translated “on the spot” here for stylistic reasons.

[6:7]  ¹² tc The phrase “his negligence” is absent from the LXX.

[12:5]  ¹³ 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.

[14:4]  ¹⁷ tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וַתַּבֹא (vattavo’, “and she went”) rather than the MT וַתֹּאמֶר (vatto’mer, “and she said”). The MT reading shows confusion with וַתֹּאמֶר later in the verse. The emendation suggested here is supported by the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, some mss of the Targum, and Vulgate.

[14:4]  ¹⁸ tn The word “me” is left to be inferred in the Hebrew text; it is present in the Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate.

[24:1]  ²¹ sn The parallel text in 1 Chr 21:1 says, “An adversary opposed Israel, inciting David to count how many warriors Israel had.” The Samuel version gives an underlying theological perspective, while the Chronicler simply describes what happened from a human perspective. The adversary in 1 Chr 21:1 is likely a human enemy, probably a nearby nation whose hostility against Israel pressured David into numbering the people so he could assess his military strength. See the note at 1 Chr 21:1.

[24:20]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Araunah.” The name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) for stylistic reasons.

[24:20]  ²⁶ tn Heb “nostrils.”

[14:33]  ²⁹ tn Heb “he.” Joab, acting on behalf of the king, may be the implied subject.

[14:33]  ³⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Absalom) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:33]  ³¹ tn Heb “Absalom.” For stylistic reasons the name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation.

[18:28]  ³³ tn Heb “Peace.”

[18:28]  ³⁴ tn Heb “delivered over.”

[18:28]  ³⁵ tn Heb “lifted their hand against.”