Discovery Box2 Samuel 23:1-8
Context23:1 These are the final words of David:
“The oracle of David son of Jesse,
the oracle of the man raised up as
the ruler chosen by the God of Jacob, 1
Israel’s beloved 2 singer of songs:
23:2 The Lord’s spirit spoke through me;
his word was on my tongue.
23:3 The God of Israel spoke,
the protector 3 of Israel spoke to me.
The one who rules fairly among men,
the one who rules in the fear of God,
23:4 is like the light of morning when the sun comes up,
a morning in which there are no clouds.
He is like the brightness after rain
that produces grass from the earth.
23:5 My dynasty is approved by God, 4
for he has made a perpetual covenant with me,
arranged in all its particulars and secured.
He always delivers me,
and brings all I desire to fruition. 5
23:6 But evil people are like thorns –
all of them are tossed away,
for they cannot be held in the hand.
23:7 The one who touches them
must use an iron instrument
or the wooden shaft of a spear.
They are completely burned up right where they lie!” 6
23:8 These are the names of David’s warriors:
Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite, was head of the officers. 7 He killed eight hundred men with his spear in one battle. 8
[23:1] 1 tn Heb “the anointed one of the God of Jacob.”
[23:3] 3 tn Heb “rock,” used as a metaphor of divine protection.
[23:5] 4 tn Heb “For not thus [is] my house with God?”
[23:5] 5 tn Heb “for all my deliverance and every desire, surely does he not make [it] grow?”
[23:7] 6 tn Heb “and with fire they are completely burned up in [the place where they] remain.” The infinitive absolute is used before the finite verb to emphasize that they are completely consumed by the fire.
[23:8] 7 tn The Hebrew word is sometimes rendered as “the three,” but BDB is probably correct in taking it to refer to military officers (BDB 1026 s.v. שְׁלִישִׁי). In that case the etymological connection of this word to the Hebrew numerical adjective for “three” can be explained as originating with a designation for the third warrior in a chariot.
[23:8] 8 tc The translation follows some LXX
