2 Samuel 3:27

3:27 When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside at the gate as if to speak privately with him. Joab then stabbed him ¹  in the abdomen and killed him, avenging the shed blood of his brother Asahel. ² 

2 Samuel 3:29

3:29 May his blood whirl over ³  the head of Joab and the entire house of his father! ⁴  May the males of Joab’s house ⁵  never cease to have ⁶  someone with a running sore or a skin disease or one who works at the spindle ⁷  or one who falls by the sword or one who lacks food!”

2 Samuel 3:24

3:24 So Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Abner ⁸  has come to you! Why would you send him away? Now he’s gone on his way! ⁹ 

2 Samuel 11:17

11:17 When the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, some of David’s soldiers ¹⁰  fell in battle. Uriah the Hittite also died.

2 Samuel 11:25

11:25 David said to the messenger, “Tell Joab, ‘Don’t let this thing upset you. ¹¹  There is no way to anticipate whom the sword will cut down. ¹²  Press the battle against the city and conquer ¹³  it.’ Encourage him with these words.” ¹⁴ 

[3:27]  ¹ tn Heb “and he struck him down there [in] the stomach.”

[3:27]  ² tn Heb “and he [i.e., Abner] died on account of the blood of Asahel his [i.e., Joab’s] brother.”

[3:29]  ³ tn Heb “and may they whirl over.” In the Hebrew text the subject of the plural verb is unexpressed. The most likely subject is Abner’s “shed blood” (v. 28), which is a masculine plural form in Hebrew. The verb חוּל (khul, “whirl”) is used with the preposition עַל (’al) only here and in Jer 23:19; 30:23.

[3:29]  ⁴ tc 4QSam^a has “of Joab” rather than “of his father” read by the MT.

[3:29]  ⁵ tn Heb “the house of Joab.” However, it is necessary to specify that David’s curse is aimed at Joab’s male descendants; otherwise it would not be clear that “one who works at the spindle” refers to a man doing woman’s work rather than a woman.

[3:29]  ⁶ tn Heb “and may there not be cut off from the house of Joab.”

[3:29]  ⁷ tn The expression used here is difficult. The translation “one who works at the spindle” follows a suggestion of S. R. Driver that the expression pejoratively describes an effeminate man who, rather than being a mighty warrior, is occupied with tasks that are normally fulfilled by women (S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 250-51; cf. NAB “one unmanly”; TEV “fit only to do a woman’s work”; CEV “cowards”). But P. K. McCarter, following an alleged Phoenician usage of the noun to refer to “crutches,” adopts a different view. He translates the phrase “clings to a crutch,” seeing here a further description of physical lameness (II Samuel [AB], 118). Such an idea fits the present context well and is followed by NIV, NCV, and NLT, although the evidence for this meaning is questionable. According to DNWSI 2:915-16, the noun consistently refers to a spindle in Phoenician, as it does in Ugaritic (see UT 468).

[3:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “Look, Abner.”

[3:24]  ⁶ tc The LXX adds “in peace.”

[11:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “some of the people from the servants of David.”

[11:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “let not this matter be evil in your eyes.”

[11:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “according to this and according to this the sword devours.”

[11:25]  ¹¹ tn Heb “overthrow.”

[11:25]  ¹² tn The Hebrew text does not have “with these words.” They are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.