Discovery Box2 Samuel 3:28-29
Context3:28 When David later heard about this, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the Lord of the shed blood of Abner son of Ner! 3:29 May his blood whirl over 1 the head of Joab and the entire house of his father! 2 May the males of Joab’s house 3 never cease to have 4 someone with a running sore or a skin disease or one who works at the spindle 5 or one who falls by the sword or one who lacks food!”
Numbers 35:33
Context35:33 “You must not pollute the land where you live, for blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed there, except by the blood of the person who shed it.
Deuteronomy 21:1-9
Context21:1 If a homicide victim 6 should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, 7 and no one knows who killed 8 him, 21:2 your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. 9 21:3 Then the elders of the city nearest to the corpse 10 must take from the herd a heifer that has not been worked – that has never pulled with the yoke – 21:4 and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water, 11 to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown. 12 There at the wadi they are to break the heifer’s neck. 21:5 Then the Levitical priests 13 will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, 14 and to decide 15 every judicial verdict 16 ) 21:6 and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse 17 must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. 18 21:7 Then they must proclaim, “Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we 19 witnessed the crime. 20 21:8 Do not blame 21 your people Israel whom you redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person.” 22 Then atonement will be made for the bloodshed. 21:9 In this manner you will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before 23 the Lord.
Deuteronomy 21:1
Context21:1 If a homicide victim 24 should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, 25 and no one knows who killed 26 him,
Deuteronomy 2:33
Context2:33 the Lord our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, along with his sons 27 and everyone else. 28
[3:29] 1 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] 2 tc 4QSama has “of Joab” rather than “of his father” read by the MT.
[3:29] 3 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] 4 tn Heb “and may there not be cut off from the house of Joab.”
[3:29] 5 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).
[21:1] 6 tn Heb “slain [one].” The term חָלָל (khalal) suggests something other than a natural death (cf. Num 19:16; 23:24; Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15; 30:24; 31:17-18).
[21:1] 7 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[21:1] 8 tn Heb “struck,” but in context a fatal blow is meant; cf. NLT “who committed the murder.”
[21:2] 9 tn Heb “surrounding the slain [one].”
[21:3] 10 tn Heb “slain [one].”
[21:4] 11 tn The combination “a wadi with flowing water” is necessary because a wadi (נַחַל, nakhal) was ordinarily a dry stream or riverbed. For this ritual, however, a perennial stream must be chosen so that there would be fresh, rushing water.
[21:4] 12 sn The unworked heifer, fresh stream, and uncultivated valley speak of ritual purity – of freedom from human contamination.
[21:5] 13 tn Heb “the priests, the sons of Levi.”
[21:5] 14 tn Heb “in the name of the
[21:5] 15 tn Heb “by their mouth.”
[21:5] 16 tn Heb “every controversy and every blow.”
[21:6] 17 tn Heb “slain [one].”
[21:6] 18 tn Heb “wadi,” a seasonal watercourse through a valley.
[21:7] 19 tn Heb “our eyes.” This is a figure of speech known as synecdoche in which the part (the eyes) is put for the whole (the entire person).
[21:7] 20 tn Heb “seen”; the implied object (the crime committed) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[21:8] 22 tn Heb “and do not place innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel.”
[21:9] 23 tn Heb “in the eyes of” (so ASV, NASB, NIV).
[21:1] 24 tn Heb “slain [one].” The term חָלָל (khalal) suggests something other than a natural death (cf. Num 19:16; 23:24; Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15; 30:24; 31:17-18).
[21:1] 25 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[21:1] 26 tn Heb “struck,” but in context a fatal blow is meant; cf. NLT “who committed the murder.”
[2:33] 27 tc The translation follows the Qere or marginal reading; the Kethib (consonantal text) has the singular, “his son.”
