2 Samuel 3:7

3:7 Now Saul had a concubine named Rizpah daughter of Aiah. Ish-bosheth ¹  said to Abner, “Why did you have sexual relations with ²  my father’s concubine?” ³ 

2 Samuel 7:26

7:26 so you may gain lasting fame, ⁴  as people say, ⁵  ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel!’ The dynasty ⁶  of your servant David will be established before you,

2 Samuel 9:2

9:2 Now there was a servant from Saul’s house named Ziba, so he was summoned to David. The king asked him, “Are you Ziba?” He replied, “At your service.” ⁷ 

2 Samuel 12:24

12:24 So David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and had marital relations with her. ⁸  She gave birth to a son, and David ⁹  named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved the child ¹⁰ 

2 Samuel 12:28

12:28 So now assemble the rest of the army ¹¹  and besiege the city and capture it. Otherwise I will capture the city and it will be named for me.”

2 Samuel 13:1

The Rape of Tamar

13:1 Now David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar. In the course of time David’s son Amnon fell madly in love with her. ¹² 

2 Samuel 14:27

14:27 Absalom had ¹³  three sons and one daughter, whose name was Tamar. She was a very attractive woman. ¹⁴ 

[3:7]  ¹ tc The Hebrew of the MT reads simply “and he said,” with no expressed subject for the verb. It is not likely that the text originally had no expressed subject for this verb, since the antecedent is not immediately clear from the context. We should probably restore to the Hebrew text the name “Ish-bosheth.” See a few medieval Hebrew mss, Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and Vulgate. Perhaps the name was accidentally omitted by homoioarcton. Note that both the name Ishbosheth and the following preposition אֶל (’el) begin with the letter alef.

[3:7]  ² tn Heb “come to”; KJV, NRSV “gone in to”; NAB “been intimate with”; NIV “sleep with.”

[3:7]  ³ sn This accusation against Abner is a very serious one, since an act of sexual infringement on the king’s harem would probably have been understood as a blatant declaration of aspirations to kingship. As such it was not merely a matter of ethical impropriety but an act of grave political significance as well.

[7:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “and your name might be great permanently.” Following the imperative in v. 23b, the prefixed verbal form with vav conjunctive indicates purpose/result.

[7:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “saying.” The words “as people” are supplied in the translation for clarification and stylistic reasons.

[7:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “the house.” See the note on “dynastic house” in the following verse.

[9:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “your servant.”

[12:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and he lay with her.”

[12:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity. While some translations render the pronoun as third person plural (“they”), implying that both David and Bathsheba together named the child, it is likely that the name “Solomon,” which is related to the Hebrew word for “peace” (and may be derived from it) had special significance for David, who would have regarded the birth of a second child to Bathsheba as a confirming sign that God had forgiven his sin and was at peace with him.

[12:24]  ¹² tn Heb “him,” referring to the child.

[12:28]  ¹³ tn Heb “people.” So also in vv. 29, 31.

[13:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Amnon the son of David loved her.” The following verse indicates the extreme nature of his infatuation, so the translation uses “madly in love” here.

[14:27]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and there were born.”

[14:27]  ²⁰ tc The LXX adds here the following words: “And she became a wife to Rehoboam the son of Solomon and bore to him Abia.”