Discovery Box2 Samuel 3:1--5:25
Context3:1 However, the war was prolonged between the house of Saul and the house of David. David was becoming steadily stronger, while the house of Saul was becoming increasingly weaker.
3:2 Now sons were born to David in Hebron. His firstborn was Amnon, born to Ahinoam the Jezreelite. 3:3 His second son 1 was Kileab, born to Abigail the widow 2 of Nabal the Carmelite. His third son was Absalom, the son of Maacah daughter of King Talmai of Geshur. 3:4 His fourth son was Adonijah, the son of Haggith. His fifth son was Shephatiah, the son of Abitail. 3:5 His sixth son was Ithream, born to David’s wife Eglah. These sons 3 were all born to David in Hebron.
3:6 As the war continued between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was becoming more influential 4 in the house of Saul. 3:7 Now Saul had a concubine named Rizpah daughter of Aiah. Ish-bosheth 5 said to Abner, “Why did you have sexual relations with 6 my father’s concubine?” 7
3:8 These words of Ish-bosheth really angered Abner and he said, “Am I the head of a dog that belongs to Judah? This very day I am demonstrating 8 loyalty to the house of Saul your father and to his relatives 9 and his friends! I have not betrayed you into the hand of David. Yet you have accused me of sinning with this woman today! 10 3:9 God will severely judge Abner 11 if I do not do for David exactly what the Lord has promised him, 12 3:10 namely, to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and to establish the throne of David over Israel and over Judah all the way from Dan to Beer Sheba!” 3:11 Ish-bosheth 13 was unable to answer Abner with even a single word because he was afraid of him.
3:12 Then Abner sent messengers 14 to David saying, “To whom does the land belong? Make an agreement 15 with me, and I will do whatever I can 16 to cause all Israel to turn to you.” 3:13 So David said, “Good! I will make an agreement with you. I ask only one thing from you. You will not see my face unless you bring Saul’s daughter Michal when you come to visit me.” 17
3:14 David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth son of Saul with this demand: 18 “Give me my wife Michal whom I acquired 19 for a hundred Philistine foreskins.” 3:15 So Ish-bosheth took her 20 from her husband Paltiel 21 son of Laish. 3:16 Her husband went along behind her, weeping all the way to Bahurim. Finally Abner said to him, “Go back!” 22 So he returned home.
3:17 Abner advised 23 the elders of Israel, “Previously you were wanting David to be your king. 24 3:18 Act now! For the Lord has said to David, ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save 25 my people Israel from 26 the Philistines and from all their enemies.’”
3:19 Then Abner spoke privately 27 with the Benjaminites. Abner also went to Hebron to inform David privately 28 of all that Israel and the entire house of Benjamin had agreed to. 29 3:20 When Abner, accompanied by twenty men, came to David in Hebron, David prepared a banquet for Abner and the men who were with him. 3:21 Abner said to David, “Let me leave so that I may go and gather all Israel to my lord the king so that they may make an agreement 30 with you. Then you will rule over all that you desire.” So David sent Abner away, and he left in peace.
3:22 Now David’s soldiers 31 and Joab were coming back from a raid, bringing a great deal of plunder with them. Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, for David 32 had sent him away and he had left in peace. 3:23 When Joab and all the army that was with him arrived, Joab was told: “Abner the son of Ner came to the king; he sent him away, and he left in peace!”
3:24 So Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Abner 33 has come to you! Why would you send him away? Now he’s gone on his way! 34 3:25 You know Abner the son of Ner! Surely he came here to spy on you and to determine when you leave and when you return 35 and to discover everything that you are doing!”
3:26 Then Joab left David and sent messengers after Abner. They brought him back from the well of Sirah. (But David was not aware of it.) 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 36 in the abdomen and killed him, avenging the shed blood of his brother Asahel. 37
3:28 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 38 the head of Joab and the entire house of his father! 39 May the males of Joab’s house 40 never cease to have 41 someone with a running sore or a skin disease or one who works at the spindle 42 or one who falls by the sword or one who lacks food!”
3:30 So Joab and his brother Abishai killed Abner, because he had killed their brother Asahel in Gibeon during the battle.
3:31 David instructed Joab and all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes! Put on sackcloth! Lament before Abner!” Now King David followed 43 behind the funeral bier. 3:32 So they buried Abner in Hebron. The king cried loudly 44 over Abner’s grave and all the people wept too. 3:33 The king chanted the following lament for Abner:
“Should Abner have died like a fool?
3:34 Your hands 45 were not bound,
and your feet were not put into irons.
You fell the way one falls before criminals.”
All the people 46 wept over him again. 3:35 Then all the people came and encouraged David to eat food while it was still day. But David took an oath saying, “God will punish me severely 47 if I taste bread or anything whatsoever before the sun sets!”
3:36 All the people noticed this and it pleased them. 48 In fact, everything the king did pleased all the people. 3:37 All the people and all Israel realized on that day that the killing of Abner son of Ner was not done at the king’s instigation. 49
3:38 Then the king said to his servants, “Do you not realize that a great leader 50 has fallen this day in Israel? 3:39 Today I am weak, even though I am anointed as king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too much for me to bear! 51 May the Lord punish appropriately the one who has done this evil thing!” 52
4:1 When Ish-bosheth 53 the son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he was very disheartened, 54 and all Israel was afraid. 4:2 Now Saul’s son 55 had two men who were in charge of raiding units; one was named Baanah and the other Recab. They were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, who was a Benjaminite. (Beeroth is regarded as belonging to Benjamin, 4:3 for the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have remained there as resident foreigners until the present time.) 56
4:4 Now Saul’s son Jonathan had a son who was crippled in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan arrived from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but in her haste to get away, he fell and was injured. 57 Mephibosheth was his name.
4:5 Now the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite – Recab and Baanah – went at the hottest part of the day to the home of Ish-bosheth, as he was enjoying his midday rest. 4:6 They 58 entered the house under the pretense of getting wheat and mortally wounded him 59 in the stomach. Then Recab and his brother Baanah escaped.
4:7 They had entered 60 the house while Ish-bosheth 61 was resting on his bed in his bedroom. They mortally wounded him 62 and then cut off his head. 63 Taking his head, 64 they traveled on the way of the Arabah all that night. 4:8 They brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David in Hebron, saying to the king, “Look! The head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who sought your life! The Lord has granted vengeance to my lord the king this day against 65 Saul and his descendants!”
4:9 David replied to Recab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered my life from all adversity, 4:10 when someone told me that Saul was dead – even though he thought he was bringing good news 66 – I seized him and killed him in Ziklag. That was the good news I gave to him! 4:11 Surely when wicked men have killed an innocent man as he slept 67 in his own house, should I not now require his blood from your hands and remove 68 you from the earth?”
4:12 So David issued orders to the soldiers and they put them to death. Then they cut off their hands and feet and hung them 69 near the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth 70 and buried it in the tomb of Abner 71 in Hebron. 72
5:1 All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron saying, “Look, we are your very flesh and blood! 73 5:2 In the past, when Saul was our king, you were the real leader in Israel. 74 The Lord said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel; you will rule over Israel.’”
5:3 When all the leaders 75 of Israel came to the king at Hebron, King David made an agreement with them 76 in Hebron before the Lord. They designated 77 David as king over Israel. 5:4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign and he reigned for forty years. 5:5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah for seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem 78 he reigned for thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.
5:6 Then the king and his men advanced to Jerusalem 79 against the Jebusites who lived in the land. The Jebusites 80 said to David, “You cannot invade this place! Even the blind and the lame will turn you back, saying, ‘David cannot invade this place!’”
5:7 But David captured the fortress of Zion (that is, the city of David). 5:8 David said on that day, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites must approach the ‘lame’ and the ‘blind’ who are David’s enemies 81 by going through the water tunnel.” 82 For this reason it is said, “The blind and the lame cannot enter the palace.” 83
5:9 So David lived in the fortress and called it the City of David. David built all around it, from the terrace inwards. 5:10 David’s power grew steadily, for the Lord God 84 who commands armies 85 was with him. 86
5:11 King Hiram of Tyre 87 sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs, carpenters, and stonemasons. They built a palace 88 for David. 5:12 David realized that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and that he had elevated his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel. 5:13 David married more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he arrived from Hebron. Even more sons and daughters were born to David. 5:14 These are the names of children born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 5:15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, 5:16 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
5:17 When the Philistines heard that David had been designated 89 king over Israel, they all 90 went up to search for David. When David heard about it, he went down to the fortress. 5:18 Now the Philistines had arrived and spread out in the valley of Rephaim. 5:19 So David asked the Lord, “Should I march up against the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?” The Lord said to David, “March up, for I will indeed 91 hand the Philistines over to you.”
5:20 So David marched against Baal Perazim and defeated them there. Then he said, “The Lord has burst out against my enemies like water bursts out.” So he called the name of that place Baal Perazim. 92 5:21 The Philistines 93 abandoned their idols 94 there, and David and his men picked them up.
5:22 The Philistines again came up and spread out in the valley of Rephaim. 5:23 So David asked the Lord what he should do. 95 This time 96 the Lord 97 said to him, “Don’t march straight up. Instead, circle around behind them and come against them opposite the trees. 98 5:24 When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the trees, act decisively. For at that moment the Lord is going before you to strike down the army 99 of the Philistines.” 5:25 David did just as the Lord commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines from Gibeon all the way to Gezer. 100
[3:3] 1 tn The Hebrew text does not have the word “son.” So also in vv. 3-5.
[3:5] 1 tn The Hebrew text does not have “sons.”
[3:6] 1 tn Heb “was strengthening himself.” The statement may have a negative sense here, perhaps suggesting that Abner was overstepping the bounds of political propriety in a self-serving way.
[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
[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.
[3:8] 3 tn Heb “and you have laid upon me the guilt of the woman today.”
[3:9] 1 tn Heb “So will God do to Abner and so he will add to him.”
[3:9] 2 tc Heb “has sworn to David.” The LXX, with the exception of the recension of Origen, adds “in this day.”
[3:11] 1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ish-bosheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[3:12] 1 tn The Hebrew text adds here, “on his behalf.”
[3:12] 2 tn Heb “cut a covenant.” So also in vv. 13, 21.
[3:12] 3 tn Heb “and behold, my hand is with you.”
[3:13] 1 tn The words “when you come to see my face,” though found in the Hebrew text, are somewhat redundant given the similar expression in the earlier part of the verse. The words are absent from the Syriac Peshitta.
[3:14] 1 tn Heb “to Ish-bosheth son of Saul saying.” To avoid excessive sibilance (especially when read aloud) the translation renders “saying” as “with this demand.”
[3:14] 2 tn Heb “whom I betrothed to myself.”
[3:15] 1 tn Heb “sent and took her.”
[3:15] 2 tn In 1 Sam 25:44 this name appears as “Palti.”
[3:17] 1 tn Heb “the word of Abner was with.”
[3:17] 2 tn Heb “you were seeking David to be king over you.”
[3:18] 1 tc The present translation follows the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate in reading “I will save,” rather than the MT “he saved.” The context calls for the 1st person common singular imperfect of the verb rather than the 3rd person masculine singular perfect.
[3:18] 2 tn Heb “from the hand of.”
[3:19] 1 tn Heb “into the ears of.”
[3:19] 2 tn Heb “also Abner went to speak into the ears of David in Hebron.”
[3:19] 3 tn Heb “all which was good in the eyes of Israel and in the eyes of all the house of Benjamin.”
[3:21] 1 tn After the cohortatives, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.
[3:22] 1 tn Heb “And look, the servants of David.”
[3:22] 2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[3:24] 1 tn Heb “Look, Abner.”
[3:24] 2 tc The LXX adds “in peace.”
[3:25] 1 tn Heb “your going out and your coming in.” The expression is a merism. It specifically mentions the polar extremities of the actions but includes all activity in between the extremities as well, thus encompassing the entirety of one’s activities.
[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] 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).
[3:31] 1 tn Heb “was walking.”
[3:32] 1 tn Heb “lifted up his voice and wept.” The expression is a verbal hendiadys.
[3:34] 1 tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew manuscripts and several ancient versions in reading “your hands,” rather than “your hand.”
[3:34] 2 tc 4QSama lacks the words “all the people.”
[3:35] 1 tn Heb “Thus God will do to me and thus he will add.”
[3:36] 1 tn Heb “it was good in their eyes.”
[3:37] 1 tn Heb “from the king.”
[3:38] 1 tn Heb “a leader and a great one.” The expression is a hendiadys.
[3:39] 1 tn Heb “are hard from me.”
[3:39] 2 tn Heb “May the
[4:1] 1 tn The MT does not specify the subject of the verb here, but the reference is to Ish-bosheth, so the name has been supplied in the translation for clarity. 4QSama and the LXX mistakenly read “Mephibosheth.”
[4:1] 2 tn Heb “his hands went slack.”
[4:2] 1 tc The present translation, “Saul’s son had two men,” is based on the reading “to the son of Saul,” rather than the MT’s “the son of Saul.” The context requires the preposition to indicate the family relationship.
[4:3] 1 tn Heb “until this day.”
[4:4] 1 tn Heb “and was lame.”
[4:6] 1 tc For the MT’s וְהֵנָּה (vÿhennah, “and they,” feminine) read וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and behold”). See the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Targum.
[4:6] 2 tn Heb “and they struck him down.”
[4:7] 1 tn After the concluding disjunctive clause at the end of v. 6, the author now begins a more detailed account of the murder and its aftermath.
[4:7] 2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ish-bosheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[4:7] 3 tn Heb “they struck him down and killed him.” The expression is a verbal hendiadys.
[4:7] 4 tn Heb “and they removed his head.” The Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate lack these words.
[4:7] 5 tc The Lucianic Greek recension lacks the words “his head.”
[4:10] 1 tn Heb “and he was like a bearer of good news in his eyes.”
[4:11] 2 tn See HALOT 146 s.v. II בער. Some derive the verb from a homonym meaning “to burn; to consume.”
[4:12] 1 tn The antecedent of the pronoun “them” (which is not present in the Hebrew text, but implied) is not entirely clear. Presumably it is the corpses that were hung and not merely the detached hands and feet; cf. NIV “hung the (their NRSV, NLT) bodies”; the alternative is represented by TEV “cut off their hands and feet, which they hung up.”
[4:12] 2 tc 4QSama mistakenly reads “Mephibosheth” here.
[4:12] 3 tc The LXX adds “the son of Ner” by conformity with common phraseology elsewhere.
[4:12] 4 tc Some
[5:1] 1 tn Heb “look we are your bone and your flesh.”
[5:2] 1 tn Heb “you were the one leading out and the one leading in Israel.”
[5:3] 2 tn Heb “and the king, David, cut for them a covenant.”
[5:5] 1 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[5:6] 1 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[5:6] 2 tn The Hebrew text has “he” rather than “the Jebusites.” The referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. In the Syriac Peshitta and some
[5:8] 1 tc There is some confusion among the witnesses concerning this word. The Kethib is the Qal perfect 3cp שָׂנְאוּ (sanÿ’u, “they hated”), referring to the Jebusites’ attitude toward David. The Qere is the Qal passive participle construct plural שְׂנֻאֵי (sÿnu’e, “hated”), referring to David’s attitude toward the Jebusites. 4QSama has the Qal perfect 3rd person feminine singular שָׂנְאָה (sanÿ’ah, “hated”), the subject of which would be “the soul of David.” The difference is minor and the translation adopted above works for either the Kethib or the Qere.
[5:8] 2 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term has been debated. For a survey of various views, see P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 139-40.
[5:8] 3 tn Heb “the house.” TEV takes this as a reference to the temple (“the Lord’s house”).
[5:10] 1 tc 4QSama and the LXX lack the word “God,” probably due to harmonization with the more common biblical phrase “the
[5:10] 2 tn Traditionally, “the
[5:10] 3 tn The translation assumes that the disjunctive clause is circumstantial-causal, giving the reason for David’s success.
[5:11] 1 map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.
[5:17] 2 tn Heb “all the Philistines.”
[5:19] 1 tn The infinitive absolute lends emphasis to the following verb.
[5:20] 1 tn The name means “Lord of the outbursts.”
[5:21] 1 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Philistines) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[5:21] 2 tc For “idols” the LXX and Vulgate have “gods.”
[5:23] 1 tn The words “what to do” are not in the Hebrew text.
[5:23] 2 tn The words “this time” are not in the Hebrew text.
[5:23] 3 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
[5:23] 4 tn Some translate as “balsam trees” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV, NJB, NLT); cf. KJV, NKJV, ASV “mulberry trees”; NAB “mastic trees”; NEB, REB “aspens.” The exact identification of the type of tree or plant is uncertain.
