2 Samuel 4:2

4:2 Now Saul’s son ¹  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,

2 Samuel 6:2

6:2 David and all the men who were with him traveled ²  to ³  Baalah ⁴  in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by the name ⁵  of the Lord of hosts, who sits enthroned between the cherubim that are on it.

2 Samuel 18:18

18:18 Prior to this ⁶  Absalom had set up a monument ⁷  and dedicated it to himself in the King’s Valley, reasoning “I have no son who will carry on my name.” He named the monument after himself, and to this day it is known as Absalom’s Memorial.

[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.

[6:2]  ² tn Heb “arose and went.”

[6:2]  ³ tn Heb “from,” but the following context indicates they traveled to this location.

[6:2]  ⁴ tn This is another name for Kiriath-jearim (see 1 Chr 13:6).

[6:2]  ⁵ tc The MT has here a double reference to the name (שֵׁם שֵׁם, shem shem). Many medieval Hebrew mss in the first occurrence point the word differently and read the adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”). This is also the understanding of the Syriac Peshitta (Syr., taman). While this yields an acceptable understanding to the text, it is more likely that the MT dittographic here. The present translation therefore reads שֵׁם only once.

[18:18]  ³ tn Heb “and.” This disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) describes an occurrence that preceded the events just narrated.

[18:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “a pillar.”