2 Samuel 6:1-2

David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem

6:1 David again assembled ¹  all the best ²  men in Israel, thirty thousand in number. 6:2 David and all the men who were with him traveled ³  to ⁴  Baalah ⁵  in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by the name ⁶  of the Lord of hosts, who sits enthroned between the cherubim that are on it.

2 Samuel 6:6

6:6 When they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, ⁷  Uzzah reached out and grabbed hold of ⁸  the ark of God, ⁹  because the oxen stumbled.

2 Samuel 6:12

6:12 David was told, ¹⁰  “The Lord has blessed the family of Obed-Edom and everything he owns because of the ark of God.” So David went and joyfully brought the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David.

2 Samuel 6:1

David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem

6:1 David again assembled ¹¹  all the best ¹²  men in Israel, thirty thousand in number.

2 Samuel 13:1-5

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. ¹³  13:2 But Amnon became frustrated because he was so lovesick ¹⁴  over his sister Tamar. For she was a virgin, and to Amnon it seemed out of the question to do anything to her.

13:3 Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah. Jonadab was a very crafty man. 13:4 He asked Amnon, ¹⁵  “Why are you, the king’s son, ¹⁶  so depressed every morning? Can’t you tell me?” So Amnon said to him, “I’m in love with Tamar the sister of my brother Absalom.” 13:5 Jonadab replied to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be sick. ¹⁷  When your father comes in to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come in so she can fix some food for me. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I can watch. Then I will eat from her hand.’”

2 Samuel 15:3

15:3 Absalom would then say to him, “Look, your claims are legitimate and appropriate. ¹⁸  But there is no representative of the king who will listen to you.”

2 Samuel 15:25

15:25 Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back to the city. If I find favor in the Lord’s sight he will bring me back and enable me to see both it and his dwelling place again.

[6:1]  ¹ tn The translation understands the verb to be a defective spelling of וַיְּאֱסֹף (vayyÿ’esof) due to quiescence of the letter א (alef). The root therefore is אסף (’sf, “to gather”). The Masoretes, however, pointed the verb as וַיֹּסֶף (vayyosef), understanding it to be a form of יָסַף (yasaf, “to add”). This does not fit the context, which calls for a verb of gathering.

[6:1]  ² tn Or “chosen.”

[6:2]  ³ tn Heb “arose and went.”

[6:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “from,” but the following context indicates they traveled to this location.

[6:2]  ⁵ tn This is another name for Kiriath-jearim (see 1 Chr 13:6).

[6:2]  ⁶ 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.

[6:6]  ⁷ tn 1 Chr 13:9 has “Kidon.”

[6:6]  ⁸ tn Or “steadied.”

[6:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “and Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and grabbed it.”

[6:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and it was told to David, saying.”

[6:1]  ¹¹ tn The translation understands the verb to be a defective spelling of וַיְּאֱסֹף (vayyÿ’esof) due to quiescence of the letter א (alef). The root therefore is אסף (’sf, “to gather”). The Masoretes, however, pointed the verb as וַיֹּסֶף (vayyosef), understanding it to be a form of יָסַף (yasaf, “to add”). This does not fit the context, which calls for a verb of gathering.

[6:1]  ¹² tn Or “chosen.”

[13:1]  ¹³ 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.

[13:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and there was distress to Amnon so that he made himself sick.”

[13:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and he said to him.”

[13:4]  ¹⁶ tn An more idiomatic translation might be “Why are you of all people…?”

[13:5]  ¹⁷ tn This verb is used in the Hitpael stem only in this chapter of the Hebrew Bible. With the exception of v. 2 it describes not a real sickness but one pretended in order to entrap Tamar. The Hitpael sometimes, as here, describes the subject making oneself appear to be of a certain character. On this use of the stem, see GKC 149-50 §54.e.

[15:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “good and straight.”