2 Samuel 6:19

6:19 He then handed out to each member of the entire assembly of Israel, ¹  both men and women, a portion of bread, a date cake, ²  and a raisin cake. Then all the people went home. ³ 

2 Samuel 14:25

14:25 Now in all Israel everyone acknowledged that there was no man as handsome as Absalom. ⁴  From the sole of his feet to the top of his head he was perfect in appearance. ⁵ 

2 Samuel 21:16

21:16 Now Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, ⁶  had a spear ⁷  that weighed three hundred bronze shekels, ⁸  and he was armed with a new weapon. ⁹  He had said that he would kill David.

2 Samuel 23:9

23:9 Next in command ¹⁰  was Eleazar son of Dodo, ¹¹  the son of Ahohi. He was one of the three warriors who were with David when they defied the Philistines who were assembled there for battle. When the men of Israel retreated, ¹² 

[6:19]  ¹ tn Heb “to all the people, to all the throng of Israel.”

[6:19]  ² tn The Hebrew word used here אֶשְׁפָּר (’espar) is found in the OT only here and in the parallel passage found in 1 Chr 16:3. Its exact meaning is uncertain, although the context indicates that it was a food of some sort (cf. KJV “a good piece of flesh”; NRSV “a portion of meat”). The translation adopted here (“date cake”) follows the lead of the Greek translations of the LXX, Aquila, and Symmachus (cf. NASB, NIV, NLT).

[6:19]  ³ tn Heb “and all the people went, each to his house.”

[14:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “Like Absalom there was not a handsome man in all Israel to boast exceedingly.”

[14:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “there was not in him a blemish.”

[21:16]  ⁷ tn This name has the definite article and may be intended to refer to a group of people rather than a single individual with this name.

[21:16]  ⁸ tn This is the only occurrence of this Hebrew word in the OT. Its precise meaning is therefore somewhat uncertain. As early as the LXX the word was understood to refer to a “spear,” and this seems to be the most likely possibility. Some scholars have proposed emending the text of 2 Sam 21:16 to כוֹבַעוֹ (khova’o; “his helmet”), but in spite of the fact that the word “helmet” appears in 1 Sam 17:5, there is not much evidence for reading that word here.

[21:16]  ⁹ tn Either the word “shekels” should be supplied here, or the Hebrew word מִשְׁקַל (mishqal, “weight”) right before “bronze” is a corrupted form of the word for shekel. If the latter is the case the problem probably resulted from another occurrence of the word מִשְׁקַל just four words earlier in the verse.

[21:16]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text reads simply “a new [thing],” prompting one to ask “A new what?” Several possibilities have been proposed to resolve the problem: perhaps a word has dropped out of the Hebrew text here; or perhaps the word “new” is the result of misreading a different, less common, word; or perhaps a word (e.g., “sword,” so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, CEV, NLT) is simply to be inferred. The translation generally follows the latter possibility, while at the same time being deliberately nonspecific (“weapon”).

[23:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “after him.”

[23:9]  ¹¹ tc This follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading דֹּדוֹ (dodo) rather than the Kethib of the MT דֹּדַי (dodai; cf. ASV, NIV, NLT). But see 1 Chr 27:4.

[23:9]  ¹² tn Heb “went up.”