2 Samuel 7:1-5

The Lord Establishes a Covenant with David

7:1 The king settled into his palace, ¹  for the Lord gave him relief ²  from all his enemies on all sides. ³  7:2 The king said to Nathan the prophet, “Look! I am living in a palace made from cedar, while the ark of God sits in the middle of a tent.” 7:3 Nathan replied to the king, “You should go ⁴  and do whatever you have in mind, ⁵  for the Lord is with you.” 7:4 That night the Lord told Nathan, ⁶  7:5 “Go, tell my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord says: Do you really intend to build a house for me to live in?

2 Samuel 7:1

The Lord Establishes a Covenant with David

7:1 The king settled into his palace, ⁷  for the Lord gave him relief ⁸  from all his enemies on all sides. ⁹ 

2 Samuel 8:17

8:17 Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar ¹⁰  were priests; Seraiah was scribe;

2 Samuel 8:1

David Subjugates Nearby Nations

8:1 Later David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. David took Metheg Ammah ¹¹  from the Philistines. ¹² 

2 Samuel 17:1-4

The Death of Ahithophel

17:1 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me pick out twelve thousand men. Then I will go and pursue David this very night. 17:2 When I catch up with ¹³  him he will be exhausted and worn out. ¹⁴  I will rout him, and the entire army that is with him will flee. I will kill only the king 17:3 and will bring the entire army back to you. In exchange for the life of the man you are seeking, you will get back everyone. ¹⁵  The entire army will return unharmed.” ¹⁶ 

17:4 This seemed like a good idea to Absalom and to all the leaders ¹⁷  of Israel.

2 Samuel 22:7-8

22:7 In my distress I called to the Lord;

I called to my God. ¹⁸ 

From his heavenly temple ¹⁹  he heard my voice;

he listened to my cry for help. ²⁰ 

22:8 The earth heaved and shook; ²¹ 

the foundations of the sky ²²  trembled. ²³ 

They heaved because he was angry.

2 Samuel 1:2-3

1:2 On the third day a man arrived from the camp of Saul with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. ²⁴  When he approached David, the man ²⁵  threw himself to the ground. ²⁶ 

1:3 David asked him, “Where are you coming from?” He replied, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.”

2 Samuel 1:2-3

1:2 On the third day a man arrived from the camp of Saul with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. ²⁷  When he approached David, the man ²⁸  threw himself to the ground. ²⁹ 

1:3 David asked him, “Where are you coming from?” He replied, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.”

Psalms 132:1-5

Psalm 132 ³⁰ 

A song of ascents. ³¹ 

132:1 O Lord, for David’s sake remember

all his strenuous effort, ³² 

132:2 and how he made a vow to the Lord,

and swore an oath to the powerful ruler of Jacob. ³³ 

132:3 He said, ³⁴  “I will not enter my own home, ³⁵ 

or get into my bed. ³⁶ 

132:4 I will not allow my eyes to sleep,

or my eyelids to slumber,

132:5 until I find a place for the Lord,

a fine dwelling place ³⁷  for the powerful ruler of Jacob.” ³⁸ 

[7:1]  ¹ tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).

[7:1]  ² tn Or “rest.”

[7:1]  ³ tn The translation understands the disjunctive clause in v. 1b as circumstantial-causal.

[7:3]  ⁴ tc Several medieval Hebrew mss and the Syriac Peshitta lack this word.

[7:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “all that is in your heart.”

[7:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “the word of the Lord was [i.e., came] to Nathan.”

[7:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).

[7:1]  ⁸ tn Or “rest.”

[7:1]  ⁹ tn The translation understands the disjunctive clause in v. 1b as circumstantial-causal.

[8:17]  ¹⁰ tc Here Ahimelech is called “the son of Abiathar,” but NCV, CEV, and REB reverse this to conform with 1 Sam 22:20. Most recent English versions (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) retain the order found in the MT.

[8:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the bridle of one cubit.” Many English versions treat this as a place name because the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:1 reads “Gath” (which is used by NLT here). It is possible that “the bridle of one cubit” is to be understood as “the token of surrender,” referring to the Philistine’s defeat rather than a specific place (cf. TEV, CEV).

[8:1]  ¹² tn Heb “from the hand [i.e., control] of the Philistines.”

[17:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “and I will come upon him.”

[17:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “exhausted and slack of hands.”

[17:3]  ¹⁵ tc Heb “like the returning of all, the man whom you are seeking.” The LXX reads differently: “And I will return all the people to you the way a bride returns to her husband, except for the life of the one man whom you are seeking.” The other early versions also struggled with this verse. Modern translations are divided as well: the NAB, NRSV, REB, and NLT follow the LXX, while the NASB and NIV follow the Hebrew text.

[17:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “all of the people will be safe.”

[17:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “elders.”

[22:7]  ¹⁸ tn In this poetic narrative the two prefixed verbal forms in v. 7a are best understood as preterites indicating past tense, not imperfects. Note the use of the vav consecutive with the prefixed verbal form that follows in v. 7b.

[22:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “from his temple.” Verse 10, which pictures God descending from the sky, indicates that the heavenly, not earthly, temple is in view.

[22:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and my cry for help [entered] his ears.”

[22:8]  ²¹ tn The earth heaved and shook. The imagery pictures an earthquake, in which the earth’s surface rises and falls. The earthquake motif is common in Old Testament theophanies of God as warrior and in ancient Near eastern literary descriptions of warring gods and kings. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 160-62.

[22:8]  ²² tn Ps 18:7 reads “the roots of the mountains.”

[22:8]  ²³ tn In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not an imperfect. Note the three prefixed verbal forms with vav consecutive in the verse.

[1:2]  ²⁴ sn Tearing one’s clothing and throwing dirt on one’s head were outward expressions of grief in the ancient Near East, where such demonstrable reactions were a common response to tragic news.

[1:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man mentioned at the beginning of v. 2) has been specified in the translation to avoid confusion as to who fell to the ground.

[1:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “he fell to the ground and did obeisance.”

[1:2]  ²⁷ sn Tearing one’s clothing and throwing dirt on one’s head were outward expressions of grief in the ancient Near East, where such demonstrable reactions were a common response to tragic news.

[1:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man mentioned at the beginning of v. 2) has been specified in the translation to avoid confusion as to who fell to the ground.

[1:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “he fell to the ground and did obeisance.”

[132:1]  ³⁰ sn Psalm 132. The psalmist reminds God of David’s devotion and of his promises concerning David’s dynasty and Zion.

[132:1]  ³¹ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[132:1]  ³² tn Heb “all his affliction.” This may refer to David’s strenuous and tireless efforts to make provision for the building of the temple (see 1 Chr 22:14). Some prefer to revocalize the text as עַנַוָתוֹ (’anavato, “his humility”).

[132:2]  ³³ tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.”

[132:3]  ³⁴ tn The words “he said” are supplied in the translation to clarify that what follows is David’s vow.

[132:3]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the tent of my house.”

[132:3]  ³⁶ tn Heb “go up upon the bed of my couch.”

[132:5]  ³⁷ tn The plural form of the noun may indicate degree or quality; David envisions a special dwelling place (see Pss 43:3; 46:4; 84:1).

[132:5]  ³⁸ tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.”