2 Samuel 8:18

8:18 Benaiah son of Jehoida supervised ¹  the Kerithites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were priests. ² 

2 Samuel 20:23

20:23 Now Joab was the general in command of all the army of Israel. Benaiah the son of Jehoida was over the Kerethites and the Perethites.

2 Samuel 20:1

Sheba’s Rebellion

20:1 Now a wicked man ³  named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, ⁴  happened to be there. He blew the trumpet ⁵  and said,

“We have no share in David;

we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!

Every man go home, ⁶  O Israel!”

2 Samuel 1:8

1:8 He asked me, ‘Who are you?’ I told him, ‘I’m ⁷  an Amalekite.’

2 Samuel 1:26

1:26 I grieve over you, my brother Jonathan!

You were very dear to me.

Your love was more special to me than the love of women.

2 Samuel 1:1

David Learns of the Deaths of Saul and Jonathan

1:1 After the death of Saul, ⁸  when David had returned from defeating the Amalekites, ⁹  he stayed at Ziklag ¹⁰  for two days.

2 Samuel 2:29

2:29 Abner and his men went through the Arabah all that night. They crossed the Jordan River ¹¹  and went through the whole region of Bitron ¹²  and came to Mahanaim.

2 Samuel 2:1

David is Anointed King

2:1 Afterward David inquired of the Lord, “Should I go up to one of the cities of Judah?” The Lord told him, “Go up.” David asked, “Where should I go?” The Lord replied, ¹³  “To Hebron.”

2 Samuel 2:1

David is Anointed King

2:1 Afterward David inquired of the Lord, “Should I go up to one of the cities of Judah?” The Lord told him, “Go up.” David asked, “Where should I go?” The Lord replied, ¹⁴  “To Hebron.”

2 Samuel 18:17

18:17 They took Absalom, threw him into a large pit in the forest, and stacked a huge pile of stones over him. In the meantime all the Israelite soldiers fled to their homes. ¹⁵ 

2 Samuel 1:5-6

1:5 David said to the young man ¹⁶  who was telling him this, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?” ¹⁷  1:6 The young man who was telling him this ¹⁸  said, “I just happened to be on Mount Gilboa and came across Saul leaning on his spear for support. The chariots and leaders of the horsemen were in hot pursuit of him.

[8:18]  ¹ tc The translation follows the Syriac Peshitta, Targum, and Vulgate in reading “over,” rather than the simple conjunction that appears in MT. See also the parallel passage in 1 Chr 18:17.

[8:18]  ² sn That David’s sons could have been priests, in light of the fact that they were not of the priestly lineage, is strange. One must assume either (1) that the word “priest” (כֹּהֵן, kohen) during this period of time could be used in a broader sense of “chief ruler” (KJV); “chief minister” (ASV, NASB), or “royal adviser” (NIV), perhaps based on the parallel passage in 1 Chr 18:17 which has “the king’s leading officials”, or (2) that in David’s day members of the king’s family could function as a special category of “priests” (cf. NLT “priestly leaders”). The latter option seems to be the more straightforward way of understanding the word in 2 Sam 8:18.

[20:1]  ³ tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”

[20:1]  ⁴ tn The expression used here יְמִינִי (yÿmini) is a short form of the more common “Benjamin.” It appears elsewhere in 1 Sam 9:4 and Esth 2:5. Cf. 1 Sam 9:1.

[20:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.

[20:1]  ⁶ tc The MT reads לְאֹהָלָיו (lÿ’ohalav, “to his tents”). For a similar idiom, see 19:9. An ancient scribal tradition understands the reading to be לְאלֹהָיו (le’lohav, “to his gods”). The word is a tiqqun sopherim, and the scribes indicate that they changed the word from “gods” to “tents” so as to soften its theological implications. In a consonantal Hebrew text the change involved only the metathesis of two letters.

[1:8]  ⁷ tc The present translation reads with the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss “and I said,” rather than the Kethib which has “and he said.” See the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate, all of which have the first person.

[1:1]  ⁸ sn This chapter is closely linked to 1 Sam 31. It should be kept in mind that 1 and 2 Samuel were originally a single book, not separate volumes. Whereas in English Bible tradition the books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and Ezra-Nehemiah are each regarded as two separate books, this was not the practice in ancient Hebrew tradition. Early canonical records, for example, counted them as single books respectively. The division into two books goes back to the Greek translation of the OT and was probably initiated because of the cumbersome length of copies due to the Greek practice (unlike that of Hebrew) of writing vowels. The present division into two books can be a little misleading in terms of perceiving the progression of the argument of the book; in some ways it is preferable to treat the books of 1-2 Samuel in a unified fashion.

[1:1]  ⁹ sn The Amalekites were a nomadic people who inhabited Judah and the Transjordan. They are mentioned in Gen 36:15-16 as descendants of Amalek who in turn descended from Esau. In Exod 17:8-16 they are described as having acted in a hostile fashion toward Israel as the Israelites traveled to Canaan from Egypt. In David’s time the Amalekites were viewed as dangerous enemies who raided, looted, and burned Israelite cities (see 1 Sam 30).

[1:1]  ¹⁰ sn Ziklag was a city in the Negev which had been given to David by Achish king of Gath. For more than a year David used it as a base from which he conducted military expeditions (see 1 Sam 27:5-12). According to 1 Sam 30:1-19, Ziklag was destroyed by the Amalekites while Saul fought the Philistines.

[2:29]  ¹¹ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:29]  ¹² tn Heb “and they went, all the Bitron.” The meaning of the Hebrew word “Bitron,” which is used only here in the OT, is disputed. The translation above follows BDB 144 s.v. בִּתְרוֹן in taking the word to be a proper name of an area east of the Jordan. A different understanding was advocated by W. R. Arnold, who took the word to refer to the forenoon or morning; a number of modern scholars and translations have adopted this view (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, CEV, NLT). See W. R. Arnold, “The Meaning of בתרון,” AJSL 28 (1911-1912): 274-83. In this case one could translate “and they traveled all morning long.”

[2:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “he said.” The referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[2:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he said.” The referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[18:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and all Israel fled, each to his tent.” In this context this refers to the supporters of Absalom (see vv. 6-7, 16).

[1:5]  ¹⁶ tn In v. 2 he is called simply a “man.” The word used here in v. 5 (so also in vv. 6, 13, 15), though usually referring to a young man or servant, may in this context designate a “fighting” man, i.e., a soldier.

[1:5]  ¹⁷ tc Instead of the MT “who was recounting this to him, ‘How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?’” the Syriac Peshitta reads “declare to me how Saul and his son Jonathan died.”

[1:6]  ¹⁸ tc The Syriac Peshitta and one ms of the LXX lack the words “who was telling him this” of the MT.