Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 19 June 2022
Omitting greyed-out text should bring delivery time down to 40 minutes.
Reviewing up to this point, David allowed laziness and lust to run him into adultery with Uriah’s wife and then he tried to cover it up by murdering Uriah and marrying Bathsheba, but God knew what David had done, and he sent the prophet Nathan to hold King David accountable. The first punishment prophecied by Nathan was that this child of David and Bathsheba would die. As our story opens now, God has struck this baby, and the Hebrew word for the illness with which God struck it is only used of incurable illnesses in the Bible.
READ NAW translation of vs. 15-31: “Then Nathan went to his home. And Yahweh struck the newborn whom the wife of Uriah bore to David, and it became incurably-ill. So David searched {from} God on behalf of the boy, and David fasted a fast and went and laid down {in sack-cloth} on the ground. Meanwhile, the elders of his house got up over him to make him get up off the ground, but he wasn't willing, so he did not partake of food with them. Then it happened on the seventh day that the newborn died. Then David's servants were afraid to communicate to him that the newborn had died, "For," they said, "Look, while the newborn was alive, we spoke to him and he gave no heed to our voice; so how are we going to say to him, 'Your newborn has died'? Then he might do something bad!" But David saw that his servants were whispering to themselves, and David discerned that his newborn had died, so David said to his servants, "Has my newborn died?" And they said, "He has died." Then David got up off the ground and washed and put on cologne and changed his clothes. Then he entered the house of Yahweh and worshipped. Presently he went to his house, and when he asked, they set out food for him, and he ate. Then his servants said to him, "What is this thing which you have done, in that when your newborn was alive you fasted and wept, but as soon as your newborn died, you got up and ate food?" And David said, "While my newborn was still alive, I fasted and wept because I said, 'Who knows if Yahweh might have mercy and my newborn might live?' But now, he has died. Why should I fast thus? Am I able to bring him back again? It is I who will go to him, but, as for him, he will not return to me." Presently, David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and he went to her and laid down with her. Then she gave birth to a son and called his name Solomon. And Yahweh loved him, so he sent a commission by the agency of Nathan the prophet and called his name Jedidiah [Beloved] for the sake of Yahweh. Meanwhile, Joab fought the descendents of Ammon at Rabbah, and he took over their king's compound. Then Joab sent messengers to David and said, "I have fought against Rabbah, and I have taken over the water compound. So mobilize the rest of the people now and take up a position against the city and take it! Otherwise I'll take over the city myself and it will have my name attached to it!" So David mobilized all the people and went to Rabbah and fought against it and took it. Then he took their king's crown from off his head, and it weighed 75 pounds in gold, and {in it} was a precious stone. Thus it came to be upon the head of David. He also brought out a vast abundance of plunder from the city. And as for the people that were in it, He brought them out and put them with the saw and with the iron churns and with the iron axes, and he made them lean over with the brick-molds, and thus he did to all of the towns of the descendents of Ammon. Then David returned, with all the people, to Jerusalem.”
As I have studied the passage, I have been struck at the way it highlights God’s mercy toward David after his fall into sin. Let us examine those mercies and find hope for ourselves that God will show mercy to us too even after we have sinned against Him.
Throughout the books of Samuel, we have read that David “enquired”1 of the LORD whenever he had to make a big decision, such as
when he went fled from Saul to the priest at Nob,
when he was trying to defend the city of Qeilah from the Philistines,
when he was considering attacking the Amalekites that had sacked Ziqlag,
when he thought it was time to return to Judah after his exile among the Philistines,
and when he fought the double-header battles against the Philistines in 2 Sam 5.
But in all those cases, the Hebrew verb describing David’s “inquiring” was יִּשְׁאַל, literally meaning to “ask for something.”
Here, a different word is introduced, describing David’s “search” to renew his relationship with the Lord; it is the Hebrew verb יְבַקֵּשׁ. This is the verb which was used when Saul went out “searching” for his donkeys. In other words, David is not having his usual kingly consultation with a priest; David realizes that his entire relationship with God is in jeopardy, so he literally “searched for/went looking for/trying to get back” his relationship with God.
David started fasting and lying on the bare earth rather than in his bed each night. (This was probably not in the child’s bedroom, because, according to the law of Numbers 19:14, he would have been unclean and unable to worship at God’s house for another week if he had been in the same room with a dead body. The child was probably in a different room because his servants had to come to him to tell him later when the child died.)
Local elders got up from their seats at the courts of judgment and came over to where David was lying on the ground and tried to talk him into getting up and taking a meal, but, much as he respected his elders, he wasn’t willing to end his fast yet.
He kept it up for seven days, and then the child died. That was the day the baby boy was supposed to go to the tabernacle for the first time and get his circumcision.
David’s servants ask him why he mourned while the baby was alive, but didn’t mourn when the child died. That was the opposite of the way David normally did things. Normally, David celebrated life and heartily mourned after the deaths of those who were important to him. Why did he get it backwards?
David answers that he held out hope for God to be gracious and to show mercy.
He may have been praying along the lines of Psalm 25: “It is to You, Yahweh, I will lift up my soul. My God, it is in You I have trusted.... Moreover, it is all those who wait on You that will not be shamed; the vainly treacherous ones will be shamed. Yahweh, cause me to know Your ways; teach me Your paths; Cause me to travel in your truth and teach me, because You are the God of my salvation; It is for You that I have waited all this day. Remember Your mercies, Yahweh, and Your lovingkindnesses, because they are from eternity. [As for the] sins of my youth and my transgressions, don't remember [them]; according to Your lovingkindness remember Yourself for me, on account of Your goodness, Yahweh! ... On account of Your name, Yahweh, even pardon my iniquity, for it is much… My eyes will always be [looking] to Yahweh, because it is He who will get my feet out from the capture-net. Pay attention to me and be gracious to me because I am lonely and depressed. The stresses of my heart have expanded; get me out of my straits! Look at my low-condition and my trouble, and lift away all my sins…”
And we know David was praying Psalm 51:1 “Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.” (NKJV)
The purpose of David’s fasting was not to mourn the death of the child but rather to beseech God to mercifully spare the life of this child.
Asking God for mercy after a prophecy of conditional punishment is a Biblical thing to do.
God answered Hezekiah’s prayer when he asked for more time to live,
and God answered the prayers of the Ninevites when Jonah warned them,
and it is totally appropriate for us to ask God to substitute mercy for severety.
We can’t control the outcome; God is still free to do as He pleases, and, in David’s case, God didn’t save his child, but sometimes, as the Apostle James put it (4:2), “You have not because you ask not,” so we might as well ask God to be merciful.
David knew that God alone has the power to bring a person back from death, and if God wouldn’t do it, there was nothing more David could do.
The Bible does not teach us to pray for folks after they die.
Once the child is dead, David concludes the matter by saying, “It is I who will go to him, but, as for him, he will not return to me.” Every one of us will die (unless we are among those who remain at the second coming and are caught up to be with Jesus without dying first).
In the theology of the Old Testament saints, death was called “Sheol,” and was thought of as the realm of all the dead, whether good or bad – in other words, the afterlife, and the knowledge of Sheol was rather sketchy and shadowy.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, David’s son – ostensibly Solomon – wrote: 2:16 “For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten. And how the wise man and the fool alike die! ... 3:19 For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity. All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust. Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth? … 9:2 It is the same for all. There is one fate for the righteous and for the wicked; for the good, for the clean and for the unclean; for the man who offers a sacrifice and for the one who does not sacrifice. As the good man is, so is the sinner; as the swearer is, so is the one who is afraid to swear. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men. … For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for their memory is forgotten. Indeed their love, their hate and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a share in all that is done under the sun…. (NASB)
At the same time, David had some sense that those in a right relationship with God would enjoy God’s favor in the afterlife in a way that the unrighteous would not.
In Ecclesiastes 12 we read “Remember also your Creator... before the silver cord is broken... then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it… The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.” (NASB)
In Genesis, we are told that Abraham and Jacob were “gathered to their people” when they died (Gen. 25:8, 49:29), indicating a separation from evil and a fellowship of righteousness after death. (Willett)
And, in David’s Psalm 16:10-11 “Moreover, my flesh will settle down confidently, because you will not abandon my soul to Sheol; you will not destine Your godly man to the Pit. You will cause me to know the path of life; fullness of happinesses is with Your presence; endless pleasures are in Your right hand!” (NAW)
and, of course, Psalm 23:6 “It is goodness and lovingkindness that will certainly pursue me all the days of my life, then I will settle down in Yahweh's house for ever.” (NAW)
So, it’s hard to tell whether David was merely saying that he too would die one day and be part of the realm of the dead just as his baby boy was, or whether David was asserting that his baby boy was in heaven and that David would join him in heaven. Either of those statements would be true statements, though.
At any rate, David stops weeping and washes up and returns to life as normal. We aren’t told exactly why David didn’t go on mourning when the child died. He had previously observed a week of mourning after the deaths of Saul and Jonathan and Abner, but his child’s death was a different sort of thing; it was part of God’s punishment for his own capital crimes. Perhaps David felt that to mourn this death would be to protest against God, so David may have decided on that basis not to mourn.
And the first thing he did was to go to the house of the LORD – probably a tent-shrine in his palace somewhere.
Job did something similar when he heard of the death of his children: he fell to the ground and worshipped (1:20).
And, indeed, does not the apostle James instruct us: “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray…” (James 5:13, NKJV)
Would that we would always go to the Lord first under severe circumstances!
Puritan commentator Matthew Henry suggests that David “...went to acknowledge the hand of God in the affliction, and to humble himself under it, and to submit to his holy will in it, to thank God that he himself was spared and his sin pardoned, and to pray that God would not proceed in his controversy with him, nor stir up all his wrath.”
We aren’t told the exact timing of things in the story. The fact that the baby is called a yalad (a Hebrew word related to childbirth) rather than a nahar (The Hebrew word for “boy”) suggests that the child was newborn, although we aren’t told whether the seven days dated from his birth2 or from the time he got sick3.
The conception and birth of David and Bathsheba’s next child is mentioned right away, although we know that there would have to be at least 40 days and nine months before the birth of another child, and, in fact we’d have to add at least six more years to that because 1 Chron. 3:5 tells us that David and Bathsheba had three other sons before Solomon was born.
I think the blessing of the birth of Solomon comes in like a fast-forward here because God wanted to hasten to tell us that He had mercy on David after his grievious sins.
Solomon would be the next king after David, the next type of Christ, so the narrative jumps to him as the person who makes this whole story significant. (Tsumura)
The name “Solomon” means “peaceful” – and, according to ancient Jewish tradition, it was Bathsheba who named him4. But whether it was Bathsheba or David, this name they used for their son was evidence of their faith that they had peace because God had forgiven them for their sin and would have mercy on them.
In fact, the text explicitly says that God “loved Solomon.”
And then Yahweh sends Nathan as an official spokesmen to give Solomon a special name, the name Jedidiah, which means “Dearly loved by Yahweh.”
What amazing grace! What marvelous love our God has!
In Psalm 103 David wrote: “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:8-12 KJV) Do you believe that?
Those who have sinned great sin and yet who seek God and His mercy can indeed be restored in relationship with God and experience His love. This is evidence of God’s mercy upon David after his sin.
This is followed at the end of the chapter with another evidence of God’s mercy after David’s sin, namely the conquest of Rabbah, the capitol of the Ammonite nation.
Word came from David’s general Joab that the seige of Rabbah, the capitol city of the Ammonites (now known as Amman, Jordan) was about over. He explains that he has “taken” the “royal city/citadel” as well as the “city of waters.” This probably indicates that he had broken into the compound where the king and his household lived and taken control of that, and also that he had control of the source of water for the city of Rabbah. So the Ammonites were no longer being led by their king, and they were going to run out of water fast and be unable to fight after a few more days.
Keil & Delitzsch, in their classic commentary on Samuel explained the layout of Rabbah: “Rabbah was situated, as the ruins of Ammân show, on both banks of the river... Jabbok, in a valley which is shut in upon the north and south by two bare ranges of hills of moderate height, and is not more than 200 paces in breadth. The northern height is crowned by the castle, the ancient acropolis, which stands on the north-western side of the city, and commands the whole city.”
About 800 years later, when Antiochus III laid seige to Rabbah, he used a similar tactic to what Joab did to conquer the city. He took a resident of the city captive and extracted information from him about the city’s water supply, which was accessed through underground tunnels, then he sealed off the city’s access to their water supply, and Rabbah fell to him5.
Anyway, David’s nephew Joab knew how to push David’s buttons, and he said, “If you don’t get over here quick, I’ll conquer the city and it’ll be named after me!” So David hurries and mobilizes the rest of the men qualified for army duty in Israel and leads them off across the Jordan River to finish off Rabbah.
It was an easy victory for David. His people supported him, and he got glory for being the victorious conqueror.
The crown of the king of Ammon weighed a talent in pure gold – estimates from various scholars peg the weight of a talent anywhere from 50 to 130 pounds. (I’d be fine with just 50 pounds of gold!)
Iron Age statues of kings in Amman show us what that crown would have looked like – it was a fairly simple bicorn shape (like the one Napoleon made famous), but it must have been a solid chunk of gold instead of cloth, and it was so heavy, it couldn’t have been worn for very long without giving a massive headache!
There seems to be some confusion among translators as to whether there was just one big gemstone in it or several – the Hebrew word is singular, as is the Greek, but the Latin and Syriac render it plural. (The first century Jewish historian Josephus claimed that it was a big sardonyx stone set in the crown.)
Finally, what David did to the Ammonites in the last verse is a bit unclear. (The synonyms in the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 20 verse 3 don’t make it much clearer, either.)
The older translations like the Geneva Bible, the King James, Revised Standard, and even the NASB (supported by the oldest-known manuscripts of the Vulgate and the Septuagint) render it that David had the inhabitants of Rabbah sawed in half with saws, shredded with harrows, hacked up with axes, and burned in ovens. Rather gruesome!
Newer versions like the New King James, NIV, ESV, NET Bible, and New Living Translation instead render it that David put new iron saws and harrows and axes and brick-making equipment into their hands and put them to forced labor, chopping wood, ploughing fields, and making bricks.
Among the commentaries I read, older commentators like Matthew Henry, Robert Jamieson, and Keil & Delitzsch were in favor of the former; Andrew Willett also noted that similarly-severe justice had been meted out before by earlier judges of Israel6. On the other hand, newer commentaries like the Soncino Books of the Bible and the New International Commentary on the Old Testament were in favor of the latter interpretation, as am I7, for the following reasons:
It would make more sense to me to mention that the implements were iron if David was upgrading their old bronze tools to new iron ones to work with. Otherwise what would be the point in mentioning what kind of metal the execution instruments were made of?
Also, the Hebrew preposition written before each of these implements is a word normally translated “in/with/through.” There is a different preposition in Hebrew to express the concept of “under,” and that’s not the one used here, so that also inclines me toward the interpretation of consignment to labor rather than execution.
Also, the Ammonites were not among the Canaanite nations which God had told the Israeltes to wipe out, so it seems more consistent with God’s commands that they should be made vassals than that they should be mass-exterminated.
Furthermore, these four implements listed in v.31 are never mentioned anywhere else in the Bible as an execution method.
The only other time in the Bible these “saws” are mentioned is in 1 Kings 7:9, where they are employed (perhaps by these very Ammonites?) to cut stones for the building of Solomon’s palaces.
Likewise, the Hebrew word for “churns/cutting instruments” only occurs in one other passage in the Bible, 1 Samuel 17:18, and that refers to churning milk (or perhaps slicing cheese), a menial task which might be done by slaves.
The “axes” and the “brick-kiln” are not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, but most scholars think that the latter is related to a similarly-spelled word in Jer. 43:9 and Nahum 3:14, which refers to brick-making, another manual labor job.
And in 2 Sam. 17:27, we see that not all the Ammonite men from Rabbah were killed, for there we find another son of king Nahash helping David during Absolom’s coup. (Willett)
A couple more things to note:
One is that the phrase “the people” was used to denote only the “army” of Israel throughout this chapter, not every man, woman, and child, so whatever it was that David did to the people in Rabbah may have only been done to the fighting men8.
Another is that “cities” is plural, so perhaps once the main walled city of Rabbah was conquered, all the outlying unwalled communities surrendered at once.
Also, it is unclear whether “all the people” that returned to Jerusalem with David were just the Israelite soldiers or if it includes all the Ammonite people too, who perhaps went with them as slaves.
I can just imagine David singing Psalm 18:28-50 in this context: “...You Yourself cause my lamp to beam; Yahweh my God causes my darkness to glimmer. For with You I will rush a battalion, and with my God I will jump a parapet... This God really equips me with resource[s] and gives integrity to my way, making my feet even like the deer. And he causes me to stand upon my high places, training my hands for the battle. And my arms will bend a bow of bronze. You also give me the shield of Your salvation. With Your right hand You sustain me, and Your lowliness makes me great. You lengthened my stride under me and my ankles will not give out. I hunt down my enemies and overtake them, and I will not turn back until their defeat. I blast a hole through them and they are not able to rise up; they lie prostrate under my feet... You cause him who rises up against me to kneel under me. And as for my enemies You give to me [their bowed] neck, and as for those who hate me, I annihilate them... I pulverized them like dust upon the face of the wind; I emptied them like the mud of the streets... You position me at the head of nations – [even of] an ethnic-group I did not know – they serve me. As soon as the sound [reaches their] ear, sons of the foreigner are heedful to me; they are obsequious toward me… let the God of my salvation be exalted! ...Therefore I respond with the nations to Yahweh and play music to Your name. He causes to increase the salvations of His king and makes loving-kindness for His anointed one – to David and to his seed forever.” (NAW)
The Ammonite King Hanun who had risen up again against God’s anointed and humiliated his messengers was now humbled.
But here’s the point. It was God’s mercy to give David honor and power that he didn’t deserve and to restore him to the role that he had been called to in the first place of fighting the Lord’s battles, and to give him success again in establishing the kingdom of Israel.
So often, when we fall into sin (or even just into sinful attitudes), it is hard to get back into the saddle, as it were, and return to doing the things God originally called us to do:
to get back into the kitchen and start cooking again,
to climb back onto that office chair and turn the computer on,
to open the door of the office and pay attention to the customers,
to plunge your hands into the earth again and get slick with sweat,
to wipe the baby clean and try once again to teach them self control.
But that’s what God made us to do, and when we, as an act of faith, trust that God has forgiven us and will not resent us but rather wants to work alongside us again and show kindness to us, and we return to doing what He called us to do, we will experience the smile of His favor and fellowship once again.
I believe this is what Jesus was talking about when He told the church in Ephesus in the book of Revelation: “… you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.” (Rev. 2:4, ESV) To those of you who have been sidelined by sin, this is the command from your Lord: “Repent, and do the works you did at first!”
1) Ask God for mercy, even when you don’t deserve it. You never know if He might respond with extravagant grace.
Remember in Numbers 14 when God told Moses to stand aside and let him smite the whole nation of Israel for their sin and wipe them off the face of the earth and start over with Moses? Moses dared to ask God for an extravagant mercy and begged for God to spare the nation of Israel… and He did!
Personally, I am praying for God to have mercy on our nation. As they say, “If God doesn’t destroy America pretty soon, He’s going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah,” but I’m asking for God to send a spiritual awakening instead. Maybe He will. You have not because you ask not.
2) Allow God to reclaim your brokenness and bring good out of it. God brought Solomon out of the brokenness of David and Bathsheba’s relationship.
There’s never a good reason to sin, but God sees to it that our sins open up new opportunities for us to glorify him and speak His truth.
If Jonah hadn’t run away from God, he never would have gotten to witness to those Phonecian sailors, and his book wouldn’t have been half as engaging to us!
Every one of us has done things that we regret. Every one of us has to live with consequences of our selfishness and rebellion against God. But do you believe God’s word in Romans 8:28 that “God works all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to His purpose”? Are you looking for God to bring new good things out of your past messes?
3) Once you have honestly dealt with your sin, don’t sit on the sidelines of life and mope. Step back into the last thing you know that God called you do to, and do it wholeheartedly as unto Him, depending upon His strength and receiving His blessings as you do what God made you to do.
Every one of us carries baggage that we are ashamed of, but self-pity will not fulfill God’s will for your life.
Phil Moser’s booklet Dead-End Desire: Biblical strategies for overcoming self-pity was a life-changing read for me. It ends with these words: “On a recent visit… to the Library of Congress... my family and I ascended the stairs and stepped onto the balcony. The view took my breath away: such expanse, beauty, and solitude… The upper balconies support 16 bronze statues. The statues commemorate those whose lives shaped history: Beethoven. Michelangelo. Shakespeare. Homer. Newton. Plato... I turned to my left and looked into the stern face of Moses. There he was, holding the Ten Commandments, staring down upon the readers in the largest library in the world. I thought to myself: Moses made the top 16. He was still exerting his influence 3,500 years after his death. I imagined what his life might have been like if he had never made it off self-pity’s dead-end road. What if he [Moses] had felt sorry for himself because he was left in a basket as a child? What if he had never recovered from the shame of taking another’s life? What if he had fallen into self-pity when he made the abrupt career change from Egyptian dignitary to humble shepherd? What if he had lamented that life had passed him by when the turned 80? Would he have ever made it back to Egypt? Would he have been used by God to bring about one of the greatest deliverances in the history of the world? Self-pity has derailed many who could have been used by God, but who instead succumbed to their feelings and, as a result, withdrew their names from the list of history changers. They sat it out, feeling sorry for themselves. Don’t be one of them. If you find that you have succumbed to that dead-end desire, do what Jesus did: dwell upon the love of God, seek the will of God, and live for the glory of God. It’s not too late. There’s a lot to do, and you may be just the one to do it.” God shows mercy even after we sin.
LXX |
Brenton |
DRB |
KJV |
NAW |
MT |
15 καὶ ἀπῆλθεν Ναθαν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ἔθραυσεν κύριος τὸ παιδίον, ὃ ἔτεκεν ἡ γυνὴ Ουριου τῷ Δαυιδ, καὶ ἠρρώστησεν. |
15 And Nathan departed to his house. And the Lord smote the child, which the wife of Urias [the ChettiteB] bore to David, and it was ill. |
15
And Nathan |
15 And Nathan departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick. |
15 Then Nathan went to his home. And Yahweh struck the newborn whom the wife of Uriah bore to David, and it became incurably-ill. |
15 וַיֵּלֶךְ נָתָן אֶל-בֵּיתוֹ וַיִּגֹּף יְהוָהC אֶת-הַיֶּלֶד אֲשֶׁר יָלְדָה אֵשֶׁת-אוּרִיָּה לְדָוִד וַיֵּאָנַשׁD: |
16
καὶ |
16 And David enquired of God concerning the child, and David fasted X, and went in and lay [all] night upon the ground. |
16
And David besought
the |
16 David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted X, and went in, and lay [all] night upon the earth. |
16 So David searched {from} God on behalf of the boy, and David fasted a fast and went and laid down {in sack-cloth} on the ground. |
16 וַיְבַקֵּשׁ דָּוִד Fאֶת-הָאֱלֹהִים בְּעַדG הַנָּעַר וַיָּצָם דָּוִד צוֹםH וּבָא וְלָןI וְשָׁכַב אָרְצָה: |
17 καὶ ἀνέστησαν ἐπ᾿ αὐτὸν οἱ πρεσβύτεροι τοῦ οἴκου αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἐγεῖραι αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, καὶ οὐκ ἠθέλησεν καὶ οὐ συνέφαγεν αὐτοῖς ἄρτον. |
17 And the elders of his house arose [and went] to him to raise him up from the ground, but he would not [rise], nor did he eat bread with them. |
17
And the ancients of his house |
17 And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them. |
17 Meanwhile, the elders of his house got up over him to make him get up off the ground, but he wasn’t willing, so he did not partake of food with them. |
17 וַיָּקֻמוּ זִקְנֵי בֵיתוֹ Jעָלָיו לַהֲקִימוֹ מִן-הָאָרֶץ וְלֹא אָבָה וְלֹא-בָרָאK אִתָּם לָחֶם: |
18 καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ καὶ ἀπέθανε τὸ παιδάριον· καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν οἱ δοῦλοι Δαυιδ ἀναγγεῖλαι αὐτῷ ὅτι τέθνηκεν τὸ παιδάριον, ὅτι εἶπαν Ἰδοὺ ἐν τῷ [ἔτι] τὸ παιδάριον ζῆν ἐλαλήσαμεν πρὸς αὐτόν, καὶ οὐκ εἰσήκουσεν τῆς φωνῆς ἡμῶν· καὶ πῶς εἴπωμεν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅτι τέθνηκεν τὸ παιδάριον; καὶ ποιήσει κακά. |
18 And it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died: and the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead; for they said, Behold, while the child was [yet] alive we spoke to him, and he hearkened not to our voice; and how should we tell him that the child is dead?--so would he do [himself] harm. |
18
And it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died: and
the servants of David feared to tell him, that the child was dead.
For they said: Behold when the child was [yet]
alive, we spoke to him, and he would not hearken to our voice: how
|
18
And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And
the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead:
for they said, Behold, while the child was [yet]
alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice:
how will he then |
18 Then it happened on the seventh day that the newborn died. Then David’s servants were afraid to communicate to him that the newborn had died, “For,” they said, “Look, while the newborn was alive, we spoke to him and he gave no heed to our voice; so how are we going to say to him, ‘Your newborn has died’? Then he might do something bad!” |
18 וַיְהִי בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי וַיָּמָת הַיָּלֶד וַיִּרְאוּ עַבְדֵי דָוִד לְהַגִּיד לוֹ כִּי-מֵת הַיֶּלֶד כִּי אָמְרוּ הִנֵּה בִהְיוֹת הַיֶּלֶד חַי דִּבַּרְנוּ אֵלָיו וְלֹא-שָׁמַע בְּקוֹלֵנוּ וְאֵיךְ נֹאמַר אֵלָיו מֵת הַיֶּלֶד וְעָשָׂה רָעָה: |
19 καὶ συνῆκεν Δαυιδ ὅτι οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ ψιθυρίζουσιν, καὶ ἐνόησεν Δαυιδ ὅτι τέθνηκεν τὸ παιδάριον· καὶ εἶπεν Δαυιδ πρὸς τοὺς παῖδας αὐτοῦ Εἰ τέθνηκεν τὸ παιδάριον; καὶ εἶπαν Τέθνηκεν. |
19
And David |
19 But when David saw his servants whispering, he understood that the child was dead: and he said to his servants: Is the child dead? X They answered [him] He is dead. |
19 But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore X David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. |
19 But David saw that his servants were whispering to themselves, and David discerned that his newborn had died, so David said to his servants, “Has my newborn died?” And they said, “He has died.” |
19 וַיַּרְא דָּוִד כִּי עֲבָדָיו מִתְלַחֲשִׁיםL וַיָּבֶן דָּוִד כִּי מֵת הַיָּלֶד וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִד אֶל-עֲבָדָיו הֲמֵת הַיֶּלֶד וַיֹּאמְרוּ מֵת: |
20 καὶ ἀνέστη Δαυιδ ἐκ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐλούσατο καὶ ἠλείψατο καὶ ἤλλαξεν τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ προσεκύνησεν [αὐτῷ]· καὶ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ καὶ ᾔτησεν [ἄρτον φαγεῖν], καὶ παρέθηκαν αὐτῷ ἄρτον, καὶ ἔφαγεν. |
20 Then David rose up from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his raiment, and went into the house of God, and worshipped [him]; and went into his own house, and called [for bread to eat], and they set bread before him and he ate. |
20 Then David arose from the ground, and washed and anointed [himself]: and when he had changed his apparel, he went into the house of the Lord: and worshipped, and then he came into his own house, and he called X X for X bread, and ate. |
20 Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat. |
20 Then David got up off the ground and washed and put on cologne and changed his clothes. Then he entered the house of Yahweh and worshipped. Presently he went to his house, and when he asked, they set out food for him, and he ate. |
20 וַיָּקָם דָּוִד מֵהָאָרֶץ וַיִּרְחַץ וַיָּסֶךְ וַיְחַלֵּף שִׂמְלֹתוֹM וַיָּבֹא בֵית-יְהוָה וַיִּשְׁתָּחוּ וַיָּבֹא אֶל-בֵּיתוֹ וַיִּשְׁאַל וַיָּשִׂימוּ לוֹ לֶחֶם וַיֹּאכַל: |
21 καὶ εἶπαν οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ πρὸς αὐτόν Τί τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο, ὃ ἐποίησας; ἕνεκα τοῦ παιδαρίου [ἔτι] ζῶντος ἐνήστευες καὶ ἔκλαιες [καὶ ἠγρύπνεις], καὶ ἡνίκα ἀπέθανεν τὸ παιδάριον, ἀνέστης καὶ ἔφαγες ἄρτον [καὶ πέπωκας]. |
21 And his servants said to him, What is this thing that thou hast done concerning the childN? while it was [yet] living thou didst fast, and weep, [and watch]: and when the child was dead thou didst rise up, and didst eat bread, [and drink]. |
21 And his servants said to him: What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive, but when the child was dead, thou didst rise up, and eat bread. |
21 Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread. |
21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing which you have done, in that when your newborn was alive you fasted and wept, but as soon as your newborn died, you got up and ate food?” |
21 וַיֹּאמְרוּ עֲבָדָיו אֵלָיו מָה-הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתָה בַּעֲבוּרO הַיֶּלֶד חַי צַמְתָּ וַתֵּבְךְּ וְכַאֲשֶׁר מֵת הַיֶּלֶד קַמְתָּ וַתֹּאכַל לָחֶם: |
22 καὶ εἶπεν Δαυιδ Ἐν τῷ τὸ παιδάριον ἔτι ζῆν ἐνήστευσα καὶ ἔκλαυσα, ὅτι εἶπα Τίς οἶδεν [εἰ] ἐλεήσει με κύριος καὶ ζήσεται τὸ παιδάριον; |
22 And David said, While the child yet lived, I fasted and wept; for I said, Who knows [if] the Lord will pity me, and the child live? |
22
And he said: While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept for
him: for I said: Who knoweth
[whether]
the Lord may [not]
|
22
And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for
I said, Who can tell whether
|
22 And David said, “While my newborn was still alive, I fasted and wept because I said, ‘Who knows if Yahweh might have mercy and my newborn might live?’ |
22 וַיֹּאמֶר בְּעוֹד הַיֶּלֶד חַי צַמְתִּי וָאֶבְכֶּה כִּי אָמַרְתִּי מִי יוֹדֵעַ Qיְחָנַּנִי יְהוָה וְחַי הַיָּלֶד: |
23 καὶ νῦν τέθνηκεν· ἵνα τί τοῦτο ἐγὼ νηστεύω; μὴ δυνήσομαι ἐπιστρέψαι αὐτὸ ἔτι; ἐγὼ πορεύσομαι πρὸς αὐτόν, καὶ αὐτὸς οὐκ ἀναστρέψει πρός με. |
23 But now it is dead, why should I fast thus? shall I be able to bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he X shall not return to me. |
23 But now that he is dead, why X should I fast? Shall I be able to bring him back any more? I shall go to him [rather]: but he X shall not return to me. |
23 But now he is dead, wherefore X should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he X shall not return to me. |
23 But now, he had died. Why should I fast thus? Am I able to bring him back again? It is I who will go to him, but, as for him, he will not return to me.” |
23 וְעַתָּה מֵת לָמָּה זֶּה אֲנִי צָם הַאוּכַל לַהֲשִׁיבוֹ עוֹד אֲנִי הֹלֵךְ אֵלָיו וְהוּא לֹא-יָשׁוּב אֵלָי: |
24 καὶ παρεκάλεσεν Δαυιδ Βηρσαβεε τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰσῆλθεν πρὸς αὐτὴν καὶ ἐκοιμήθη μετ᾿ αὐτῆς, καὶ [συνέλαβεν καὶ] ἔτεκεν υἱόν, καὶ ἐκάλεσεν τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Σαλωμων, καὶ κύριος ἠγάπησεν αὐτόν. |
24 And David comforted Bersabee his wife, and he went in to her, and lay with her; and she [conceived and] bore a son, and he called his named Solomon, and the Lord loved him. |
24
And David comforted Bethsabee his wife, and went in unto her, and
|
24 And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him. |
24 Presently, David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and he went to her and laid down with her. Then she gave birth to a son and called his name Solomon. And Yahweh loved him, |
24 וַיְנַחֵם דָּוִד אֵת בַּת-שֶׁבַע אִשְׁתּוֹ וַיָּבֹא אֵלֶיהָ וַיִּשְׁכַּב עִמָּהּ וַתֵּלֶד בֵּן וַיִּקְרָאR אֶת- שְׁמוֹ שְׁלֹמֹה וַיהוָה אֲהֵבוֹ: |
25 καὶ ἀπέστειλεν ἐν χειρὶ Ναθαν τοῦ προφήτου, καὶ ἐκάλεσεν τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ιδεδι ἕνεκεν κυρίου. |
25 And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and called his name Jeddedi, for the Lord's sake. |
25 And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and called his name, Amiable to the Lord, because the Lord [loved him]. |
25 And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD. |
25 so he sent a commission by the agency of Nathan the prophet and called his name Jedidiah [Beloved] for the sake of Yahweh. |
25 וַיִּשְׁלַח בְּיַד נָתָן הַנָּבִיא וַיִּקְרָא אֶת-שְׁמוֹ יְדִידְיָהּ בַּעֲבוּרS יְהוָה: פ |
26 Καὶ ἐπολέμησεν Ιωαβ ἐν Ραββαθ υἱῶν Αμμων καὶ κατέλαβεν τὴν πόλιν τῆς βασιλείας. |
26 And Joab fought against Rabbath of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city. |
26
And Joab fought against Rabbath of the children of Ammon, and
|
26 And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city. |
26 Meanwhile, Joab fought the descendents of Ammon at Rabbah, and he took over their king’s compound. |
26 וַיִּלָּחֶם יוֹאָב בְּרַבַּת בְּנֵי עַמּוֹן וַיִּלְכֹּד אֶת-עִיר הַמְּלוּכָה: |
27 καὶ ἀπέστειλεν Ιωαβ ἀγγέλους πρὸς Δαυιδ καὶ εἶπεν Ἐπολέμησα ἐν Ραββαθ καὶ κατελαβόμην τὴν πόλιν τῶν ὑδάτων· |
27 And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Rabbath, and taken the city of waters. |
27
And Joab sent messengers to David, saying: I have fought against
Rabbath, and the city of waters |
27 And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken the city of waters. |
27 Then Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah, and I have taken over the water compound. |
27 וַיִּשְׁלַח יוֹאָב מַלְאָכִים אֶל-דָּוִד וַיֹּאמֶר נִלְחַמְתִּי בְרַבָּה גַּם-לָכַדְתִּי אֶת-עִיר הַמָּיִםT: |
28 καὶ νῦν συνάγαγε τὸ κατάλοιπον τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ παρέμβαλε ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν καὶ [προ]καταλαβοῦ αὐτήν, ἵνα μὴ [προ]καταλάβωμαι ἐγὼ τὴν πόλιν καὶ κληθῇ τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐπ᾿ αὐτήν. |
28 And now gather the rest of the people, and encamp against the city, an take it [beforehand]; lest I X take the city [first,] and my name be called upon it. |
28
Now therefore gather thou the rest of the people together, and
besiege
X
the
city and take
it: lest X
[when]
the city shall
[be]
|
28
Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp
against the city, and take
it: lest X
I
take
the city, and it be called |
28 So mobilize the rest of the people now and take up a position against the city and take it! Otherwise I’ll take over the city myself and it will have my name attached to it!” |
28 וְעַתָּה אֱסֹף אֶת-יֶתֶר הָעָם וַחֲנֵה עַל-הָעִיר וְלָכְדָהּ פֶּן-אֶלְכֹּד אֲנִי אֶת-הָעִיר וְנִקְרָא שְׁמִי עָלֶיהָ: |
29 καὶ συνήγαγεν Δαυιδ πάντα τὸν λαὸν καὶ ἐπορεύθη εἰς Ραββαθ καὶ ἐπολέμησεν ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ κατελάβετο αὐτήν. |
29 And David gathered all the people, and went to Rabbath, and fought against it, and took it. |
29 Then David gathered all the people together, and went out against Rabbath: and [after] fighting X X, he took it. |
29 And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it. |
29 So David mobilized all the people and went to Rabbah and fought against it and took it. |
29 וַיֶּאֱסֹף דָּוִד אֶת-כָּל-הָעָם וַיֵּלֶךְ רַבָּתָה וַיִּלָּחֶם בָּהּ וַיִּלְכְּדָהּ: |
LXX |
Brenton |
Douay
|
KJV |
NAW |
MT 2Sam12 |
MT 1Chr 20 |
NAW 2Ch20 |
30 καὶ ἔλαβεν τὸν στέφανον [Μελχολ] τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτῶν ἀπὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὁ σταθμὸς αὐτοῦ τάλαντον χρυσίου καὶ λίθου τιμίου, καὶ ἦν ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς Δαυιδ· καὶ σκῦλα τῆς πόλεως ἐξήνεγκεν πολλὰ σφόδρα. |
30 And he took the crown of [MolchomU] their king from off his head, and the weight of it was a talent of gold, with precious stone[sV], and it was upon the head of David; and he carried forth very much spoil of the city. |
30 And he took the crown of their king from his head, X the weight of which was a talent of gold, [set with most] precious stone[s], and it was [put] upon David's head, and the spoils of the city [which] were very great he carried away. |
30 And he took their king's crown from off his head, X the weight whereof was a talent of gold with the precious stone[s]: and it was set on David's head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance. |
30 Then he took their king’s crown from off his head and it weighed 75 pounds in gold, and {in it} was a precious stone. Thus it came to be upon the head of David. He also brought out a vast abundance of plunder from the city. |
30
וַיִּקַּח
אֶת-עֲטֶרֶת-
מַלְכָּם |
1Ch20:2 וַיִּקַּח דָּוִיד אֶת־ עֲטֶרֶת־מַלְכָּם מֵעַל רֹאשׁוֹ וַיִּמְצָאָהּ מִשְׁקַל כִּכַּר־זָהָב וּבָהּ אֶבֶן יְקָרָה וַתְּהִי עַל־רֹאשׁ דָּוִיד וּשְׁלַל הָעִיר הוֹצִיא הַרְבֵּה מְאֹד׃ |
1Ch20:2 Then David took the crown of their king from off his head, and he found it to weigh 75 pounds in gold, with a precious stone in it. Thus it came to be upon the head of David. He also brought out a vast abundance of plunder from the city. |
31 καὶ τὸν λαὸν τὸν ὄντα ἐν αὐτῇ ἐξήγαγεν καὶ ἔθηκεν ἐν τῷ πρίονι καὶ ἐν τοῖς τριβόλοις τοῖς σιδηροῖς X X X X XX καὶ διήγαγεν αὐτοὺς διὰ τοῦ πλινθείου· καὶ οὕτως ἐποίησεν πάσαις ταῖς πόλεσιν υἱῶν Αμμων. καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν Δαυιδ καὶ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς εἰς Ιερουσαλημ. |
31 And he brought forth the people that were in it, and put them under the saw, and under iron harrows, and axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kiln: and thus he did to all the cities of the children of Ammon. And David and all the people returned to Jerusalem. |
31
And bringing forth the people thereof X
he
|
31 And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saw[s], and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brickkiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem. |
31 And as for the people that were in it, He brought them out and put them with the saw and with the iron churns and with the iron axes, and he made them lean over with the brick-molds, and thus he did to all of the towns of the descendents of Ammon. Then David returned, with all the people, to Jerusalem. |
31
וְאֶת-
הָעָם
אֲשֶׁר-
בָּהּ
הוֹצִיא וַיָּשֶׂםY
בַּמְּגֵרָה
וּבַחֲרִצֵיZ
הַבַּרְזֶל
וּבְמַגְזְרֹת
הַבַּרְזֶלAA
וְהֶעֱבִיר
אוֹתָם בַּמַּלְכֶּןAB
|
1Ch20:3
וְאֶת־
הָעָם אֲשֶׁר־
בָּהּ הוֹצִיא
וַיָּשַׂרAC
בַּמְּגֵרָה
וּבַחֲרִיצֵי
הַבַּרְזֶל
וּבַמְּגֵרוֹת
|
1Ch20:3 And, as for the people who were in it, he brought them out and lorded it over them with the saw and with the iron churns, and with the axes. And thus David did to all the towns of the descendents of Ammon. Then David returned, with all the people, to Jerusalem. |
1See וַיִּשְׁאַל in 1 Samuel 22:10 23:2,4; 28:6,7; 30:8; 2 Samuel 2:1; 5:19,23, etc.
2John Gill weighed in favor of this.
3Tsumura, in the New International Commentary on the Old Testament, weighed in favor of this.
4Jews read the verb with a feminine subject, and the ancient Greek Septuagint doesn’t contradict that tradition.
5Polybius History l. 5. p. 414
6“The Israelites cut off Adonibezeks thumbes of his hands and feete, Judg. 1. Gideon did tear the men of Succoth with briers and thornes, Judg. 8.16.” Willett went on to interpreted the “brick-kiln” as the sacrificial altar of the idol Milcom, being a place David chose to execute idolaters, although Keil & Delitzsch argued strongly against the idea of David enacting human sacrifices to Milcom.
7John Gill articulated both sides and did not come down on one side or the other.
8cf. Keil & Delitzsch: “הָעָם (without כֹּל) refers no doubt simply to the fighting men that were taken prisoners”
AMy
original chart includes the NASB and NIV, but their copyright
restrictions have forced me to remove them from the
publicly-available edition of this chart. I have included the ESV in
footnotes when it employs a word not already used by the KJV, NASB,
or NIV. (NAW is my translation.) When a translation adds words not
in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use
of italics (or greyed-out text), I put the added words in [square
brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different
from all the other translations, I underline it. When a
version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs
too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far
from the grammar form of the original text, I use strikeout.
And when a version omits a word which is in the original text, I
insert an X. (I also place an X at the end of a word if the original
word is plural but the English translation is singular.) I
occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between
the various editions and versions when there are more than two
different translations of a given word. The only known Dead Sea
Scroll containing 2 Samuel 12 is 4Q51, which contains fragments of
vs. 1-9, 13-20 & 29-31, and which has been dated between 50-25
B.C. Where the DSS is legible and in agreement with the MT, the MT
is colored purple. Where the DSS
supports the LXX (or Vulgate) with omissions or text not in the MT,
I have highlighted with
yellow the LXX and its translation into English, and where I
have accepted that into my NAW translation, I have marked it with
{pointed brackets}.
B“the Hittite” is inserted in the Vaticanus, but it is not in the majority of Septuagint manuscripts.
CThe Dead Sea Scrolls (<yhwlah) and the Lucian rescription (o qeoV) of the LXX read “God” instead of “Yahweh,” but this doesn’t change the story.
DThis phrase “and he became ill” does not appear in the DSS or in some LXX manuscripts. It doesn’t change the story, however. This verb is also a hapex legomenon, although it occurs 8 other times as an adjective (Job 34:6; Isa. 17:11; Jer. 15:18; 17:9, 16; 30:12, 15; Mic. 1:9) where it is generally translated “incurable.”
EThe MT verb שכב (“he laid down”) is omitted in the Vaticanus . Instead of the MT “spent the night,” the LXX and DSS read “in sackcloth,” which, like fasting, was a form of mourning.
FDSS, Targums, and Syriac all read “from” instead of this direct object indicator. It doesn’t change the meaning substantially though. Targums explain “searched for comfort/mercy from Yahweh.”
Gcf. 1 Samuel 7:9 “So Samuel took one suckling lamb and offered it up whole as a burnt offering to Yahweh, and Samuel cried out to Yahweh in behalf of Israel, and Yahweh answered him!” (NAW)
HThe noun “a fast” is missing in the DSS, but it is in the Targums, Syriac, Septuagint, and Vulgate.
IDSS and LXX read instead “in sack-cloth,” and Vulgate “by himself,” Syriac and Targums support the MT “spent nights.” All are compatible with each other, albeit emphasizing different aspects of mourning.
JDSS starts this word with א instead of ע, which yields a synonymous preposition with a shade of meaning more like “to” than “over.” Syriac and Vulgate omit.
KDSS (and multiple other Hebrew manuscripts, according to Kittel) spelled this verb with a ה at the end instead of a א, making it more clear that the root is ברה (“partake of food”) rather than ברא (“create”). Targum avoided the confusion a different way by using the more-common synonym for “eat” אכל. cf. 2 Sam. 3:33 And the king sang a lament {over} Abner and said, "Should Abner have died like a fool dies? ... 35 Presently, all the people came to get David to eat some food while it was still day, but David took an oath saying, "May God do thus to me and do more also if, before the going-down of the sun, I taste food or any thing-else.”
LThe only other instances of this verb are Psalms 41:8 and 58:6.
MWash,
anoint, and change clothes was a typical sequence for preparing for
an outing, cf. Ruth 3:3, but it was not done during mourning: 2
Samuel 14:2 “And Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there
a wise woman, and said to her, "Please pretend to be a mourner,
and put on mourning apparel; do not anoint yourself with oil, but
act like a woman who has been mourning a long time for the dead.”
Qere notation suggests adding a character to make this noun
plural (שִׂמְלֹתָיו)
and this is supported by plural reading in the LXX and Syriac, but
the Targums and Vulgate read singular with the MT. It doesn’t
make a difference to the story whether we translate it “garments”
or “rainment.”
NThe
Masoretic cantillation is in favor of the reading of the standard
English translations rather than that of Brenton.
https://hb.openscriptures.org/structure/OshbVerse/index.html?b=1Sam&c=25&v=1
OLXX inserts ετι, Targums insert דְרָביָא, and Syriac inserts כד, all of which are merely extensions of the extended Hebrew temporal preposition, and therefore do not add a meaning foreign to the Hebrew text.
PKittel noted a few Hebrew manuscripts in addition to the Syriac which read “Elohim” instead of “Yahweh,” but it’s the same divine person either way.
QQere scribal note suggests that the first letter should be vav (“if he may be gracious to me”) rather than yod (“He may be gracious to me”), which, as you can see from the English translations, makes no substantial difference in meaning. Insertions in the LXX (ει = whether), Vulgate (si forte = if not), Targums (דִלמָא = perhaps), and Syriac (אן = wouldn’t?) seem to support the Qere.
RQere notes suggest that the subject should be feminine (וַתִּקְרָא “And she called”), which is supported by the Targums and Syriac (וקרת) and some other Hebrew manuscripts. The LXX does not distinguish between masculine and feminine in the third person, so the Greek could be interpreted either way. Hannah named Samuel in 1 Sam. 1:20.
SLucian rescription of the LXX follows Theodotion by swapping “because of” with εν λογω (“by the word of”), which makes better sense and would only be a slight spelling change from the MT בעבור to בדבר. A couple of the pre-Vulgate latin manuscripts also read that way (in verbo). The Syriac is different ( מטל דמריא ידדה).
TTargums and Syriac and a couple of Hebrew manuscripts instead read מַלכֻותָא “royal,” but the older LXX and Vulgate support the MT.
UThe Septuagint transliterated the Hebrew word here, giving its Hebrew pronunciation, followed by its Greek translation. It does this every once in a while when there is some uncertainty about the translation of a word. The AJV and Soncino commentary actually went with the transliteration as the name of the king.
VThe Greek word for “stone” is singular in the LXX and in the Vaticanus; Brenton was in error to make it plural in English.
WVulgate and Syriac pluralize “stones” (followed by KJV and NIV), but it is singular in the MT and LXX and 1 Chron. Furthermore, there is an insertion in the Targums & Syriac and in 1 Chron 20: בה (“in it”), supported by the extra space in this obliterated part of the verse in the DSS. This is also perhaps supported by the Vulgate “habens.” The LXX, on the other hand, supports the shorter reading of the MT.
XThe Syriac is also missing this third thing in the list, but it’s in the Vaticanus. The point still comes across without it.
YTargums read “condemned” instead of the Hebrew and Greek “put,” (Syriac reads ארמי). NIV and ESV added the words “to labor.”
ZDSS reads singular absolute rather than plural construct.
AAThe DSS is obliterated at this point, but there is not enough space between legible words to include all the text in the MT (The MT of the parallel passage in 1 Chron 20 is also much shorter). If this word were to be deleted, there would be enough room in the DSS for the rest of the words in the MT. This would support one of the missing words in the LXX, but that is not very satisfactory.
ABThe Masoretic scribal note in the Qere suggests changing the penultimate coph to a beth, as in בַּמַּלְבֵּן, bringing it in line with the two other references to bricks and brickmaking in Nah 3:14 and Jer. 43:9, but this would just be a spelling convention, making no difference in meaning. Goldman noted: “A careful and exhaustive study of the Hebrew word malben in post-Biblical Hebrew and in Arabic and Syriac has shown that brickkiln is a mistranslation. The correct rendering is ‘brick-mould,’ i.e. the wooden frame in which the clay is pressed into shape.”
ACThis verb may be related to verbs which occur three times in the book of Hosea, translated “appointed princes” (השׂירו 8:4 – perhaps from שרר), “departed” (בשׂורי 9:12 – perhaps from שור), and “strove/struggled/wrestled” (וישׂר 12:5 – perhaps from שרה). Nevertheless, English translations render it with yet another different meaning here: “cut” (Geneva, KJV, NASB, Vulgate, cf. “sawed asunder” LXX) or “consigned/put to forced labor” (NKJV, NIV, ESV). Judges 9:22 has an occurrence of a verb which may be the same,וישׂר אבימלך על־ישׂראל שׁלשׁ שׁנים “When Abimelek had lorded it over Israel for six years.”