translation_id: net-engnet

label: NET translator note

text: 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.


text: Heb “he fell to the ground and did obeisance.”


text: Heb “What was the word?”


text: Heb “from the people.”


text: Heb “fell and died.”


text: 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.


label: NET textual note

text: 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.”


text: The Syriac Peshitta and one ms of the LXX lack the words “who was telling him this” of the MT.


text: 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.


text: As P. K. McCarter ( II Samuel [AB], 59) points out, the Polel of the verb מוּת ( mut , “to die”) “refers to dispatching or ‘finishing off’ someone already wounded and near death.” Cf. NLT “put me out of my misery.”


text: Heb “the dizziness has seized me.” On the meaning of the Hebrew noun translated “dizziness,” see P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 59-60. The point seems to be that he is unable to kill himself because he is weak and disoriented.


text: The Hebrew text here is grammatically very awkward ( Heb “because all still my life in me”). Whether the broken construct phrase is due to the fact that the alleged speaker is in a confused state of mind as he is on the verge of dying, or whether the MT has sustained corruption in the transmission process, is not entirely clear. The former seems likely, although P. K. McCarter understands the MT to be the result of conflation of two shorter forms of text (P. K. McCarter, II Samuel [AB], 57, n. 9). Early translators also struggled with the verse, apparently choosing to leave part of the Hebrew text untranslated. For example, the Lucianic recension of the LXX lacks “all,” while other witnesses (namely, one medieval Hebrew ms , codices A and B of the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta) lack “still.”


text: Heb “after his falling”; NAB “could not survive his wound”; CEV “was too badly wounded to live much longer.”


text: The MT lacks the definite article, but this is likely due to textual corruption. It is preferable to read the alef ( א ) of אֶצְעָדָה (’ ets ’ adah ) as a ה ( he ) giving הַצְּעָדָה ( hatsÿ ’ adah ). There is no reason to think that the soldier confiscated from Saul’s dead body only one of two or more bracelets that he was wearing (cf. NLT “one of his bracelets”).


text: The present translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading “his garments,” rather than “his garment,” the reading of the Kethib .


text: The Hebrew word used here refers to a foreigner whose social standing was something less than that of native residents of the land, but something more than that of a nonresident alien who was merely passing through.


text: Heb “young men.”


text: Heb “be taught the bow.” The reference to “the bow” is very difficult here. Some interpreters (e.g., S. R. Driver, P. K. McCarter, Jr.) suggest deleting the word from the text (cf. NAB, TEV), but there does not seem to be sufficient evidence for doing so. Others (cf. KJV) understand the reference to be elliptical, meaning “ the use of the bow.” The verse would then imply that with the deaths of Saul and Jonathan having occurred, a period of trying warfare is about to begin, requiring adequate preparation for war on the part of the younger generation. Various other views may also be found in the secondary literature. However, it seems best to understand the word here to be a reference to the name of a song (i.e., “The Bow”), most likely the poem that follows in vv. 19-27 (cf. ASV, NASB, NRSV, CEV, NLT); NIV “this lament of the bow.” To make this clear the words “the song of” are supplied in the translation.


text: Instead of the MT’s “fields of grain offerings” the Lucianic recension of the LXX reads “your high places are mountains of death.” Cf. the Old Latin montes mortis (“mountains of death”) .


text: This is the only biblical occurrence of the Niphal of the verb גָּעַל ( ga ’ al ). This verb usually has the sense of “to abhor” or “loathe.” But here it seems to refer to the now dirty and unprotected condition of a previously well-maintained instrument of battle.


text: It is preferable to read here Hebrew מָשׁוּחַ ( mashuakh ) with many Hebrew mss , rather than מָשִׁיחַ ( mashiakh ) of the MT. Although the Syriac Peshitta understands the statement to pertain to Saul, the point here is not that Saul is not anointed. Rather, it is the shield of Saul that lies discarded and is no longer anointed. In ancient Near Eastern practice a warrior’s shield that was in normal use would have to be anointed regularly in order to ensure that the leather did not become dry and brittle. Like other warriors of his day Saul would have carefully maintained his tools of trade. But now that he is dead, the once-cared-for shield of the mighty warrior lies sadly discarded and woefully neglected, a silent but eloquent commentary on how different things are now compared to the way they were during Saul’s lifetime.


text: The Hebrew imperfect verbal form is used here to indicate repeated past action.


text: Heb “beloved and dear.”