translation_id: net-engnet

label: NET textual note

text: Codex Leningrad (B19A), on which BHS is based, has here “messengers” ( הַמַּלְאכִים , hammal ’ khim ), probably as the result of contamination from the occurrence of that word in v. 4 . The present translation follows most Hebrew mss and the ancient versions, which read “kings” ( הַמֶּלָאכִים , hammela ’ kim ).


label: NET translator note

text: Heb “go out.”


text: Heb “and his servants with him.”


text: Heb “all Israel.”


text: The disjunctive clause contrasts David’s inactivity with the army’s activity. map For location see Map5-B1 ; Map6-F3 ; Map7-E2 ; Map8-F2 ; Map10-B3 ; JP1-F4 ; JP2-F4 ; JP3-F4 ; JP4-F4 .


text: Heb “on the roof of the house of the king.” So also in vv. 8, 9 .


text: The disjunctive clause highlights this observation and builds the tension of the story.


text: Heb “he”; the referent (the messenger) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “and David sent messengers and he took her.”


text: Heb “he lay with her” (so NASB, NRSV); TEV “he made love to her”; NIV, CEV, NLT “he slept with her.”


text: The parenthetical disjunctive clause further heightens the tension by letting the reader know that Bathsheba, having just completed her menstrual cycle, is ripe for conception. See P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 286. Since she just had her period, it will also be obvious to those close to the scene that Uriah, who has been away fighting, cannot be the father of the child.


text: Heb “concerning the peace of Joab and concerning the peace of the people and concerning the peace of the battle.”


text: Heb “and wash your feet.”


text: Heb “and there went out after him the gift of the king.”


text: The Lucianic recension of the Old Greek translation lacks the word “all.”


text: Heb “and lay.”


text: Heb “as you live and as your soul lives.”


text: On the chronology involved here see P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 287.


text: Heb “the valiant men.” This refers in context to the strongest or most valiant defenders of the city Joab and the Israelite army were besieging, so the present translation uses “the best enemy soldiers” for clarity.


text: Heb “some of the people from the servants of David.”


text: Heb “Joab sent and related to David all the matters of the battle.”


text: Heb “and came out to us.”


text: Heb “but we were on them.”


text: The translation follows the Qere (“your servants”) rather than the Kethib (“your servant”).


text: Heb “let not this matter be evil in your eyes.”


text: Heb “according to this and according to this the sword devours.”


text: Heb “overthrow.”


text: The Hebrew text does not have “with these words.” They are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “for her lord.”


text: Heb “David sent and gathered her to his house.”


text: Heb “and the thing which David had done was evil in the eyes of the Lord .” Note the verbal connection with v. 25 . Though David did not regard the matter as evil, the Lord certainly did.