translation_id: net-engnet

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “and I will come upon him.”


text: Heb “exhausted and slack of hands.”


label: NET textual note

text: 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.


text: Heb “all of the people will be safe.”


text: Heb “elders.”


text: In the MT the verb is singular, but in the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate it is plural.


text: Heb “what is in his mouth.”


text: Heb “Not good is the advice which Ahithophel has advised at this time.”


text: The LXX (with the exception of the recensions of Origen and Lucian) repeats the description as follows: “Just as a female bear bereft of cubs in a field.”


text: Heb “that he falls on them [i.e., Absalom’s troops] at the first [encounter]; or “that some of them [i.e., Absalom’s troops] fall at the first [encounter].”


text: Heb “commanded.”


text: Heb “send quickly and tell David saying.”


text: Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV).


text: That is, “cross over the Jordan River.”


text: Heb “swallowed up.”


text: Heb “they”; the referents (Absalom’s men) have been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: For location see Map5-B1 ; Map6-F3 ; Map7-E2 ; Map8-F2 ; Map10-B3 ; JP1-F4 ; JP2-F4 ; JP3-F4 ; JP4-F4 .


text: Heb “they”; the referents (Ahimaaz and Jonathan) have been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “the water.”


text: Heb “for thus Ahithophel has devised against you.” The expression “thus” is narrative shorthand, referring to the plan outlined by Ahithophel (see vv. 1-3 ). The men would surely have outlined the plan in as much detail as they had been given by the messenger.


text: The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text here or in v. 24 , but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.


text: The Greek recensions of Origen and Lucian have here “house” for “grave.”


text: Heb “come to.”


text: Heb “and Israel.”


text: The MT adds “roasted grain” וְקָלִי ( vÿqali ) at the end of v. 28 , apparently accidentally repeating the word from its earlier occurrence in this verse. With the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and an Old Latin ms the translation deletes this second occurrence of the word.


text: Heb “cheese of the herd,” probably referring to cheese from cow’s milk (rather than goat’s milk).


text: Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV, NLT).