translation_id: net-engnet

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “a man of worthlessness.”


text: 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 .


text: Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22 .


label: NET textual note

text: 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.


text: Heb “went up from after.”


text: The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied 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 “house.”


text: Heb “and he placed them in a guarded house.”


text: Heb “he did not come to them”; NAB “has no further relations with them”; NIV “did not lie with them”; TEV “did not have intercourse with them”; NLT “would no longer sleep with them.”


text: The present translation follows the Masoretic accentuation, with the major mark of disjunction (i.e., the atnach ) placed at the word “days.” However, some scholars have suggested moving the atnach to “Judah” a couple of words earlier. This would yield the following sense: “Three days, and you be present here with them.” The difference in meaning is slight, and the MT is acceptable as it stands.


text: Heb “find.” The perfect verbal form is unexpected with the preceding word “otherwise.” We should probably read instead the imperfect. Although it is possible to understand the perfect here as indicating that the feared result is thought of as already having taken place (cf. BDB 814 s.v. פֶּן 2), it is more likely that the perfect is simply the result of scribal error. In this context the imperfect would be more consistent with the following verb וְהִצִּיל ( vÿhitsil , “and he will get away”).


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


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


text: Heb “and he did not repeat concerning him, and he died.”


text: Heb “takes delight in.”


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


text: Heb “he”; the referent (the man who spoke up in v. 11 ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “Amasa.” For stylistic reasons the name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation.


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


text: In keeping with the form of the name in v. 15 , the translation deletes the “and” found in the MT.


text: The translation follows the Qere , many medieval Hebrew mss , and the ancient versions in reading וַיִּקָּהֲלוּ ( vayyiqqahalu , “and they were gathered together”) rather than the Kethib of the MT וַיִּקְלֻהוּ ( vayyiqluhu , “and they cursed him”). The Kethib is the result of metathesis.


text: Heb “they.” The following context makes it clear that this refers to Joab and his army.


text: The LXX has here ἐνοοῦσαν ( enoousan , “were devising”), which apparently presupposes the Hebrew word מַחֲשָׁבִים ( makhashavim ) rather than the MT מַשְׁחִיתִם ( mashkhitim , “were destroying”). With a number of other scholars Driver thinks that the Greek variant may preserve the original reading, but this seems to be an unnecessary conclusion (but see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel , 346).


text: Heb “a city and a mother.” The expression is a hendiadys, meaning that this city was an important one in Israel and had smaller cities dependent on it.


text: Heb “Far be it, far be it from me.” The expression is clearly emphatic, as may be seen in part by the repetition. P. K. McCarter, however, understands it to be coarser than the translation adopted here. He renders it as “I’ll be damned if…” ( II Samuel [AB], 426, 429), which (while it is not a literal translation) may not be too far removed from the way a soldier might have expressed himself.


text: Heb “lifted his hand.”


text: Heb “Look!”


text: Heb “they”; the referent (Joab’s men) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “his tents.”


text: Heb “Adoram” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV, CEV), but see 1 Kgs 4:6; 5:14 .


text: Heb “was over the forced labor.”


text: Heb “priest for David.” KJV (“a chief ruler about David”) and ASV (“chief minister unto David”) regarded this office as political.