translation_id: net-engnet

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “and he came and said before Jonathan.”


text: Heb “What is my guilt?”


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


label: NET textual note

text: The translation follows the Qere , many medieval Hebrew mss , and the ancient versions in reading “he will not do,” rather than the Kethib of the MT (“do to him”).


text: Heb “without uncovering my ear.”


text: The LXX and the Syriac Peshitta lack the word “again.”


text: The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.


text: Heb “said,” that is, to himself. So also in v. 25 .


text: Heb “whatever your soul says, I will do for you.”


text: Heb “and I must surely sit with the king to eat.” The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.


text: Heb “to run.”


text: For location see Map5-B1 ; Map7-E2 ; Map8-E2 ; Map10-B4 .


text: Heb “good.”


text: Heb “know that the evil is completed from with him.”


text: Heb “and you must do loyalty.”


text: Heb “for into a covenant of the Lord you have brought your servant with you.”


text: Heb “and if there is in me guilt.”


text: The Hebrew text has simply “the Lord God of Israel.” On the basis of the Syriac version, many reconstruct the text to read “[is] my witness,” which may have fallen out of the text by homoioarcton (an error which is entirely possible if עֵד , ’ ed , “witness,” immediately followed ַָדוִד , “David,” in the original text).


text: Heb “and uncover your ear.”


text: Heb “uncover your ear.”


text: Heb “in peace.”


text: Heb “cut.” The object of the verb (“covenant”) must be supplied.


text: The word order is different in the Hebrew text, which reads “and Jonathan cut with the house of David, and the Lord will seek from the hand of the enemies of David.” The translation assumes that the main clauses of the verse have been accidentally transposed in the course of transmission. The first part of the verse (as it stands in MT) belongs with v. 17 , while the second part of the verse actually continues v. 15 .


text: Heb “for [with] the love of his [own] life he loved him.”


text: Heb “you will do [something] a third time.” The translation assumes an emendation of the verb from שִׁלַּשְׁתָּ ( shillashta , “to do a third time”) to שִׁלִּישִׁית ( shillishit , “[on the] third [day]”).


text: Heb “you must go down greatly.” See Judg 19:11 for the same idiom.


text: Heb “on the day of the deed.” This probably refers to the incident recorded in 19:2 .


text: Heb “from you and here.”


text: Heb “from you and onward.”


text: Heb “the Lord [is] between me and between you forever.” The translation assumes that the original text read עֵד עַד־עוֹלָם (’ ed ’ ad- ’ olam ), “a witness forever,” with the noun “a witness” accidentally falling out of the text by haplography. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 338.


text: Heb “and Jonathan arose.” Instead of MT’s וַיָּקָם ( vayyaqam , “and he arose”; from the hollow verbal root קוּם , qum ), the translation assumes a reading וַיִּקַדֵּם ( vayyiqaddem , “and he was in front of”; from the verbal root קדם , qdm ). See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 338.


text: Heb “and Abner sat at the side of Saul.”


text: The words “about it” are not present in the Hebrew text, although they are implied.


text: Heb “said,” that is, to himself.


text: Heb “send me.”


text: Heb “commanded.”


text: Heb “be released [from duty].”


text: Many medieval Hebrew mss include the words “his son” here.


text: Heb “son of a perverse woman of rebelliousness.” But such an overly literal and domesticated translation of the Hebrew expression fails to capture the force of Saul’s unrestrained reaction. Saul, now incensed and enraged over Jonathan’s liaison with David, is actually hurling very coarse and emotionally charged words at his son. The translation of this phrase suggested by Koehler and Baumgartner is “bastard of a wayward woman” ( HALOT 796 s.v. עוה ), but this is not an expression commonly used in English. A better English approximation of the sentiments expressed here by the Hebrew phrase would be “You stupid son of a bitch!” However, sensitivity to the various public formats in which the Bible is read aloud has led to a less startling English rendering which focuses on the semantic value of Saul’s utterance (i.e., the behavior of his own son Jonathan, which he viewed as both a personal and a political betrayal [= “traitor”]). But this concession should not obscure the fact that Saul is full of bitterness and frustration. That he would address his son Jonathan with such language, not to mention his apparent readiness even to kill his own son over this friendship with David (v. 33 ), indicates something of the extreme depth of Saul’s jealousy and hatred of David.


text: Heb “all the days that.”


text: The words “some men” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “a son of death.”


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


text: Heb “knew.”


text: Heb “for he was upset concerning David for his father had humiliated him.” The referent of the pronoun “him” is not entirely clear, but the phrase “concerning David” suggests that it refers to David, rather than Jonathan.


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


text: Heb “called after” (also in v. 38 ).


text: Heb “knew the matter.”


text: The translation follows the LXX in reading “the mound,” rather than the MT’s “the south.” It is hard to see what meaning the MT reading “from beside the south” would have as it stands, since such a location lacks specificity. The NIV treats it as an elliptical expression, rendering the phrase as “from the south side of the stone (rock NCV).” This is perhaps possible, but it seems better to follow the LXX rather than the MT here.


text: Heb “fell.”


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