2 Samuel 20:1-3

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. 2 Samuel 20:1 tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”
2. 2 Samuel 20:1 tn The expression used here יְמִינִי (y^emini) 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.
3. 2 Samuel 20:1 tn Heb “the shofar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.
4. 2 Samuel 20:1 tc The MT reads לְאֹהָלָיו (l^eʾohalayv, “to his tents”). For a similar idiom, see 19:9. An ancient scribal tradition understands the reading to be לֵאלֹהָיו (leʾlohav, “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.
5. 2 Samuel 20:2 tn Heb “went up from after.”
6. 2 Samuel 20:2 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
7. 2 Samuel 20:3 tn Heb “house.”
8. 2 Samuel 20:3 tn Heb “and he placed them in a guarded house.”
9. 2 Samuel 20:3 tn Heb “come to them.” The expression בּוֹא אֶל (boʾ ʾel) means “come to” or “approach,” but is also used as a euphemism for sexual relations.