4tc The translation follows the Qere, 4QSama, and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading לוּ (lu, “if”) rather than MT לֹא (lo’, “not”).
5tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack “today.”
6tnHeb “and speak to the heart of.”
7tnHeb “all the people.”
8tn The Hebrew text has simply“Israel” (see 18:16-17).
9tnHeb “had fled, each to his tent.”
10tnHeb “over us.”
11tc The LXX includes the following words at the end of v. 11: “And what all Israel was saying came to the king’s attention.” The words are misplaced in the LXX from v. 12 (although the same statement appears there in the LXX as well).
12tnHeb “his house.”
13tc The Hebrew text adds“to his house” (= palace), but the phrase, which also appears earlier in the verse, is probably accidentally repeated here.
14tnHeb “my bone and my flesh.”
15tnHeb “my bone and my flesh.”
16tnHeb “Thus God will do to me and thus he will add.”
17tn The referent of “he” is not entirely clear: cf. NCV “David”; TEV “David’s words”; NRSV, NLT “Amasa.”
18tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
19tn The Hebrew text has simply“Judah.”
20tnHeb “the king.” The pronoun (“him”) has been used in the translation to avoid redundancy.
21tnHeb “youth.”
22tnHeb “rushed into.”
23tn Though this verb in the MT is 3rd person masculine singular, it should probably be read as 2nd person masculine singular. It is one of fifteen places where the Masoretes placed a dot over each of the letters of the word in question in order to call attention to their suspicion of the word. Their concern in this case apparently had to do with the fact that this verb and the two preceding verbs alternate from third person to second and back again to third. Words marked in this way in Hebrew manuscripts or printed editions are said to have puncta extrordinaria, or “extraordinary points.”
24map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
25tn The Hebrew text has simply“your servant.”
26tnHeb “what to me and to you.”
27tnHeb “swore to him.”
28tnHeb “son.”
29tnHeb “in peace.” So also in v. 31.
30tnHeb “he”; the referent (Mephibosheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
31tnHeb “done his feet.”
32tnHeb “done.”
33tnHeb “your servant.”
34tnHeb “your servant.”
35tnHeb “and he”; the referent (the servant) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
36tnHeb “your servant.”
37tnHeb “father.”
38tnHeb “and you placed your servant among those who eat at your table.”
39tnHeb “to cry out to.”
40tnHeb “take.”
41tnHeb “in peace.”
42tc The MT reading אֶת־בַיַּרְדֵּן (’et-vayyarden, “in the Jordan”) is odd syntactically. The use of the preposition after the object marker אֶת (’et) is difficult to explain. Graphic confusion is likely in the MT; the translation assumes the reading מִיַּרְדֵּן (miyyarden, “from the Jordan”). Another possibility is to read the definite article on the front of “Jordan” (הַיַּרְדֵּן, hayyarden; “the Jordan”).
43tnHeb “great.”
44tnHeb “your servant.”
45tnHeb “your servant.”
46tnHeb “Like a little your servant will cross the Jordan with the king.”
47tnHeb “your servant.”
48tnHeb “to his place.”
49tn The MT in this instance alone spells the name with final ן(nun, “Kimhan”) rather than as elsewhere with final ם (mem, “Kimham”). As in most other translations, the conventional spelling (with ם) has been used here to avoid confusion.
50tnHeb “people.”
51tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading the Hiphil verb הֶעֱבִירוּ (he’eviru, “they caused to pass over”) rather than the Qal verb וַיְעֱבִרוּ (vay’˙viru, “they crossed over”) of the MT.
52tnHeb “from the king.”
53tn The translation understands the verb in a desiderative sense, indicating the desire but not necessarily the completed action of the party in question. It is possible, however, that the verb should be given the more common sense of accomplished action, in which case it means here “Why have you cursed us?”