2 Samuel 18:11-13

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. 2 Samuel 18:11 tn Heb “Why did you not strike him down there to the ground.”
2. 2 Samuel 18:11 tn Heb “ten [shekels] of silver.” This would have been about 4 ounces (114 grams) of silver by weight.
3. 2 Samuel 18:11 tn Heb “and a girdle” (so KJV); NIV “a warrior’s belt”; CEV “a special belt”; NLT “a hero’s belt.”
4. 2 Samuel 18:12 tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וְלוּ (v^elu, “and if”) rather than MT וְלֹא (v^elo’, “and not”).
5. 2 Samuel 18:12 tn Heb “weighing out in my hand.”
6. 2 Samuel 18:12 tn Heb “a thousand [shekels] of silver.” This would have been about 25 pounds (11.4 kg) of silver by weight.
7. 2 Samuel 18:12 tn Heb “extend my hand against.”
8. 2 Samuel 18:12 tn Heb “in our ears.”
9. 2 Samuel 18:12 tc The Hebrew text is very difficult here. The MT reads מִי (mi, “who”), apparently yielding the following sense: “Show care, whoever you might be, for the youth Absalom.” The Syriac Peshitta reads li (“for me”), the Hebrew counterpart of which may also lie behind the LXX rendering μοι (moi, “for me”). This reading seems preferable here, since it restores sense to the passage and most easily explains the rise of the variant.
10. 2 Samuel 18:13 tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, and a number of the ancient versions in reading בְנַפְשִׁי (v^enafshi, “against my life”) rather than the MT בְנַפְשׁוֹ (v^enafsho, “against his life”).
11. 2 Samuel 18:13 tn Heb “stood aloof.”