2 Samuel 5:1-5
New English Translation
David Is Anointed King Over Israel
5 All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron saying, “Look, we are your very flesh and blood![a] 2 In the past, when Saul was our king, you were the real leader in Israel.[b] The Lord said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel; you will rule over Israel.’”
3 When all the leaders[c] of Israel came to the king at Hebron, King David made an agreement with them[d] in Hebron before the Lord. They designated[e] David as king over Israel. 4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign and he reigned for forty years. 5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah for seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned for thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.
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- 2 Samuel 5:1 tn Heb “look we are your bone and your flesh.”
- 2 Samuel 5:2 tn Heb “you were the one leading out and the one leading in Israel.”
- 2 Samuel 5:3 tn Heb “elders.”
- 2 Samuel 5:3 tn Heb “and the king, David, cut for them a covenant.”
- 2 Samuel 5:3 tn Heb “anointed.”
2 Samuel 6:1-5
New English Translation
David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem
6 David again assembled[a] all the best[b] men in Israel, 30,000 in number. 2 David and all the men who were with him traveled[c] to[d] Baalah[e] in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by the name[f] of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, who sits enthroned between the cherubim that are on it. 3 They loaded the ark of God on a new cart and carried it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart. 4 They brought[g] it with the ark of God from the house of Abinadab on the hill. Ahio was walking in front of the ark, 5 while David and all Israel[h] were energetically celebrating before the Lord, singing[i] and playing various stringed instruments,[j] tambourines, rattles,[k] and cymbals.
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- 2 Samuel 6:1 tn The translation understands the verb to be a defective spelling of וַיֶּאֱסֹף (vayyeʾesof) due to quiescence of the letter א (alef). The root therefore is אָסַף (ʾasaf, “to gather”). The Masoretes, however, pointed the verb as וַיֹּסֶף (vayyosef), understanding it to be a form of יָסַף (yasaf, “to add”). This does not fit the context, which calls for a verb of gathering.
- 2 Samuel 6:1 tn Or “chosen.”
- 2 Samuel 6:2 tn Heb “arose and went.”
- 2 Samuel 6:2 tn Heb “from,” but the following context indicates they traveled to this location.
- 2 Samuel 6:2 tn This is another name for Kiriath Jearim (see 1 Chr 13:6).
- 2 Samuel 6:2 tc The MT has here a double reference to the name (שֵׁם שֵׁם, shem shem). Many medieval Hebrew mss in the first occurrence point the word differently and read the adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”). This is also the understanding of the Syriac Peshitta (Syr., taman). While this yields an acceptable understanding to the text, it is more likely that the MT reading results from dittography. If the word did occur twice, one might have expected the first occurrence to have the article. The present translation therefore reads שֵׁם only once.
- 2 Samuel 6:4 tn Heb “lifted.”
- 2 Samuel 6:5 tn Heb “all the house of Israel.”
- 2 Samuel 6:5 tc Heb “were celebrating before the Lord with all woods of fir” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB). If the text is retained, the last expression must be elliptical, referring to musical instruments made from fir wood. But it is preferable to emend the text in light of 1 Chr 13:8, which reads “were celebrating before the Lord with all strength and with songs.”
- 2 Samuel 6:5 tn Heb “with zithers [?] and with harps.”
- 2 Samuel 6:5 tn That is, “sistrums” (so NAB, NIV); ASV, NASB, NRSV, CEV, NLT “castanets.”
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