2 Samuel 12:14-22

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. 2 Samuel 12:14 tc The MT has here “because you have caused the enemies of the Lord to treat the Lord with such contempt.” This is one of the so-called tiqqune sopherim, or “emendations of the scribes.” According to this ancient tradition, the scribes changed the text in order to soften somewhat the negative light in which David was presented. If that is the case, the MT reflects the altered text. The present translation departs from the MT here. Elsewhere the Piel stem of this verb means “treat with contempt,” but never “cause someone to treat with contempt.”
2. 2 Samuel 12:15 tn Heb “and the Lord struck the child…and he was ill.” It is necessary to repeat “the child” in the translation to make clear who became ill, since “the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became very ill” could be understood to mean that David himself became ill.
3. 2 Samuel 12:16 tn Heb “sought” or “searched for.”
4. 2 Samuel 12:16 tn Heb “and David fasted.”
5. 2 Samuel 12:16 tn The three Hebrew verbs that follow in this verse are perfects with prefixed vav. They may describe repeated past actions or actions which accompanied David’s praying and fasting.
6. 2 Samuel 12:18 tn Heb “to our voice.”
7. 2 Samuel 12:18 tn Heb “he will do harm.” The object is not stated in the Hebrew text. The statement may be intentionally vague, meaning that he might harm himself or them!
8. 2 Samuel 12:19 tn Heb “David.” The name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) for stylistic reasons.
9. 2 Samuel 12:21 tc For the MT בַּעֲבוּר (baʿavur, “for the sake of”) we should probably read בְּעוֹד (b^eʿod, “while”). See the Lucianic Greek recension, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Targum.
10. 2 Samuel 12:22 tn Heb “said.”
11. 2 Samuel 12:22 tn Heb “Who knows?”