What the book is
2 Samuel is the story of David as king, told with unusual honesty. It opens with David’s lament for Saul and Jonathan, “How the warriors have fallen!” (1:19). David becomes king first of Judah, then of all Israel; he takes Jerusalem, brings the ark of God there, and wins his wars. Then God makes him a promise through the prophet Nathan that shapes the rest of the Bible:
Your house and your kingdom will be secure forever before you; your throne will stand firm forever.’”
But the high point is followed by David’s worst failure. He takes Bathsheba, the wife of one of his own soldiers, and arranges her husband’s death. Nathan confronts him with a parable and the words “You are the man!” (12:7), and David confesses. From then on, trouble comes from within his own family: the rape of Tamar, Absalom’s revenge and rebellion, and David’s grief when Absalom is killed.
Who wrote it, and when
1 and 2 Samuel were one book in the Hebrew Bible, and what is said of 1 Samuel holds here: the book names no author, and many scholars see it as part of a longer history running from Deuteronomy through Kings. Many think it draws on an older, closely observed account of David’s court and the struggle over who would succeed him, chapters 9–20 and the start of 1 Kings, sometimes called the “succession narrative”.
How the book is laid out
- David king of Judah (1–4): the lament for Saul and Jonathan, and the war with Saul’s house.
- David king of all Israel (5–10): Jerusalem taken, the ark brought up, God’s promise to David, and his wars.
- David and Bathsheba (11–12): the sin, Nathan’s parable, and David’s repentance.
- Trouble in David’s house (13–20): Amnon and Tamar, Absalom’s rebellion and death, David’s return, and Sheba’s revolt.
- Appendices (21–24): a famine and the Gibeonites, David’s warriors, his song of praise and last words, and the census and the plague.
How Open Word Bible translates 2 Samuel
The text. As in 1 Samuel, the Hebrew text of Samuel has many difficulties, and the Greek translation and the Qumran scroll of Samuel are often fuller. The draft translates the Hebrew text, and where the other witnesses differ in a way that matters, a footnote gives their reading.
The promise to David (7:12–16). God promises to raise up David’s offspring and make his kingdom firm forever. The prophets and the New Testament read this promise as pointing to the Messiah, the son of David. In 7:16 the Hebrew says the kingdom will be secure “before you”; some witnesses read “before me”, and the footnote gives it.
Bathsheba (11:4). The decision explains that she had just completed the washing after her monthly period, as the law required, and it is marked uncertain with the other reading footnoted. Another decision notes that the verbs of the sentence are all David’s: he sends, he takes, he lies with her.
Who killed Goliath? (21:19). The Hebrew says that Elhanan of Bethlehem killed Goliath of Gath. 1 Chronicles 20:5 says that Elhanan killed Lahmi, Goliath’s brother. The draft translates the Hebrew of Samuel as it stands, marks the decision uncertain, and the footnote gives the reading of Chronicles. A second decision notes that the name of Elhanan’s father has probably been miscopied from the word “weavers” at the end of the verse.
Verse numbers. The verses are numbered as in the Hebrew text. David’s cry over Absalom, “My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom!”, is 19:1 here and 18:33 in most English Bibles, and the verses of chapter 19 are one higher here than there.
Uzzah (6:7). When Uzzah reaches out to steady the ark, God strikes him down “for the error”. The Hebrew word is rare, and the footnote gives the other readings, among them “for his irreverence”.
The divine name. God’s personal name appears often in Samuel. The text writes it “the LORD” in small capitals, and a reader setting shows “Yahweh” instead. See the divine name.