2 Samuel 23 is the 23rd chapter in the second parts of the

Books of Samuel The Book of Samuel () is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Book of Joshua, Joshua, Book of Judges, Judges, Samuel, and Books of ...

in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

of the

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

). It contains a prophetic statement described as the "last words of

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

" (verses 1–7) and details of the 37 " mighty men" who were David's chief warriors (verses 8–39).

Text

The original text of this chapter was written in the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language unti ...

. This chapter is divided into 39 verses.

Textual versions

Some ancient witnesses for the text of this chapter in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

are of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...

, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895),

Aleppo Codex The Aleppo Codex () is a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. The codex was written in the city of Tiberias in the tenth century CE (circa 920) under the rule of the Abbasid Caliphate, and was endorsed for its accuracy by Maimonides. ...

(10th century), Codex Leningradensis (1008). Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts, ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). They were discovered over a period of ten years, between ...

including 1Q7 (1QSam; 50 BCE) with extant verses 9–12Dead sea scrolls - 2 Samuel
/ref> and 4Q51 (4QSam; 100 ‑ 50 BCE) with extant verses 1–6, 14–16, 21–22, 38–39. There is also a translation into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the koiné language, common supra-regional form of Greek language, Greek spoken and ...

known as the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

, made in the last few centuries BC. Extant ancient manuscripts of the

version include Codex Vaticanus (B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK:

\mathfrak

^S; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A;

\mathfrak

^A; 5th century).

Analysis

The Jerusalem Bible states that last words were attributed to David in the style of

Jacob Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother E ...

(see Jacob's Blessing, Genesis 49) and

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

(see Blessing of Moses, Deuteronomy 33). Its editors note that "the text has suffered considerably and reconstructions are conjectural". contains David's final words to

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

, his son and successor as

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

David's last words (23:1–7)

The last words of David do not consist of a blessing (or "benediction") to Israel (unlike the blessing of Jacob in Genesis 49 or the blessing of Moses in Deuteronomy 33), but David is portrayed as a prophet speaking a prophecy (oracle) similar to Moses in Deuteronomy 32–33.

Verse 1

:''Now these are the last words of David.'' ::''Thus says David the son of Jesse;'' ::''Thus says the man raised up on high,'' ::''The anointed of the God of Jacob,'' ::''And the sweet psalmist of Israel:'' NKJV *"Anointed" (; 'Greek text analysis: 2 Samuel 23:1
Biblehub.com): "

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

", a royal title that here refers to

, echoing 2 Samuel 22:51. *"Psalmist" (Hebrew: ; ; from the root word: ', translated: "song"): can be rendered as "singer of songs", which refers to David; translated as the "Strong One" in NRSV which is interpreted as an epithet for

Yahweh Yahweh was an Ancient Semitic religion, ancient Semitic deity of Weather god, weather and List of war deities, war in the History of the ancient Levant, ancient Levant, the national god of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Judah, Judah and Kingdom ...

David's mighty men (23:8–39)

The list of David's warriors consists of several sections. The first part is about 'the Three' (the term used in LXX and

Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...

) with their names—Josheb-basshebeth, Eleazar and Shammah—and deeds (verses 8b–12, possibly until 17b). The second part is about the 'three of the thirty' (verses 13–17a) who were different from the first three, but also whose membership in the thirty is also uncertain, so probably somewhere between these two groups. The list of the Thirty starts with Asahel in verse 24, then the following warriors may be arranged geographically, with places in verses 24–35 being the closest to Bethlehem, and those in verses 36–39 were non-Israelites.

References

Sources

* * * * * *

External links

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

translations: *
Samuel II - II Samuel - Chapter 23 (Judaica Press)
Hebrew text and English translation ith Rashi's commentary">Rashi.html" ;"title="ith Rashi">ith Rashi's commentaryat Chabad.org *

translations: *
''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English) *
2 Samuel chapter 23 Bible Gateway

2 Samuel 23 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuel 2 23 23 David">Second Book of Samuel chapters">23 David