¹tn Heb “kept from.”
²tn Heb “ones armed with bow[s], using the right hand and the left hand with stones and with arrows with the bow, from the brothers of Saul from Benjamin.”
³sn In the Hebrew text (BHS) a verse division occurs at this point, and for the remainder of the chapter the verse numbers of the Hebrew Bible differ by one from the English Bible. Thus 1 Chr 12:4b ET = 12:5 HT, and 12:5-40 ET = 12:6-41 HT. Beginning with 13:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
⁴tn Heb “warriors, men of battle for war, prepared with shield and spear, and [like] the face of a lion were their faces, and like gazelles on the hills to hurry.”
⁵tn Heb “one for a hundred the small, and the great for a thousand.” Another option is to translate the preposition -l= as “against” and to understand this as a hyperbolic reference to their prowess: “the least could stand against a hundred, the greatest against a thousand.”
⁶tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied for clarity.
⁷sn That is, March-April.
⁸tn Heb “and they chased all the valleys to the east and to the west.”
⁹tn Heb “and David went out before them and answered and said to them.”
¹⁰tn Heb “there will be to me concerning you a heart for unity.”
¹¹tn Heb “with no violence in my hands.”
¹²tn Heb “fathers.”
¹³tn Perhaps “the Spirit,” but the text has simply jwr with no article (suggesting an indefinite reference).
¹⁴tn Heb “clothed.”
¹⁵tn The words “and he said” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
¹⁶tn Heb “are with.”
¹⁷tn Heb “Peace, peace to you.” The Hebrew term <wlv (“peace”) is repeated to emphasize degree.
¹⁸tn Heb “and peace to the one who helps you.”
¹⁹tn Or “for.”
²⁰tn Heb “fell upon,” here in a good sense.
²¹tn Heb “and they did not help them for by counsel they sent him away, the lords of the Philistines, saying, ‘With our heads he will fall to his master Saul.’”
²²tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
²³tn Heb “for at the time of day in a day they were coming to David to help him until [there was] a great camp like the camp of God.” The term <yhla (“God”) is probably used idiomatically here to indicate the superlative.
²⁴tn Heb “these are the numbers of the heads of the forces armed for battle [who] came to David in Hebron to turn over the kingdom of Saul to him according to the mouth of the Lord.”
²⁵tn Heb “the sons of Judah, carrying shield and spear, [were] 6,800 armed for battle.”
²⁶tn Heb “from the sons of Benjamin, the brothers of Saul.”
²⁷tn Heb “and until then, the majority of them were keeping the charge of the house of Saul.”
²⁸tn Heb “men of names for the house of their fathers.”
²⁹tn Heb “from the sons of Issachar, knowers of understanding for times to know what Israel should do, their heads [were] 200, and all their brothers according to their mouth.”
³⁰tn Heb “from Zebulun, those going out for battle, prepared for war with all weapons of war, 50,000, and to help without a heart and a heart.”
³¹tc Heb “all these [were] men of war, helpers of the battle line.” The present translation assumes an emendation of yrdu, “helpers of,” to ykru, “prepared for.”
³²tn Heb “with a complete heart they came to Hebron to make David king over all Israel.”
³³tn Heb “and also all the rest of Israel [was of] one mind to make David king.”
³⁴tn Heb “eating and drinking.”
³⁵tn Heb “cattle and sheep.”
³⁶tn Heb “for there was joy in Israel.”