2:29 Abner and his men went through the Arabah all that night. They crossed the Jordan River31 and went through the whole region of Bitron32 and came to Mahanaim.
tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
32
tnHeb “and they went, all the Bitron.” The meaning of the Hebrew word “Bitron,” which is used only here in the OT, is disputed. The translation above follows BDB 144s.v.בִּתְרוֹן in taking the word to be a proper name of an area east of the Jordan. A different understanding was advocated by W. R. Arnold, who took the word to refer to the forenoon or morning; a number of modern scholars and translations have adopted this view (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, CEV, NLT). See W. R. Arnold, “The Meaning of בתרון,” AJSL 28 (1911–1912): 274–83. In this case one could translate “and they traveled all morning long.”