^3:28When David later heard about this, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the Lord of the shed blood of Abner son of Ner! ^3:29May his blood whirl over³⁸ the head of Joab and the entire house of his father!³⁹ May the males of Joab’s house⁴⁰ never cease to have⁴¹ someone with a running sore or a skin disease or one who works at the spindle⁴² or one who falls by the sword or one who lacks food!”

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Footnotes

38 Heb “and may they whirl over.” In the Hebrew text the subject of the plural verb is unexpressed. The most likely subject is Abner’s “shed blood” (v. 28), which is a masculine plural form in Hebrew. The verb חוּל (khul, “whirl”) is used with the preposition עַל (’al) only here and in Jer 23:19; 30:23.
39 4QSama has “of Joab” rather than “of his father” read by the .
40 Heb “the house of Joab.” However, it is necessary to specify that David’s curse is aimed at Joab’s male descendants; otherwise it would not be clear that “one who works at the spindle” refers to a man doing woman’s work rather than a woman.
41 Heb “and may there not be cut off from the house of Joab.”
42 The expression used here is difficult. The translation “one who works at the spindle” follows a suggestion of S. R. Driver that the expression pejoratively describes an effeminate man who, rather than being a mighty warrior, is occupied with tasks that are normally fulfilled by women (S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, ; cf. “one unmanly”; “fit only to do a woman’s work”; “cowards”). But P. K. McCarter, following an alleged Phoenician usage of the noun to refer to “crutches,” adopts a different view. He translates the phrase “clings to a crutch,” seeing here a further description of physical lameness (II Samuel [], ). Such an idea fits the present context well and is followed by , , and , although the evidence for this meaning is questionable. According to 2:915–16, the noun consistently refers to a spindle in Phoenician, as it does in Ugaritic (see 468).

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the Lord for the blood of Abner the son of Ner. May it fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father’s house, and may the house of Joab never be without one who has a discharge or who is leprous or who holds a spindle or who falls by the sword or who lacks bread!”

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Later, when David heard about this, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the Lord concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner. May his blood fall on the head of Joab and on his whole family! May Joab’s family never be without someone who has a running sore or leprosy or who leans on a crutch or who falls by the sword or who lacks food.”

CSBChristian Standard Bible

David heard about it later and said, “I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the Lord concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner. May it hang over Joab’s head and his father’s whole family, and may the house of Joab never be without someone who has a discharge or a skin disease, or a man who can only work a spindle, or someone who falls by the sword or starves.”

NLTNew Living Translation

When David heard about it, he declared, “I vow by the Lord that I and my kingdom are forever innocent of this crime against Abner son of Ner. Joab and his family are the guilty ones. May the family of Joab be cursed in every generation with a man who has open sores or leprosy or who walks on crutches or dies by the sword or begs for food!”

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

When David heard this afterwards, he said: “I and my kingdom are innocent before Yahweh forever for the blood of Abner the son of Ner. May the blood come down on the head of Joab and all the house of his father. May the house of Joab never lack one with a bodily discharge or one with leprosy or one who grasps the distaff or one who falls by the sword or one who is lacking food.”

KJV 1900King James Version

And afterward when David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are guiltless before the Lord for ever from the blood of Abner the son of Ner: Let it rest on the head of Joab, and on all his father’s house; and let there not fail from the house of Joab one that hath an issue, or that is a leper, or that leaneth on a staff, or that falleth on the sword, or that lacketh bread.

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