2 Samuel 15:7-8
New English Translation
7 After four[a] years Absalom said to the king, “Let me go and repay my vow that I made to the Lord while I was in Hebron. 8 For I made this vow[b] when I was living in Geshur in Aram: ‘If the Lord really does allow me to return to Jerusalem, I will serve the Lord.’”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 2 Samuel 15:7 tc The MT has here “forty,” but this is presumably a scribal error for “four.” The context will not tolerate a period of forty years prior to the rebellion of Absalom. The Lucianic Greek recension (τέσσαρα ἔτη, tessara etē), the Syriac Peshitta (ʾarbaʿ sanin), and Vulgate (post quattuor autem annos) in fact have the expected reading “four years.” Most English translations follow the versions in reading “four” here, although some (e.g. KJV, ASV, NASB, NKJV), following the MT, read “forty.”
- 2 Samuel 15:8 tn Heb “for your servant vowed a vow.” The formal court style of referring to one’s self in third person (“your servant”) has been translated here as first person for clarity.
2 Samuel 15:7-8
New International Version
7 At the end of four[a] years, Absalom said to the king, “Let me go to Hebron and fulfill a vow I made to the Lord. 8 While your servant was living at Geshur(A) in Aram, I made this vow:(B) ‘If the Lord takes me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the Lord in Hebron.[b]’”
Footnotes
- 2 Samuel 15:7 Some Septuagint manuscripts, Syriac and Josephus; Hebrew forty
- 2 Samuel 15:8 Some Septuagint manuscripts; Hebrew does not have in Hebron.
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