Absalom (image)

Hand colored stencil print on momigami by Sadao Watanabe (1972).

Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe.

For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.

See also Absalom.

Translation commentary on 2 Samuel 18:14

I will not waste time: the verb so translated often means simply “wait” (as in Gen 8.12; 1 Sam 10.8; 13.8). But it may also mean “be patient with,” and in this context Joab’s patience with the soldier had come to an end. He was ready for action. It will be possible in some languages to translate “I will not discuss the matter with you any further.” However, some interpreters understand the sentence to be a denial of what the soldier had just said. An American Translation, for example, translates “Not so… I would have assuaged his wrath.” But the meaning in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation seems more likely.

The text contains certain implied information that may have to be made clear in translation in some languages. The two men were not standing next to Absalom when the conversation started (verse 10). So the implied information “went to the place where Absalom was hanging” may have to be supplied in some languages. Compare Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, “He took in his hand three pointed sticks and went to drive them into the breast of Absalom….”

Darts: the Hebrew noun often means simply “a stick” or “a staff.” Here the word appears to refer to pointed weapons, and a more accurate translation in modern English is “spears” (New Revised Standard Version) or “javelins” (New International Version). Compare also Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, “pointed sticks.”

As revealed in the following verse, these three blows did not kill Absalom, although they seriously wounded him.

Oak: see the comments on verses 9 and 10 above. The Hebrew contains a play on the word “heart” that will probably not be translated naturally into most languages, “… and stabbed them into the heart of Absalom; he was still hanging alive in the heart of the oak…” (Moffatt, similarly Fox).

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .