2 Samuel is a study of covenant promise, accountable power, family tragedy, political memory, judgment, and mercy.
David mourns Saul and Jonathan, becomes king first in Judah and then over all Israel, captures Jerusalem, brings the ark to the city, and receives a promise concerning his dynasty. The story turns sharply when David takes Bathsheba and arranges Uriah's death. Nathan confronts him, and violence then tears through the royal household: Tamar is raped, Amnon is killed, Absalom rebels, and David flees before returning in grief. The book closes with an arranged collection of famine, warriors, poems, census, plague, mercy, and an altar.[1][2][4][5]
Content note: This guide discusses sexual violence, coercive power, murder, war, execution, and the deaths of children. It names harm clearly without reproducing graphic detail. Readers affected by these subjects may wish to study with a trusted pastor, counselor, advocate, or support person.
2 Samuel quick facts
- Traditional association
- Samuel, with prophetic records connected to Nathan and Gad.
- Historical author
- Anonymous final form assembled from older materials and editorial work.
- Narrative setting
- David's reign over Judah and Israel, conventionally around the early tenth century BCE.
- Likely composition
- Layered traditions shaped across monarchic and later periods; no single final date is certain.
- Original language
- Biblical Hebrew, with significant textual variation.
- Major witnesses
- Masoretic tradition, 1Q7, 4Q51, 4Q53, Old Greek, revisions, Chronicles, and later versions.
- Length
- 24 chapters in the modern two-book division.
- Jewish placement
- Part of Samuel, one work among the Former Prophets.
- Christian placement
- Normally the second Samuel book among Historical Books.
- Central themes
- Covenant, kingdom, Jerusalem, promise, abuse of power, accountability, grief, judgment, mercy, and worship.
Who wrote 2 Samuel?
The final book does not name its author. Rabbinic tradition associates Samuel with "his book," and 1 Chronicles 29:29 mentions records connected with Samuel, Nathan, and Gad. These traditions may preserve memories about prophetic records and the book's reception, but they do not identify the editor of the form now read as 2 Samuel.[16][17]
Samuel dies in 1 Samuel 25, before 2 Samuel begins, so he cannot be the sole author of the present work. Modern scholarship instead studies a layered book that draws together poetry, lists, court stories, battles, theological speeches, and later editorial connections. The precise boundaries and dates of these materials remain debated.[3][4][7][34][35]
When was 2 Samuel written?
The story is set during David's reign, conventionally placed around the beginning of the tenth century BCE. That historical setting is not automatically the date when every episode was written or when the book reached its final form. Responsible study separates the period narrated, the age of particular traditions, and later literary shaping.[36][37]
Early memories and records
Laments, royal lists, battle reports, court memories, and stories about David may preserve old material. Historical proximity must still be argued passage by passage.
Literary growth
The work combines distinct genres and perspectives. Scholars debate whether units such as the Court History or Succession Narrative were early royal history, apology, critique, later saga, or some combination.[3][34]
In what language and manuscripts is 2 Samuel preserved?
Second Samuel was composed primarily in Biblical Hebrew. Its textual history is difficult, and modern editions compare the complete medieval Masoretic tradition with older fragmentary Hebrew scrolls, the ancient Greek translation and revisions, Chronicles, Josephus, and later versions.[3][8]
Masoretic tradition
The medieval Masoretic manuscripts preserve the standard complete Hebrew form underlying most modern translations. They remain central but are not the only evidence.
Dead Sea Scrolls
Portions of 2 Samuel survive in 1Q7, the extensive 4Q51, and 4Q53. The official records and current transcription do not support listing 4Q52 as a 2 Samuel witness.[10][11][12][13][14]
Important precision: 1Q7 preserves portions of 2 Samuel 20 and 23; 4Q51 preserves substantial portions across the book; and 4Q53 preserves material in chapters 14-15. Fragmentary survival does not mean these were separate books.
Summary of 2 Samuel
After mourning Saul and Jonathan, David becomes king in Judah while Ishbaal, Saul's son, rules in the north; conflict ends with David recognized over all Israel. He captures Jerusalem, brings in the ark, and receives God's dynastic promise. Military and political success give way to moral catastrophe when David takes Bathsheba and has Uriah killed. Nathan announces judgment, and David's household fractures through Tamar's rape, Amnon's murder, Absalom's revolt, David's exile, Absalom's death, and further rebellion. A carefully arranged closing collection reflects on royal failure and divine rule through famine, Rizpah's vigil, warriors, songs, a census, plague, mercy, and David's purchase of an altar site.[1][6][18][19][32]
How is 2 Samuel organized?
1. Grief and rival kingdoms
Chapters 1-4 move from David's lament to his rule in Hebron, civil conflict, the deaths of Abner and Ishbaal, and David's public distancing from political murder.
2. Jerusalem and united rule
Chapter 5 brings the tribes to David, narrates the capture of Jerusalem, and marks victories over the Philistines.
3. Ark and covenant promise
Chapters 6-7 join worship, danger, Michal's criticism, David's temple plan, and God's promise to build David a house or dynasty.
4. Kingdom, kindness, and war
Chapters 8-10 present victories, officials, covenant loyalty to Mephibosheth, and the Ammonite conflict.
5. Bathsheba, Uriah, and judgment
Chapters 11-12 narrate David's exploitation of royal power, Uriah's death, Nathan's parable, judgment, loss, and the birth of Solomon.
6. Violence and rebellion in David's house
Chapters 13-20 follow Tamar, Amnon, Absalom, exile, conspiracy, flight, battle, grief, return, contested loyalties, and Sheba's revolt.
7. The closing theological collection
Chapters 21-24 arrange two crisis narratives, two warrior lists, and two poems around kingship, violence, deliverance, covenant, plague, mercy, and worship.[32]
What are the central theological ideas of 2 Samuel?
Promise and accountability belong together
God's promise to David establishes a dynasty, but David and his heirs remain answerable for what they do with power.[18][20]
Jerusalem becomes a theological center
David's capital, the ark, the future temple, royal memory, and the final altar connect political geography with worship and later hope.
Royal power can protect or prey
David administers justice and preserves Mephibosheth, yet the same centralized power enables taking, concealment, murder, and failures of justice.[23][24]
Prophetic speech confronts the king
Nathan's parable makes David pronounce judgment before recognizing himself. Covenant leadership is not above truthful confrontation.
Sin spreads beyond the ruler
Uriah, Bathsheba, Tamar, children, soldiers, concubines, families, and the nation bear consequences produced by royal decisions.[21][22]
Lament is faithful political speech
David's laments for Saul, Jonathan, Abner, and Absalom hold love, public memory, loss, and political meaning together.
Marginalized testimony matters
Tamar's protest, Bathsheba's silence, Rizpah's vigil, the wise women's interventions, and Mephibosheth's contested speech expose what royal summaries can hide.[26][28][30]
Judgment does not erase mercy
The book narrates real consequences without ending only in destruction. Prayer, restraint, deliverance, plague halted, and altar purchased keep mercy visible.
Human kingship remains under divine rule
The closing poems and crises place Davidic kingship beneath God's governance rather than making the king the final source of security.[32]
Providence does not approve every act
David's rise and promised dynasty do not turn every military, sexual, political, or household decision into virtue.
Central figures in 2 Samuel
David
Poet, warrior, king, worshiper, covenant recipient, political strategist, perpetrator, penitent, failed father, exile, and grieving parent. The book refuses a one-note portrait.
Bathsheba
A woman drawn into the king's actions, widowed through his plan, mother who mourns, and later mother of Solomon. Her limited speech should not be mistaken for consent.
Uriah
A loyal soldier whose integrity exposes David's deception and whose death reveals how royal commands can weaponize military obedience.
Nathan
Prophet who communicates dynastic promise, confronts David through a parable, names judgment, and later participates in succession politics.
Tamar
A royal daughter who reasons, resists, names Amnon's wrong, tears her garment, mourns publicly, and exposes the household's failure to protect or deliver justice.[25][26]
Absalom
David's son who shelters Tamar, kills Amnon, returns through political maneuvering, builds public support, rebels, and dies against David's command.
Joab
Commander whose military effectiveness, personal violence, political realism, and refusal of David's wishes repeatedly shape the kingdom.
Mephibosheth
Jonathan's son, a disabled survivor of dynastic change, royal dependent, covenant beneficiary, and subject of competing political testimony.[29][30]
Rizpah
A mother whose long vigil over exposed bodies interrupts royal closure and presses David, God, and readers toward memory, burial, and accountability.[27][28]
Wise women and public voices
The women of Tekoa and Abel negotiate life within violent political systems, showing how speech can expose, redirect, or end bloodshed.
Key passages from 2 Samuel
2 Samuel 1:17-27
David laments Saul and Jonathan. Study grief, public memory, enemy honor, intimate loss, and the political work of lament.
2 Samuel 5:1-12
David is recognized by the tribes and establishes Jerusalem. Study covenant language, shepherd imagery, state formation, and theology of success.
2 Samuel 6
The ark enters Jerusalem amid celebration, death, blessing, exposed worship, and conflict with Michal. Holiness and royal performance remain difficult to separate.
2 Samuel 7:1-17
David proposes a temple; God promises David a house or dynasty. This text anchors later royal, covenantal, and messianic interpretation.
2 Samuel 9
David shows covenant loyalty to Mephibosheth. Study kindness, land, table fellowship, dynastic threat, disability, patronage, and dependence.
2 Samuel 11-12
David takes Bathsheba, arranges Uriah's death, and is confronted by Nathan. Read power, coercion, concealment, accountability, confession, and consequence.
2 Samuel 13
Amnon rapes Tamar. Center Tamar's resistance and grief, name the failures around her, and avoid reducing the chapter to Absalom's later revenge.
2 Samuel 15-18
Absalom takes the throne, David flees, armies meet, and David mourns. Study charisma, propaganda, loyalty, civil war, command, report, and grief.[31]
2 Samuel 21:1-14
Famine, the Gibeonites, execution, Rizpah's vigil, burial, and rain raise severe questions about oath, state violence, reparation, and whose grief changes policy.
2 Samuel 22
David's song celebrates God as deliverer, fortress, rescuer, and judge. Compare Psalm 18 and ask how the poem functions beside stories of royal failure.
2 Samuel 23:1-7
David's last words connect just rule, fear of God, enduring covenant, and the difference between life-giving leadership and destructive power.
2 Samuel 24
The census leads to plague and an altar. Compare 1 Chronicles 21 and study incitement, responsibility, collective suffering, mercy, sacrifice, and textual development.[33]
Difficult questions in 2 Samuel
Does the Davidic promise excuse David's failures?
No. Second Samuel 7 promises a dynasty, but the same oracle anticipates discipline, and chapters 11-24 narrate severe judgment and consequence. Promise preserves a future for the house; it does not call injustice good or make the king unaccountable.[18][20]
Did Bathsheba consent to David?
The text never records her consent. It emphasizes that David sees, inquires, sends, and takes while exercising the power of a king over a subject and a soldier's household. Scholars debate whether to use the modern legal term rape, but the severe imbalance, coercive environment, silence imposed on Bathsheba, and David's responsibility must not be hidden. Calling her a seductress or equal adulterer blames a person the narrative does not place in control.[23][24]
How should the rape of Tamar be studied?
Amnon deceives and isolates Tamar, ignores her repeated refusal and reasoning, overpowers her, and rapes her. Tamar names the wrong and publicly mourns. David is angry but does not deliver justice, and Absalom turns the wrong into private revenge and political rupture. Responsible teaching centers Tamar's voice and safety rather than using her suffering as scenery.[25][26]
Is David a hero or a villain?
The book resists both simplifications. David shows courage, loyalty, lament, worship, administrative skill, mercy, exploitation, deception, lethal abuse of power, failed parenting, repentance, and grief. Theological importance does not erase moral ambiguity.[19][21]
What is the Succession Narrative?
Many scholars use this name for a block concerning David's household and Solomon's eventual succession, often 2 Samuel 9-20 with 1 Kings 1-2 or a narrower 2 Samuel 11-20. Its boundaries, unity, date, and attitude toward David remain disputed. It is a useful scholarly model, not a heading supplied by the biblical text.[7][34][35]
How should Absalom be understood?
Absalom responds to Tamar's abandonment, arranges Amnon's murder, uses spectacle and grievance to gather support, rebels, and dies against David's command. His story joins legitimate outrage, self-interest, charisma, violence, political failure, and devastating parental grief. It should not be compressed into either righteous reformer or rebellious monster.[31]
Does Mephibosheth's disability explain his character?
No. Disability is not a moral diagnosis. Mephibosheth lives under dynastic danger and dependence, receives land and table access, and later disputes Ziba's account. Disability studies expose how interpreters and political actors may use his body to imply threat, helplessness, or unfitness without adequate evidence.[29][30]
Why are Saul's descendants killed in 2 Samuel 21?
The story connects famine with Saul's attack on the Gibeonites and narrates a negotiated demand for seven descendants. Yet God does not directly prescribe David's exact solution in the narrative, and Rizpah's vigil refuses easy closure. The text raises unresolved questions about oath, collective punishment, state violence, reparative justice, and the politics of burial.[22][27][28]
Why does the census account differ from Chronicles?
Second Samuel 24 connects the incitement to the Lord's anger, while 1 Chronicles 21 names an adversary. The duration of the threat, site details, price, and literary shaping also differ. Textual witnesses and later editing show that biblical authors and scribes continued to interpret this difficult tradition.[33]
Why did Uzzah die, and why is Michal judged?
Chapter 6 presents the ark as holy and dangerous rather than manageable. Uzzah's death remains ethically difficult even when transport instructions and sacred boundaries are considered. Michal's criticism also belongs to a layered conflict involving worship, royal display, marriage, gender, and dynasty; readers should not reduce her to a faithless scold.
Did archaeology prove King David and 2 Samuel?
Archaeology and inscriptions illuminate early state formation, settlement, warfare, Jerusalem, neighboring peoples, and the memory of a Davidic dynasty. They do not verify every speech, sequence, motive, or event. Scholars continue to debate the scale and shape of David's kingdom.[36][37]
Are the closing four chapters a random appendix?
The units are not in simple chronological sequence, but many readers identify deliberate arrangement: crisis narratives at the edges, warrior lists inside them, and poems at the center. This structure turns the ending into reflection on kingship, violence, deliverance, covenant, and divine rule.[32]
Key points from 2 Samuel
- Second Samuel is anonymous in its final form; Samuel cannot be its sole author because he has already died.
- First and Second Samuel are one Hebrew work, later divided in the Greek tradition.
- The story's tenth-century setting is not the same question as the date of every written layer.
- Qumran witnesses 1Q7, 4Q51, and 4Q53 help recover the early Hebrew textual history of 2 Samuel.
- The promise to David establishes a dynasty without removing accountability.
- Jerusalem becomes a center of kingship, ark worship, temple expectation, and later biblical hope.
- David's gifts and election do not make every action righteous.
- Bathsheba should not be blamed for a situation directed by royal power.
- Tamar's resistance and grief must remain central when chapter 13 is taught.
- Rizpah, Mephibosheth, and the wise women reveal realities that royal accounts can marginalize.
- The closing chapters are theologically arranged rather than disposable leftovers.
- Historical, literary, theological, and ethical questions should be distinguished before they are connected.
Passages worth deeper study
2 Samuel 1 and 1 Samuel 31
Compare the battle report, the Amalekite's account, David's judgment, and the lament. Ask how narration and public grief shape David's claim to rule.
2 Samuel 5-7
Track capital, palace, ark, worship, temple desire, the word "house," divine rest, dynasty, discipline, and enduring promise.
2 Samuel 9 and 16:1-4; 19:24-30
Read every Mephibosheth and Ziba scene together before deciding whom to trust. Attend to land, table, appearance, propaganda, and disability.
2 Samuel 11-12
Map every verb and messenger. Notice who can command, who cannot refuse safely, who speaks, who is silenced, who dies, and who pronounces judgment.
2 Samuel 13-14
Center Tamar before following Absalom. Compare her wisdom and protest with David's inaction and the political storytelling used to restore Absalom.
2 Samuel 15-20
Follow competing messages, advisors, messengers, public rituals, regional loyalties, women negotiators, and the cost of civil war.
2 Samuel 21 and Deuteronomy 21
Study bloodguilt, land, oath, exposed bodies, burial, collective responsibility, and Rizpah's embodied protest.
2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18
Compare the two forms of David's song and ask what the poem contributes at the end of a morally complicated royal narrative.
2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21
List every difference before harmonizing. Study incitement, repentance, prophetic options, plague, angel, site, price, sacrifice, and later temple memory.
Where does 2 Samuel intersect with other writings?
1 Samuel and 1 Kings: The modern book begins in the middle of the continuing Samuel story and ends before David's final succession. Read 1 Samuel 16-31 before it and 1 Kings 1-2 after it to follow David's full narrative arc.
Chronicles: First Chronicles 11-29 retells much of David's reign with different selection, arrangement, and theological emphasis. The census in 1 Chronicles 21 is especially important for observing later interpretation.[33]
Psalms: Second Samuel 22 closely parallels Psalm 18. Other psalm headings connect prayers and laments to Davidic episodes, though headings and historical narratives should be compared rather than assumed to function as modern publication notes.
Later prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and other prophetic books reuse David, Zion, shepherd, branch, covenant, ruin, and restoration traditions. The promise of 2 Samuel 7 becomes a major language for future hope.
New Testament: Matthew and Luke present Jesus in Davidic genealogical and royal frames; Luke 1 and Acts draw on promises to David; Romans 1:3 and Revelation use Davidic descent and royal imagery. Christian readings should still first hear 2 Samuel within Israel's own story.
Greek and Jewish reception: The Septuagint's Books of Kingdoms, the Qumran Samuel scrolls, Chronicles, Josephus, rabbinic attribution, and later traditions demonstrate active transmission and interpretation rather than a history of mechanically identical copies.[8][9][15]
Which communities receive 2 Samuel as Scripture?
In Jewish Scripture, First and Second Samuel are one book, Samuel, among the Former Prophets. The two-book division does not make them unrelated works. Rabbinic discussion preserves Samuel's place within the Prophets and a traditional association with Samuel himself.[4][16]
The Greek tradition divides the material and numbers Samuel and Kings together as four Books of Kingdoms. Protestant, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Ethiopian Orthodox Bibles receive the Samuel narratives as Scripture, while names, numbering, placement, and base textual traditions differ. Official Ethiopian Orthodox, Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox sources include the work in their Old Testament canons.[38][39][40]
Frequently asked questions
Who wrote 2 Samuel?
The final book is anonymous. Tradition associates Samuel with his book and Chronicles mentions Samuel, Nathan, and Gad, but Samuel dies before 2 Samuel begins and cannot be its sole author.
When was 2 Samuel written?
The story is set during David's reign, conventionally around the early tenth century BCE. Older material was shaped through a longer literary process, and scholars do not agree on one precise final date.
Why are 1 and 2 Samuel separate?
In the Hebrew tradition Samuel is one work. Its division developed in the Greek textual tradition, where Samuel and Kings became four Books of Kingdoms, and the two-part form later became standard in Christian Bibles.
What is the Davidic covenant?
In chapter 7, God refuses David's immediate temple plan but promises to establish David's house or dynasty. The promise shapes later royal and messianic hope while preserving discipline and accountability.
Did Bathsheba consent?
The narrative never records her consent and emphasizes David's royal initiative. A responsible reading recognizes the severe power imbalance and refuses to blame Bathsheba.
What happened to Tamar?
Amnon deceives, isolates, and rapes Tamar despite her verbal resistance. Tamar publicly mourns, David fails to deliver justice, and Absalom later kills Amnon.
Which Dead Sea Scrolls preserve 2 Samuel?
Portions survive in 1Q7, the extensive 4Q51, and 4Q53. These Hebrew witnesses help scholars compare the Masoretic and ancient Greek textual traditions.
Why does the census differ in Chronicles?
Second Samuel attributes the incitement to the Lord's anger, while Chronicles names an adversary. The texts also differ in other details, reflecting textual and theological development.
Is 2 Samuel historically reliable?
It contains historical memory, political geography, names, institutions, and traditions that can be studied alongside archaeology. It is also a shaped theological narrative, and external evidence cannot prove every speech, motive, or sequence.
Which communities receive 2 Samuel as Scripture?
Samuel is part of the Jewish Former Prophets and is canonical in Protestant, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Ethiopian Orthodox traditions. Its division and numbering vary.
Sources and scholarly bibliography
- 2 Samuel. Primary biblical text. References use chapter and verse rather than reproducing a copyrighted modern translation. See the USCCB text.
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. "The Books of Samuel." Official introduction, outline, literary history, and monarchy traditions. Official introduction.
- McCarter, P. Kyle, Jr. II Samuel. Anchor Bible 9. Yale University Press, 1984. Publisher record.
- Sweeney, Marvin A. 1-2 Samuel. New Cambridge Bible Commentary. Cambridge University Press, 2023. DOI record.
- Goldingay, John. The Theology of the Book of Samuel. Cambridge University Press, 2024. DOI record.
- Tsumura, David Toshio. The Second Book of Samuel. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Eerdmans, 2019. Publisher record.
- Gilmour, Rachelle. "(Hi)story Telling in the Books of Samuel." In The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Narrative, 192-203. Oxford University Press, 2015. DOI record.
- Aejmelaeus, Anneli. "The Books of Samuel." In The Oxford Handbook of the Septuagint, 216-224. Oxford University Press, 2021. DOI record.
- Ulrich, Eugene. "The Scrolls from the Judean Desert and the Septuagint." In The Oxford Handbook of the Septuagint, 434-448. Oxford University Press, 2021. DOI record.
- Cross, Frank Moore, Donald W. Parry, Richard J. Saley, and Eugene Ulrich, eds. Qumran Cave 4.XII: 1-2 Samuel. Discoveries in the Judaean Desert XVII. Clarendon Press, 2005. Scholarly bibliographic record.
- Israel Antiquities Authority. "1Q Samuel" (1Q7). Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library. Official manuscript record.
- Israel Antiquities Authority. "4Q Samuel" (4Q51, 4QSam a). Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library. Official manuscript record.
- Israel Antiquities Authority. "4Q Samuel" (4Q53, 4QSam c). Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library. Official manuscript record.
- Qumran-Digital. "2 Samuel" transcription, dated August 25, 2025. Scholarly transcription.
- Aejmelaeus, Anneli. "The Significance of the Septuagint in the Textual Study of the Hebrew Bible." In The Oxford Handbook of Textual Criticism of the Bible, 191-212. Oxford University Press, 2025. DOI record.
- Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 14b. Rabbinic discussion of biblical order and traditional attribution. Sefaria text record.
- 1 Chronicles 29:29. Primary biblical cross-reference to records associated with Samuel, Nathan, and Gad. USCCB text.
- Goldingay, John. "Yahweh Who Establishes a King (2 Samuel 2-10)." In The Theology of the Book of Samuel, 141-177. Cambridge University Press, 2024. DOI record.
- Goldingay, John. "Yahweh Who Watches a King (2 Samuel 11:1-24:25)." In The Theology of the Book of Samuel, 178-213. Cambridge University Press, 2024. DOI record.
- Goswell, Gregory. "Why Did God Say No to David? (2 Samuel 7)." Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 44.1 (2019). DOI record.
- Exum, J. Cheryl. "David: The Judgment of God." In Tragedy and Biblical Narrative, 120-149. Cambridge University Press, 1992. DOI record.
- Gilmour, Rachelle. Divine Violence in the Book of Samuel. Oxford University Press, 2021. DOI record.
- Gilmour, Rachelle. "Sex Scandal and the Politics of David's Throne." Journal of Biblical Literature 141.1 (2022): 89-110. JSTOR record.
- Graybill, Rhiannon. "Narrating Harm in the Bathsheba Story: Predation, Peremption, and Silence." In Texts after Terror, 58-84. Oxford University Press, 2021. DOI record.
- Kawashima, Robert S. "Could a Woman Say 'No' in Biblical Israel?" AJS Review 35.1 (2011): 1-22. DOI record.
- West, Gerald. "Tamar Summons the Church to Account: Resisting Patriarchal (and Ecclesial) Impunity in 2 Samuel 13:21." Journal of Anglican Studies 22.2 (2024): 361-378. DOI record.
- Kozlova, Ekaterina E. "Rizpah." In Maternal Grief in the Hebrew Bible, 87-120. Oxford University Press, 2017. DOI record.
- West, Gerald. "Reading on the Boundaries: Reading 2 Samuel 21:1-14 with Rizpah." Scriptura 63 (1997): 527-537. DOI record.
- Schipper, Jeremy. Disability Studies and the Hebrew Bible: Figuring Mephibosheth in the David Story. T&T Clark, 2006. Publisher record.
- Jones, Kirsty. "An Unstable Presence in the House: Rethinking the Threat of Disability in 2 Sam 5:6-8 and the Mephibosheth Story." Biblical Theology Bulletin 53.4 (2023). DOI record.
- Labov, William. "2 Samuel: 'The Death of Absalom.'" In The Language of Life and Death, 210-222. Cambridge University Press, 2013. DOI record.
- Ko, Grace. "2 Samuel 21-24: A Theological Reflection on Israel's Kingship." Old Testament Essays 31.1 (2018): 114-134. DOI record.
- Rofe, Alexander. "Writing, Interpolating and Editing: 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21 as a Case Study." Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel 3.3 (2014): 317-326. DOI record.
- Blenkinsopp, Joseph. "Another Contribution to the Succession Narrative Debate (2 Samuel 11-20; 1 Kings 1-2)." Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 38.1 (2013): 35-58. DOI record.
- Garsiel, Moshe. "The Book of Samuel: Its Composition, Structure and Significance as a Historiographical Source." Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 10 (2010). DOI record.
- Matthews, Victor H. "Transition from Iron I to Iron II: The Early Monarchy." In The History of Bronze and Iron Age Israel, 98-127. Oxford University Press, 2018. DOI record.
- Faust, Avraham, and Zev I. Farber. The Bible's First Kings: Uncovering the Story of Saul, David, and Solomon. Cambridge University Press, 2025. DOI record.
- Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. "The Canonical Books of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church." Official canonical list.
- Vatican. Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 120. Official canonical list.
- Orthodox Church in America. "Canon of Scripture." Official church Q&A.