2 Samuel at Qumran
4QSamᵃ — Continuing the most important DSS biblical scroll after 1QIsaᵃ
About These Scrolls
2 Samuel continues the 4QSamᵃ scroll's coverage and preserves further variants of textual and theological consequence. The David-Bathsheba cycle, the Davidic covenant, and the closing census-and-temple-site narrative are all attested. The DSS preserves the Davidic covenant intact, including the unconditional promise “your throne shall be established forever” (7:16) and the divine sonship language “I will be his father, and he shall be my son” (7:14) cited at Hebrews 1:5.
Marquee variants in 2 Samuel: the addition at 8:7 noting that David's gold shields were later carried away by Pharaoh Shishak (matches LXX, cross-references 1 Kings 14:25–26); the divine-plural verb form at 7:23 (“whom God-pl. went-pl. to redeem”) supporting MT against the singularizing 1 Chronicles 17:21 parallel; and the unsoftened YHWH-as-inciter form at 24:1 (vs the post-exilic Satan-as-inciter rewriting at 1 Chronicles 21:1).
What you see below is a chapter-by-chapter survey: which Cave 4 (and ancillary) manuscripts attest each chapter, what variants they document, and where the theological significance lies. Every preserved variant is recorded. Nothing is hidden.