^8:3David defeated King Hadadezer son of Rehob of Zobah when he came to reestablish⁵ his authority⁶ over the Euphrates⁷ River. ^8:4David seized from him 1,700 charioteers⁸ and 20,000 infantrymen. David cut the hamstrings of all but a hundred of the chariot horses.⁹^8:5The Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, but David killed 22,000 of the Arameans. ^8:6David placed garrisons in the territory of the Arameans of Damascus; the Arameans became David’s subjects and brought tribute. The Lord protected¹⁰ David wherever he campaigned.¹¹^8:7David took the golden shields that belonged to Hadadezer’s servants and brought them to Jerusalem.¹²^8:8From Tebah¹³ and Berothai, Hadadezer’s cities, King David took a great deal of bronze.

^8:9When King Toi¹⁴ of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer, ^8:10he¹⁵ sent his son Joram¹⁶ to King David to extend his best wishes¹⁷ and to pronounce a blessing on him for his victory over Hadadezer, for Toi had been at war with Hadadezer.¹⁸ He brought with him various items made of silver, gold, and bronze.¹⁹

Read in Logos

Footnotes

5 The has ἐπιστῆσαι (epistēsai, “cause to stand”). See the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:3.
6 Heb “hand.”
7 The does not have the name “Euphrates” in the text. It is supplied in the margin (Qere) as one of ten places where the Masoretes believed that something was “to be read although it was not written” in the text as they had received it. The ancient versions (, , ) include the word. See also the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:3.
8 The has “one thousand chariots and seven thousand charioteers,” a reading adopted in the text of the . See the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:4.
9 Heb “and David cut the hamstrings of all the chariot horses, and he left from them a hundred chariot horses.”
10 Or “delivered.”
11 Or “wherever he went.”
12 The includes seventeen words (in Greek) at the end of v. 7 that are not found in the . The addition is as follows: “And Sousakim king of Egypt took them when he came up to Jerusalem in the days of Rehoboam the son of Solomon.” This Greek reading now finds Hebrew support in 4QSama. For a reconstruction of this poorly preserved Qumran text see E. C. Ulrich, Jr., The Qumran Text of Samuel and Josephus (), 45–48. For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
13 Heb “Betah” (so , , ), but the name should probably be corrected to “Tebah.” See the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:8.
14 The name is spelled “Tou” in the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:9. adopts the spelling “Tou” here.
15 Heb “Toi.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun in the translation for stylistic reasons.
16 The name appears as “Hadoram” in the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:10.
17 Heb “to ask concerning him for peace.”
18 Heb “and to bless him because he fought with Hadadezer and defeated him, for Hadadezer was a man of battles with Toi.”
19 Heb “and in his hand were items of silver and items of gold and items of bronze.”