18:3 David defeated King Hadadezer of Zobah as far as Hamath, when he went to extend his authority 1 to the Euphrates River. 2
18:1 Later David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. He took Gath and its surrounding towns 3 away from the Philistines. 4
14:1 King Hiram of Tyre 5 sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs, stonemasons, 6 and carpenters to build a palace for him.
1 tn Heb “hand.”
2 tn Heb “when he went to set up his hand at the Euphrates River.” The Hebrew word יָד (yad, “hand”) is usually understood to mean “control” or “dominion” here. However, since יָד does occasionally refer to a monument, perhaps one could translate, “to set up his monument at the Euphrates River” (i.e., as a visible marker of the limits of his dominion). For another example of the Hiphil of נָצַב (natsav) used with יָד (“monument”), see 1 Sam 15:12.
3 tn 2 Sam 8:1 identifies this region as “Metheg Ammah.”
4 tn Heb “from the hand of the Philistines.” Here “hand” is figurative language for “control.”
5 map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.
6 tn Heb “craftsman of a wall,” that is, masons skilled at building stone walls.