2 Samuel 2:16

2:16 As they grappled with one another, each one stabbed his opponent with his sword and they fell dead together. So that place is called the Field of Flints; it is in Gibeon.

Ecclesiastes 9:11

Wisdom Cannot Protect against Seemingly Chance Events

9:11 Again, I observed this on the earth:

the race is not always won by the swiftest,

the battle is not always won by the strongest;

prosperity does not always belong to those who are the wisest,

wealth does not always belong to those who are the most discerning,

nor does success always come to those with the most knowledge –

for time and chance may overcome them all.


tn Heb “and they grabbed each one the head of his neighbor with his sword in the side of his neighbor and they fell together.”

tn The meaning of the name “Helkath Hazzurim” (so NIV; KJV, NASB, NRSV similar) is not clear. BHK relates the name to the Hebrew term for “side,” and this is reflected in NAB “the Field of the Sides”; the Greek OT revocalizes the Hebrew to mean something like “Field of Adversaries.” Cf. also TEV, NLT “Field of Swords”; CEV “Field of Daggers.”

tn Heb “I returned and.” In the Hebrew idiom, “to return and do” means “to do again.”

tn Heb “under the sun.”

tn The term “always” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation (five times in this verse) for clarity.

tn Heb “bread.”

tn Heb “favor.”

tn Heb “happen to.”