2 Samuel 8:6

8:6 David placed garrisons in the territory of the Arameans of Damascus; the Arameans became David’s subjects and brought tribute. The Lord protected ¹  David wherever he campaigned. ² 

2 Samuel 8:1

David Subjugates Nearby Nations

8:1 Later David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. David took Metheg Ammah ³  from the Philistines. ⁴ 

2 Samuel 11:24

11:24 Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall and some of the king’s soldiers ⁵  died. Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.”

2 Samuel 11:1

David Commits Adultery with Bathsheba

11:1 In the spring of the year, at the time when kings ⁶  normally conduct wars, ⁷  David sent out Joab with his officers ⁸  and the entire Israelite army. ⁹  They defeated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed behind in Jerusalem. ¹⁰ 

2 Samuel 18:5-6

18:5 The king gave this order to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai: “For my sake deal gently with the young man Absalom.” Now the entire army was listening when the king gave all the leaders this order concerning Absalom.

18:6 Then the army marched out to the field to fight against Israel. The battle took place in the forest of Ephraim.

2 Samuel 18:2

18:2 David then sent out the army – a third under the leadership of Joab, a third under the leadership of Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under the leadership of Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the troops, “I too will indeed march out with you.”

2 Samuel 8:3-4

8:3 David defeated King Hadadezer son of Rehob of Zobah when he came to reestablish ¹¹  his authority ¹²  over the Euphrates ¹³  River. 8:4 David seized from him 1,700 charioteers ¹⁴  and 20,000 infantrymen. David cut the hamstrings of all but a hundred of the chariot horses. ¹⁵ 

¹ tn Or “delivered.”

² tn Or “wherever he went.”

³ tn Heb “the bridle of one cubit.” Many English versions treat this as a place name because the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:1 reads “Gath” (which is used by NLT here). It is possible that “the bridle of one cubit” is to be understood as “the token of surrender,” referring to the Philistine’s defeat rather than a specific place (cf. TEV, CEV).

⁴ tn Heb “from the hand [i.e., control] of the Philistines.”

⁵ tc The translation follows the Qere (“your servants”) rather than the Kethib (“your servant”).

⁶ tc Codex Leningrad (B19A), on which BHS is based, has here “messengers” (הַמַּלְאכִים, hammal’khim), probably as the result of contamination from the occurrence of that word in v. 4. The present translation follows most Hebrew mss and the ancient versions, which read “kings” (הַמֶּלָאכִים, hammela’kim).

⁷ tn Heb “go out.”

⁸ tn Heb “and his servants with him.”

⁹ tn Heb “all Israel.”

¹⁰ tn The disjunctive clause contrasts David’s inactivity with the army’s activity.

¹¹ tc The LXX has ἐπιστῆσαι (episthsai, “cause to stand”). See the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:3.

¹² tn Heb “hand.”

¹³ tn The MT 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 (LXX, Syriac Peshitta, Vulgate) include the word. See also the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:3.

¹⁴ tc The LXX has “one thousand chariots and seven thousand charioteers,” a reading adopted in the text of the NIV. See the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:4.

¹⁵ tn Heb “and David cut the hamstrings of all the chariot horses, and he left from them a hundred chariot horses.”