2 Samuel 10:6

10:6 When the Ammonites realized that David was disgusted with them, ¹  they ²  sent and hired 20,000 foot soldiers from Aram Beth Rehob and Aram Zobah, ³  in addition to 1,000 men from the king of Maacah and 12,000 men from Ish-tob. ⁴ 

2 Samuel 6:1

David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem

6:1 David again assembled ⁵  all the best ⁶  men in Israel, thirty thousand in number.

2 Samuel 8:13

8:13 David became famous ⁷  when he returned from defeating the Arameans ⁸  in the Valley of Salt, he defeated ⁹  18,000 in all.

2 Samuel 8:4

8:4 David seized from him 1,700 charioteers ¹⁰  and 20,000 infantrymen. David cut the hamstrings of all but a hundred of the chariot horses. ¹¹ 

2 Samuel 24:9

24:9 Joab reported the number of warriors ¹²  to the king. In Israel there were 800,000 sword-wielding warriors, and in Judah there were 500,000 soldiers.

2 Samuel 8:5

8:5 The Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, but David killed 22,000 of the Arameans.

2 Samuel 17:1

The Death of Ahithophel

17:1 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me pick out twelve thousand men. Then I will go and pursue David this very night.

2 Samuel 18:7

18:7 The army of Israel was defeated there by David’s men. ¹³  The slaughter there was great that day – 20,000 soldiers were killed.

2 Samuel 24:15

24:15 So the Lord sent a plague through Israel from the morning until the completion of the appointed time. Seventy thousand men died from Dan to Beer Sheba.

2 Samuel 10:18

10:18 The Arameans fled before Israel. David killed 700 Aramean charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers. ¹⁴  He also struck down Shobach, the general in command of the army, who died there.

2 Samuel 18:12

18:12 The man replied to Joab, “Even if ¹⁵  I were receiving ¹⁶  a thousand pieces of silver, ¹⁷  I would not strike ¹⁸  the king’s son! In our very presence ¹⁹  the king gave this order to you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’ ²⁰ 

[10:6]  ¹ tn Heb “that they were a stench [i.e., disgusting] with David.”

[10:6]  ² tn Heb “the Ammonites.”

[10:6]  ³ tn Or “Arameans of Beth Rehob and Arameans of Zobah.”

[10:6]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps “the men of Tob.” The ancient versions (the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate) understand the name to be “Ish-tob.” It is possible that “Ish” is dittographic and that we should read simply “Tob,” a reading adopted by a number of recent English versions.

[6:1]  ⁵ tn The translation understands the verb to be a defective spelling of וַיְּאֱסֹף (vayyÿ’esof) due to quiescence of the letter א (alef). The root therefore is אסף (’sf, “to gather”). The Masoretes, however, pointed the verb as וַיֹּסֶף (vayyosef), understanding it to be a form of יָסַף (yasaf, “to add”). This does not fit the context, which calls for a verb of gathering.

[6:1]  ⁶ tn Or “chosen.”

[8:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “made a name.”

[8:13]  ¹⁰ tn So NASB, NCV; NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “Edomites” (see the note on “Aram” in v. 12).

[8:13]  ¹¹ tn The words “he defeated” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:4]  ¹³ 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.

[8:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and David cut the hamstrings of all the chariot horses, and he left from them a hundred chariot horses.”

[24:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and Joab gave the number of the numbering of the people.”

[18:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “servants” (also in v. 9).

[10:18]  ²⁵ tn Heb “horsemen” (so KJV, NASB, NCV, NRSV, NLT) but the Lucianic recension of the LXX reads “foot soldiers,” as does the parallel text in 1 Chr 19:18. Cf. NAB, NIV.

[18:12]  ²⁹ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וְלוּ (vÿlu, “and if”) rather than MT וְלֹא (vÿlo’, “and not”).

[18:12]  ³⁰ tn Heb “weighing out in my hand.”

[18:12]  ³¹ tn Heb “a thousand [shekels] of silver.” This would have been about 25 pounds (11.4 kg) of silver by weight.

[18:12]  ³² tn Heb “extend my hand against.”

[18:12]  ³³ tn Heb “in our ears.”

[18:12]  ³⁴ tc The Hebrew text is very difficult here. The MT reads מִי (mi, “who”), apparently yielding the following sense: “Show care, whoever you might be, for the youth Absalom.” The Syriac Peshitta reads li (“for me”), the Hebrew counterpart of which may also lie behind the LXX rendering μοι (moi, “for me”). This reading seems preferable here, since it restores sense to the passage and most easily explains the rise of the variant.