2 Samuel 11:23

11:23 The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and attacked us ¹  in the field. But we forced them to retreat all the way ²  to the door of the city gate.

2 Samuel 19:29

19:29 Then the king replied to him, “Why should you continue speaking like this? You and Ziba will inherit the field together.”

2 Samuel 23:11

23:11 Next in command ³  was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines assembled at Lehi, ⁴  where there happened to be an area of a field that was full of lentils, the army retreated before the Philistines.

[11:23]  ¹ tn Heb “and came out to us.”

[11:23]  ² tn Heb “but we were on them.”

[23:11]  ³ tn Heb “after him.”

[23:11]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text is difficult here. The MT reads לַחַיָּה (lachayyah), which implies a rare use of the word חַיָּה (chayyah). The word normally refers to an animal, but if the MT is accepted it would here have the sense of a troop or community of people. BDB 312 s.v. II. חַיָּה, for example, understands the similar reference in v. 13 to be to “a group of allied families, making a raid together.” But this works better in v. 13 than it does in v. 11, where the context seems to suggest a particular staging location for a military operation. (See 1 Chr 11:15.) It therefore seems best to understand the word in v. 11 as a place name with ה (he) directive. In that case the Masoretes mistook the word for the common term for an animal and then tried to make sense of it in this context.