2 Samuel 8:1-8

David Subjugates Nearby Nations

8:1 Later David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. David took Metheg Ammah ¹  from the Philistines. ²  8:2 He defeated the Moabites. He made them lie on the ground and then used a rope to measure them off. He put two-thirds of them to death and spared the other third. ³  The Moabites became David’s subjects and brought tribute. ⁴  8:3 David defeated King Hadadezer son of Rehob of Zobah when he came to reestablish ⁵  his authority ⁶  over the Euphrates ⁷  River. 8:4 David seized from him 1,700 charioteers ⁸  and 20,000 infantrymen. David cut the hamstrings of all but a hundred of the chariot horses. ⁹  8:5 The Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, but David killed 22,000 of the Arameans. 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 ¹⁰  David wherever he campaigned. ¹¹  8:7 David took the golden shields that belonged to Hadadezer’s servants and brought them to Jerusalem. ¹²  8:8 From Tebah ¹³  and Berothai, Hadadezer’s cities, King David took a great deal of bronze.

[8:1]  ¹ 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).

[8:1]  ² tn Heb “from the hand [i.e., control] of the Philistines.”

[8:2]  ³ tn Heb “and he measured [with] two [lengths] of rope to put to death and [with] the fullness of the rope to keep alive.”

[8:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the Moabites were servants of David, carriers of tribute.”

[8:3]  ⁵ tc The LXX has ἐπιστῆσαι (episthsai, “cause to stand”). See the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:3.

[8:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “hand.”

[8:3]  ⁷ 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.

[8:4]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “and David cut the hamstrings of all the chariot horses, and he left from them a hundred chariot horses.”

[8:6]  ¹⁰ tn Or “delivered.”

[8:6]  ¹¹ tn Or “wherever he went.”

[8:7]  ¹² tc The LXX includes seventeen words (in Greek) at the end of v. 7 that are not found in the MT. The LXX addition is as follows: “And Sousakim king of Egypt took them when he came up to Jerusalem in the days of Rehoboam the son of Solomon.” This Greek reading now finds Hebrew support in 4QSam^a. For a reconstruction of this poorly preserved Qumran text see E. C. Ulrich, Jr., The Qumran Text of Samuel and Josephus (HSM), 45-48.

[8:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “Betah” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV), but the name should probably be corrected to “Tebah.” See the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:8.