2 Samuel 8:14

8:14 He placed garrisons throughout Edom, ¹  and all the Edomites became David’s subjects. The Lord protected David wherever he campaigned.

2 Samuel 8:1

David Subjugates Nearby Nations

8:1 Later David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. David took Metheg Ammah ²  from the Philistines. ³ 

2 Samuel 18:12-13

18:12 The man replied to Joab, “Even if ⁴  I were receiving ⁵  a thousand pieces of silver, ⁶  I would not strike ⁷  the king’s son! In our very presence ⁸  the king gave this order to you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’ ⁹  18:13 If I had acted at risk of my own life ¹⁰  – and nothing is hidden from the king! – you would have abandoned me.” ¹¹ 

Psalms 60:1

Psalm 60 ¹² 

For the music director; according to the shushan-eduth style; ¹³  a prayer ¹⁴  of David written to instruct others. ¹⁵  It was written when he fought against Aram Naharaim and Aram-Zobah. That was when Joab turned back and struck down ¹⁶  12,000 Edomites ¹⁷  in the Valley of Salt. ¹⁸ 

60:1 O God, you have rejected us. ¹⁹ 

You suddenly turned on us in your anger. ²⁰ 

Please restore us! ²¹ 

Psalms 108:10

108:10 Who will lead me into the fortified city?

Who will bring me to Edom? ²² 

[8:14]  ¹ tc The MT is repetitious here: “He placed in Edom garrisons; in all Edom he placed garrisons.” The Vulgate lacks “in all Edom”; most of the Greek tradition (with the exception of the Lucianic recension and the recension of Origen) and the Syriac Peshitta lack “he placed garrisons.” The MT reading appears here to be the result of a conflation of variant readings.

[8:1]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “from the hand [i.e., control] of the Philistines.”

[18:12]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “weighing out in my hand.”

[18:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “a thousand [shekels] of silver.” This would have been about 25 pounds (11.4 kg) of silver by weight.

[18:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “extend my hand against.”

[18:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “in our ears.”

[18:12]  ⁹ 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.

[18:13]  ¹⁰ tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, and a number of the ancient versions in reading בְנַפְשִׁי (vÿnafshi, “against my life”) rather than the MT בְנַפְשׁוֹ (vÿnafsho, “against his life”).

[18:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “stood aloof.”

[60:1]  ¹² sn Psalm 60. The psalmist grieves over Israel’s humiliation, but in response to God’s assuring word, he asks for divine help in battle and expresses his confidence in victory.

[60:1]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew expression means “lily of the testimony.” It may refer to a particular music style or to a tune title.

[60:1]  ¹⁴ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16, 56-59, is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[60:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to teach.”

[60:1]  ¹⁶ tn In Josh 8:21 and Judg 20:48 the two verbs “turn back” and “strike down” are also juxtaposed. There they refer to a military counter-attack.

[60:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “12,000 of Edom.” Perhaps one should read אֲרַם (’aram, “Aram”) here rather than אֱדוֹם (’edom, “Edom”).

[60:1]  ¹⁸ sn The heading apparently refers to the military campaign recorded in 2 Sam 10 and 1 Chr 19.

[60:1]  ¹⁹ sn You have rejected us. See Pss 43:2; 44:9, 23.

[60:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “you broke out upon us, you were angry.”

[60:1]  ²¹ tn The imperfect verbal form here expresses the psalmist’s wish or prayer.

[108:10]  ²² sn The psalmist speaks again and acknowledges his need for help in battle. He hopes God will volunteer, based on the affirmation of sovereignty over Edom in v. 9, but he is also aware that God has seemingly rejected the nation of Israel (v. 11).