2 Samuel 8:1-14

David’s Military Victories Continue

1 It happened afterwards [that] David attacked [the] Philistines and subdued them, and he took Metheg Ammah from the hands of [the] Philistines.
2 When he defeated Moab, he measured them with the cord, making them lie on the ground. He measured two cords to kill and {the third cord} to let live. So Moab became servants of David, bringing tribute.
3 Then David struck down Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when he went to restore his monument at the Euphrates River.
4 David captured from him one thousand and seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand {foot soldiers}. David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but {from them} he spared a hundred chariot horses.
5 When Aram of Damascus came to help Hadadezer, the king of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand men of Aram.
6 David placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, so Aram became servants of David, bringing tribute. Yahweh protected David everywhere he went.
7 David took the small round gold shields which had {belonged} to the servants of Hadadezer, and he brought them [to] Jerusalem.
8 From Betah and from Berothai, the towns of Hadadezer, King David took very many bronze [items].
9 When Toi, the king of Hamath, heard that David had defeated all the army of Hadadezer,
10 Toi sent Joram his son to King David {to greet him} and to congratulate him because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him; {for Hadadezer had often been at war with Toi}. {He brought with him} objects of silver and objects of gold and objects of bronze.
11 King David dedicated them also to Yahweh [along] with the silver and the gold that he had dedicated from all of the nations which he had subdued;
12 from Aram and from Moab and from the {Ammonites} and from [the] Philistines and from Amalek and from the plunder of Hadadezer the son of Rehob, the king of Zobah.
13 So David made a name for himself when he returned from defeating Aram in the Valley of Salt, eighteen thousand.
14 He put garrisons in Edom; all over Edom he put garrisons, and all of Edom became servants of David. Yahweh protected David wherever he went.

2 Samuel 8:1-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 8

This chapter gives a relation of the wars of David with his enemies, and his victories over them, particularly the Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, and Edomites, and of the spoils he took from them, and of the presents made to him by others, 2Sa 8:1-14; and of his righteous administration of government, and of the principal officers in his court and camp, 2Sa 8:15-18.

Footnotes 10

  • [a]. Literally "the filling of a cord"
  • [b]. This method of selection must have been well known to the reader, but the exact procedure has been obscured over the millennia. It may be that one out of three lived through the process, only to become subservient
  • [c]. Hebrew "hand"
  • [d]. Literally "men of infantry"
  • [e]. Literally "from him"
  • [f]. Literally "been"
  • [g]. Literally "to ask peace for himself"
  • [h]. Literally "for Hadadezer [was] a man of wars with Toi"
  • [i]. Literally "In his hand were"
  • [j]. Literally "sons/children of Ammon"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.