2 Samuel 8:1-6

1 After this it came to pass that David attacked the Philistines and subdued them. And David took Metheg Ammah from the hand of the Philistines.

2 Then he defeated Moab. Forcing them down to the ground, he measured them off with a line. With two lines he measured off those to be put to death, and with one full line those to be kept alive. So the Moabites became David's servants, and brought tribute.

3 David also defeated Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his territory at the River Euphrates.

4 David took from him one thousand chariots, seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. Also David hamstrung all the chariot horses, except that he spared enough of them for one hundred chariots.

5 When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand of the Syrians.

6 Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became David's servants, and brought tribute. The Lord preserved David wherever he went.

2 Samuel 8:1-6 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

• [a]. Or seven thousand (compare 1 Chronicles 18:4)