2 Samuel 10:18

18 But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers.^[a] He also struck down Shobak the commander of their army, and he died there.

2 Samuel 10:18 in Other Translations

18 And the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew the men of seven hundred chariots of the Syrians, and forty thousand horsemen, and smote Shobach the captain of their host, who died there.

18 And the Syrians fled before Israel, and David killed of the Syrians the men of 700 chariots, and 40,000 horsemen, and wounded Shobach the commander of their army, so that he died there.

18 But again the Arameans fled from the Israelites. This time David’s forces killed 700 charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers, including Shobach, the commander of their army.

18 But the Arameans again scattered before Israel. David killed seven hundred chariot drivers and forty thousand cavalry. And he mortally wounded Shobach, the army commander, who died on the battlefield.

18 But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed 700 of their charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobach commander of their army, who died there.

2 Samuel 10:18 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 10:18

And the Syrians fled before Israel
After an obstinate and bloody fight between them:

and David slew [the men of] seven hundred chariots of the Syrians;
the word "men" is rightly supplied, for chariots could not be said to be slain, but the men in them; in ( 1 Chronicles 19:17 ) , they are said to be seven thousand, here seven hundred; which may be reconciled by observing, that here the chariots that held the men are numbered, there the number of the men that were in the chariots given, and reckoning ten men in a chariot, seven hundred chariots held just seven thousand men; though Kimchi takes another way of reconciling the two places, by observing that here only the choicest chariots are mentioned, there all of them, but the former way seems best:

and forty thousand horsemen;
in ( 1 Chronicles 19:17 ) ; it is forty thousand "footmen", and so Josephus ^F3; and the same may be called both horse and foot, be cause though they might come into the field of battle on horseback, yet might dismount and fight on foot; and so one historian calls them horsemen, and the other footmen; or the whole number of the slain, horse and foot mixed together, were forty thousand; Kimchi makes use of another way of removing this difficulty, and which perhaps is the best, that here only the horsemen are numbered that were slain, and there the footmen only, and both true; an equal number of each being slain, in all eighty thousand, besides the seven thousand in the chariots:

and smote Shobach the captain of their host, who died there;
of his wounds upon the spot.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F3 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 6. sect. 3.)

2 Samuel 10:18 In-Context

16 Hadadezer had Arameans brought from beyond the Euphrates River; they went to Helam, with Shobak the commander of Hadadezer’s army leading them.

17 When David was told of this, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan and went to Helam. The Arameans formed their battle lines to meet David and fought against him.

18 But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobak the commander of their army, and he died there.

19 When all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been routed by Israel, they made peace with the Israelites and became subject to them. So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.

Footnotes

• [a]. Some Septuagint manuscripts (see also 1 Chron. 19:18); Hebrew "horsemen"