So they hired for themselves thirty-two thousand chariots, and the king of Maacah with his people, who came and encamped near Medeba. The children of Ammon gathered themselves together from their cities, and came to battle. When David heard of it, he sent Joab with all the army of the mighty men. The children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the gate of the city; and the kings who had come were by themselves in the field. Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose some of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians. The rest of the people he committed into the hand of Abishai his brother; and they put themselves in array against the children of Ammon. He said, “If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you are to help me; but if the children of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will help you. Be courageous, and let’s be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. May Yahweh do that which seems good to him.”
So Joab and the people who were with him came near to the front of the Syrians to the battle; and they fled before him. When the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians had fled, they likewise fled before Abishai his brother, and entered into the city. Then Joab came to Jerusalem.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv7, 13 Which was a city of the tribe of Reuben…
Which was a city of the tribe of Reuben beyond Jordan.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v7 Thirty and two thousand chariots, i. e. thirty-two thousand…
Thirty and two thousand chariots, i. e. thirty-two thousand men fighting from or with chariots, as that word is elsewhere used; of which see my notes on 1Sa 13:5. And this interpretation seems the more probable by comparing this place with 2Sa 10:6, where this army is said to consist of twenty thousand footmen, and twelve thousand men of Ish-tob; which make up these thirty-two thousand men, who fought partly from chariots, and partly on foot with chariots, or attending upon the chariots, as the ancient manner of fighting was. And here, 1Ch 19:6, this army is made up of chariots and horsemen; where, except the chariots be understood of footmen, there were no footmen in the army, which is unusual and incredible.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v7 Chariots - Thirty two thousand men, who fought partly…
Chariots - Thirty two thousand men, who fought partly from chariots, and partly on foot with chariots, or attending upon the chariots, as the ancient manner of fighting was.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv7, 13 Verse 7. Thirty and two thousand] The whole number…
Verse 7. Thirty and two thousand] The whole number mentioned in Samuel is, Syrians, of Beth-rehob, and of Zoba, twenty thousand; of King Maacah, one thousand; of Ish-tob, twelve thousand; in all thirty-three thousand. Of chariots or cavalry there is no mention. These could not have been the whole army.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v7 They hired thirty and two thousand chariots - The…
They hired thirty and two thousand chariots - The reading is corrupt. Such a number as 32,000 chariots alone was never brought into battle on any occasion. Compare the numbers in Exo 14:7; 1Ki 10:26; 2Ch 12:3. The largest force which an Assyrian king ever speaks of encountering is 3,940. The words “and horsemen” have probably fallen out of the text after the word “chariots” (compare 1Ch 19:6). The 32,000 would be the number of the warriors serving on horseback or in chariots; and this number would agree closely with 2Sa 10:6, as the following table shows:
2Sa 10:6
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Men
Syrians of Beth-rehob and Zobah
20,000
Syrians of Ish-tob
12,000
Syrians of Maachah
1,000
Total
33,000
1Ch 19:7
Men
Syrians of Zobah, etc.
32,000
Syrians of Machah ( number not given)
1,000
Total
33,000
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v7 Chariots. This number seems excessive, and it may have…
Chariots. This number seems excessive, and it may have been put for infantry; the number of which, specified [in] 2 Kings, was 33,000. But the troops of Mesopotamia are not there mentioned, and this supplies what was left defective. (Calmet) --- The chariots may signify those who fought upon them, (Menochius) ver. 18., and Isaias xxi. 7. (Tirinus) --- Sometimes the whole number is specified; at others only a part.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv7–9 So they hired thirty and two thousand chariots--Hebrew, "riders,"…
So they hired thirty and two thousand chariots--Hebrew, "riders," or "cavalry," accustomed to fight either on horseback or in chariots, and occasionally on foot. Accepting this as the true rendering, the number of hired auxiliaries mentioned in this passage agrees exactly with the statement in Sa2 10:6 : twenty thousand (from Syria), twelve thousand (from Tob), equal to thirty-two thousand, and one thousand with the king of Maachah.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15 7. thirty and two thousand chariots] Cp. 2Sa_10:6, which…
7. thirty and two thousand chariots] Cp. 2Sa_10:6, which reckons the army (including Maacah) at 33,000, of whom 20,000 are expressly described as footmen. The word “chariots” has probably slipped in from 1Ch_19:6 instead of “men.”
Medeba] In the territory of Reuben; Jos_13:16. The country round is a table-land suited for the manœuvres of chariots. The place of the rendezvous of the allies is not mentioned in 2 Samuel 10, some words having probably fallen out of the text.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv7–15 (7) So they hired thirty and two thousand chariots,…
(7) So they hired thirty and two thousand chariots, and the king of Maachah and his people.—The account which the chronicler has followed here did not state the relative strength of the contingents, yet its estimate of the total number of the allied forces is in substantial accord with that of Samuel. The chronicler puts the total at 32,000 + the Maachathite contingent; Samuel at 32,000 + 1,000 Maachathites. The expression “32,000 chariotry” (rèkeb) is not to be pressed. The writer wished to lay proper stress on the chariots and cavalry as the chief arm of the Aramæan states, and at the same time to be as concise as possible. That he was not thinking of 32,000 chariots in the literal sense is clear, (1) because he must have known that an army would not consist of chariots only; (2) in 1Ch_18:4 he had already assigned to the army of Zobah its natural proportions of chariots, cavalry, and infantry. (Comp. 1Ch_19:18, below.) The present text of Samuel can hardly be right, as it makes the whole army consist of infantry. (Comp. 2Sa_8:4.) The great plains of Aram were a natural training-ground for horsemen and charioteers.
Who came and pitched (their camp) before Medeba.—Another detail peculiar to the Chronicles. Medeba, the meeting-place of the Aramæan forces, lay south-east of Heshbon, on a site now known as Madibiya.
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And the children of Ammon gathered themselves . . .—The muster of the Ammonites is not mentioned in Samuel.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv7, 9, 10, 13, 15 Thirty and two thousand chariots. The reading in the…
Thirty and two thousand chariots. The reading in the parallel place is evidently what is intended (comp. 1Ch_18:4 with its parallel. (2Sa_8:4) Clearly a stop should follow the numeral, which designates the number of the men under arms. Medeba. Some four miles south-cast of Heshbon (Num_21:30; Jos_13:9, Jos_13:16; Isa_15:2) or others give it as nine miles. It is not given in Samuel.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv8, 10, 12, 14 heard of it
heard of it
"heard that the Ammonites were coming out for war"
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to meet them
"to fight against them"
at the city gate
this refers to the gate of the Ammonite capital city
the kings who had come
this refers to the Aramean kings that the Ammonites hired to help them fight Israel
by themselves in the field
in the field outside the city, separate from the Ammonites
translationWords
Joab
gate
king
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv9, 13 19:9-13 The enemy armies drew their battle lines strategically;…
19:9-13 The enemy armies drew their battle lines strategically; the Ammonites positioned themselves so that the city of Medeba could serve as a refuge, while the Israelites also had to deal with a second offensive from the Arameans. Joab divided his forces to fight on both fronts from a central rallying point.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.