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1 Chronicles 20
New International Version
1 Chronicles 20
New International Version
The Capture of Rabbah(A)
20 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, Joab led out the armed forces. He laid waste the land of the Ammonites and went to Rabbah(B) and besieged it, but David remained in Jerusalem. Joab attacked Rabbah and left it in ruins.(C) 2 David took the crown from the head of their king[a]—its weight was found to be a talent[b] of gold, and it was set with precious stones—and it was placed on David’s head. He took a great quantity of plunder from the city 3 and brought out the people who were there, consigning them to labor with saws and with iron picks and axes.(D) David did this to all the Ammonite towns. Then David and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.
War With the Philistines(E)
4 In the course of time, war broke out with the Philistines, at Gezer.(F) At that time Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the Rephaites,(G) and the Philistines were subjugated.
5 In another battle with the Philistines, Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod.(H)
6 In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha. 7 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him.
8 These were descendants of Rapha in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his men.
Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles 20:2 Or of Milkom, that is, Molek
- 1 Chronicles 20:2 That is, about 75 pounds or about 34 kilograms
1 Chronicles 20
New American Standard Bible
1 Chronicles 20
New American Standard Bible
War with Philistine Giants
20 (A)Then it happened [a]in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that Joab led out the army and ravaged the land of the sons of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed in Jerusalem. And (B)Joab struck Rabbah and overthrew it. 2 (C)David took the crown of [b]their king from his head, and he found it to weigh a [c]talent of gold, and there was a precious stone in it; and it was placed on David’s head. And he brought out the spoils of the city, a very great amount. 3 He brought out the people who were in it, (D)and [d]put them to work at saws, iron picks, and axes. And David did the same to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
4 (E)Now it came about after this, that war [e]broke out at [f]Gezer with the Philistines; then Sibbecai the Hushathite [g]killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the [h]giants, and they were subdued. 5 And there was war with the Philistines again, and Elhanan the son of (F)Jair [i]killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the (G)shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 6 Again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature who had twenty-four fingers and toes, six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot; and he also was descended from the giants. 7 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea, David’s brother, [j]killed him. 8 These were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles 20:1 Lit at the return of the year
- 1 Chronicles 20:2 Another reading is Malcam from, a variant of the Ammonite god Milcom
- 1 Chronicles 20:2 About 75 lb. or 34 kg
- 1 Chronicles 20:3 So 2 Sam 12:31; MT sawed them apart with
- 1 Chronicles 20:4 Lit stood up
- 1 Chronicles 20:4 In 2 Sam 21:18, Gob
- 1 Chronicles 20:4 Lit struck
- 1 Chronicles 20:4 Heb Raphah, and so in vv 6, 8
- 1 Chronicles 20:5 Lit struck
- 1 Chronicles 20:7 Lit struck
1 Chronicles 20
Amplified Bible
1 Chronicles 20
Amplified Bible
War with Philistine Giants
20 Then it happened at the end of the year, [a]at the time when kings go out to battle, Joab led out the army and ravaged and devastated the land of the Ammonites, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem [with Bathsheba]. Joab struck Rabbah and overthrew it.(A) 2 David took the crown of their king from his head and found that it [b]weighed a talent of gold and that there was a precious stone in it; so it was set on David’s head. He also brought a very great amount of spoil (plunder) out of the city [of Rabbah]. 3 He brought out the people who were in it, and [c]put them [to work] with saws, iron picks, and axes. David dealt in this way with all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
4 Now it came about after this that war broke out at Gezer with the Philistines; then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the [d]giants, and they were subdued. 5 There was war again with the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 6 Again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature who had twenty-four fingers and toes, six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot; and he also was descended from the giants. 7 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him. 8 These were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles 20:1 I.e. after the spring harvest.
- 1 Chronicles 20:2 A crown of this weight would have been practical only for ceremonial display.
- 1 Chronicles 20:3 MT reads cut with saws, but the parallel passage (2 Sam 12:31) reads put them to [work with] the saws, which can mean “put to work.” Due to the brutality implied by the reading cut, most expositors prefer to reject it as an early scribal error for put, which is possible because the two Hebrew verb forms closely resemble each other. If the MT reading is in fact an error, it may have escaped detection due to its juxtaposition with saws.
- 1 Chronicles 20:4 Heb Rephaim, and so in vv 6, 8.
1 Chronicles 20
King James Version
1 Chronicles 20
King James Version
20 And it came to pass, that after the year was expired, at the time that kings go out to battle, Joab led forth the power of the army, and wasted the country of the children of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried at Jerusalem. And Joab smote Rabbah, and destroyed it.
2 And David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it; and it was set upon David's head: and he brought also exceeding much spoil out of the city.
3 And he brought out the people that were in it, and cut them with saws, and with harrows of iron, and with axes. Even so dealt David with all the cities of the children of Ammon. And David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
4 And it came to pass after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines; at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Sippai, that was of the children of the giant: and they were subdued.
5 And there was war again with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff was like a weaver's beam.
6 And yet again there was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand, and six on each foot and he also was the son of the giant.
7 But when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea David's brother slew him.
8 These were born unto the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.
1 Chronicles 20
Contemporary English Version
1 Chronicles 20
Contemporary English Version
The End of the War with Ammon
(2 Samuel 11.1; 12.26-31)
20 (A) The next spring, the time when kings go to war, Joab marched out in command of the Israelite army and destroyed towns all over the country of Ammon. He attacked the capital city of Rabbah and left it in ruins. But David stayed in Jerusalem.
2 Later, David himself went to Rabbah, where he took the crown from the statue of their god Milcom.[a] The crown was made of about 34 kilograms of gold, and there was a valuable jewel on it. David put the jewel on his crown,[b] then carried off everything else of value. 3 He forced the people of Rabbah to work with saws, iron picks, and axes. He also did the same thing with the people in all the other Ammonite towns.
David then led Israel's army back to Jerusalem.
The Descendants of the Rephaim
(2 Samuel 21.15-22)
4 Some time later, Israel fought a battle against the Philistines at Gezer. During this battle, Sibbecai from Hushah killed Sippai, a descendant of the Rephaim,[c] and the Philistines were defeated.
5 (B) In another battle against the Philistines, Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath from Gath, whose spear shaft was like a weaver's beam.[d]
6 Another one of the Philistine soldiers who was a descendant of the Rephaim was as big as a giant and had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. During a battle at Gath, 7 he made fun of Israel, so David's nephew Jonathan[e] killed him.
8 David and his soldiers killed these three men from Gath who were descendants of the Rephaim.
Footnotes
- 20.2 the statue of their god Milcom: Or “their king.”
- 20.2 David put the jewel on his crown: Or “David put the crown on his head.”
- 20.4 Rephaim: This may refer to a group of people that lived in Palestine before the Israelites and who were famous for their large size.
- 20.5 weaver's beam: When a weaver made cloth, one set of threads was tied onto a large wooden rod that was known as a weaver's beam.
- 20.7 David's nephew Jonathan: Hebrew “Jonathan son of Shimea, David's brother.”
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