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2 Samuel 12:26-31
New English Translation

David’s Forces Defeat the Ammonites

26 [a] So Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal city. 27 Joab then sent messengers to David, saying, “I have fought against Rabbah and have captured the water supply of the city.[b] 28 So now assemble the rest of the army[c] and besiege the city and capture it. Otherwise I will capture the city and it will be named for me.”

29 So David assembled all the army and went to Rabbah and fought against it and captured it. 30 He took the crown of their king[d] from his head—it was gold, weighed about seventy-five pounds,[e] and held a precious stone—and it was placed on David’s head. He also took from the city a great deal of plunder. 31 He removed[f] the people who were in it and made them labor with saws, iron picks, and iron axes, putting them to work[g] at the brick kiln. This was his policy[h] with all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all the army returned to Jerusalem.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 12:26 sn Here the narrative resumes the battle story that began in 11:1 (see 11:25). The author has interrupted that story to give the related account of David’s sin with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. He now returns to the earlier story and brings it to a conclusion.
  2. 2 Samuel 12:27 sn The expression translated the water supply of the city (Heb “the city of the waters”) apparently refers to that part of the fortified city that guarded the water supply of the entire city. Joab had already captured this part of the city, but he now defers to King David for the capture of the rest of the city. In this way the king will receive the credit for this achievement.
  3. 2 Samuel 12:28 tn Heb “people.” So also in vv. 29, 31.
  4. 2 Samuel 12:30 tn Part of the Greek tradition wrongly understands Hebrew מַלְכָּם (malkam, “their king”) as a proper name (“Milcom”). Some English versions follow the Greek here, rendering the phrase “the crown of Milcom” (so NRSV; cf. also NAB, CEV). TEV takes this as a reference not to the Ammonite king but to “the idol of the Ammonite god Molech.”
  5. 2 Samuel 12:30 tn Heb “and its weight [was] a talent of gold.” The weight of this ornamental crown was approximately 75 lbs (34 kg). See P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 313.
  6. 2 Samuel 12:31 tn Heb “brought out.”
  7. 2 Samuel 12:31 tnHeb “to pass through.”
  8. 2 Samuel 12:31 tn Heb “and so he would do.”
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2 Samuel 12:26-31
American Standard Version

26 Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city. 27 And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Rabbah; yea, I have taken the city of waters. 28 Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city, and take it; lest I take the city, and [a]it be called after my name. 29 And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it. 30 And he took the crown of [b]their king from off his head; and the weight thereof was a talent of gold, and in it were precious stones; and it was set on David’s head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city, exceeding much. 31 And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them [c]under saws, and [d]under harrows of iron, and [e]under axes of iron, and [f]made them pass through the [g]brickkiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. And David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 12:28 Hebrew my name be called upon it.
  2. 2 Samuel 12:30 Or, Malcam. See Zeph. 1:5.
  3. 2 Samuel 12:31 Or, to
  4. 2 Samuel 12:31 Or, to
  5. 2 Samuel 12:31 Or, to
  6. 2 Samuel 12:31 Or with a slight change in the Hebrew text, made them labor at
  7. 2 Samuel 12:31 Or, brick-mould
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