translation_id: net-engnet

label: NET translator note

text: 2 Sam 8:1 identifies this region as “Metheg Ammah.”


text: Heb “from the hand of the Philistines.” Here “hand” is figurative language for “control.”


text: Heb “and the Moabites were servants of David, carriers of tribute.”


text: Heb “hand.”


text: Heb “when he went to set up his hand at the Euphrates River.” The Hebrew word יָד ( yad , “hand”) is usually understood to mean “control” or “dominion” here. However, since יָד does occasionally refer to a monument, perhaps one could translate, “to set up his monument at the Euphrates River” (i.e., as a visible marker of the limits of his dominion). For another example of the Hiphil of נָצַב ( natsav ) used with יָד (“monument”), see 1 Sam 15:12 .


text: Or “horsemen.”


text: Heb “his”; the referent (Hadadezer) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “and David cut the hamstrings of all the chariot horses, and he left from them one hundred chariot horses.”


label: NET textual note

text: Heb “and David placed in Aram of Damascus.” The object נְצִיבִים ( nÿtsivim , “garrisons”) appears to have been accidentally omitted from the text. See v. 13 , as well as the parallel passage in 2 Sam 8:6 , which includes it.


text: Or “delivered.”


text: Or “wherever he went.”


text: Heb “which were upon the servants of Hadadezer.”


text: For location see Map5-B1 ; Map6-F3 ; Map7-E2 ; Map8-F2 ; Map10-B3 ; JP1-F4 ; JP2-F4 ; JP3-F4 ; JP4-F4 .


text: The MT reads “Tibhath” here, a variant name for Tebah (cf. 2 Sam 8:8 ). Some English translations substitute the other version of the name here (e.g., NIV, NLT), while others follow the reading of the Hebrew text at this point (e.g., NAB, NASB, NRSV).


text: The parallel text of 2 Sam 8:8 has the variant name “Berothai.”


text: Heb “the sea of bronze,” or “[the] sea, the bronze one.” See the note at 1 Kgs 7:23 .


text: The name is spelled “Toi” in the parallel text in 2 Sam 8:9 .


text: The name is spelled “Joram” in the parallel text in 2 Sam 8:10 .


text: Heb “to ask concerning him for peace.”


text: Heb “and to bless him because he fought with Hadadezer and defeated him, for Hadadezer was a man of battles with Tou.”


text: Heb “[along with] all items of gold and silver and bronze.”


text: Heb “also them King David made holy to the Lord .”


text: Heb “from.”


text: The parallel text of 2 Sam 8:12 of the MT reads “Aram.” However, a few Hebrew mss along with the LXX and Syriac of 2 Sam 8:12 read “Edom” in agreement with 1 Chr 18:11 (cf. 2 Sam 8:14 ).


text: The parallel text of 2 Sam 8:13 attributes this victory to David.


text: Heb “and he was doing what is just and fair for all his people.”


text: Heb “over.”


text: The parallel text of 2 Sam 8:17 has the variant spelling “Seraiah.”


text: Heb “[was] over.”


text: Heb “and the sons of David [were] the heads at the hand of David.” The parallel text of 2 Sam 8:18 identifies them as “priests” (see sn there on the word “priests”).