Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 18:4
David captured from him a thousand chariots, seven thousand charioteers, and twenty thousand foot soldiers, and he hamstrung all the horses except a hundred he kept for the chariots.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The historical narrative describes David's campaign against King Hadadezer of Zobah, who had previously marched to establish dominion along the Euphrates River.
The words — רֶ֗כֶב (Re.khev) = chariot[s] [H7393] and פָּֽרָשִׁ֔ים (pa.ra.Shim) = horsemen [H6571] denote the specific military assets seized during the engagement.
The thread — The enumeration of captured forces appears in 2 Samuel 8:4, while the broader theme of relying on God rather than military hardware runs through Psalms 20:7 and Psalms 33:16.
Why it lands — The text states the exact count of chariots, horsemen, and foot soldiers taken to document the scale of the victory and the subsequent hamstringing of the remaining horses.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: David also houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them an hundred chariots.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 8:4 David captured from him a thousand chariots, seven thousand charioteers, and twenty thousand foot soldiers, and he hamstrung all the horses except a hundred he kept for the chariots.
- Psalms 20:7 Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
- Psalms 33:16 No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength.
- Deuteronomy 17:16 But the king must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire more horses, for the LORD has said, ‘You are never to go back that way again.’
- Joshua 11:6 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for by this time tomorrow I will deliver all of them slain before Israel. You are to hamstring their horses and burn up their chariots.”
- Joshua 11:9 Joshua treated them as the LORD had told him; he hamstrung their horses and burned up their chariots.
- 1 Kings 4:2 and these were his chief officials: Azariah son of Zadok was the priest;
- 1 Kings 10:26 Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.