Bible Strands
2 Samuel 24:7
They went toward the fortress of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went on to the Negev of Judah, to Beersheba.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the movements of Joab and his officers as they complete a territorial census across Israel's borders. This account occurs during the ninth month of a nine-month, twenty-day survey before the officials return to Jerusalem.
The words — מִבְצַר־צֹר (mivtsar-tzor) literally means "fortress of Tyre," marking the northern limit of the counting route. וַיֵּצְאוּ (vayyetse'u) translates as "and they went out," signaling the final leg of the march toward Beersheba in the Negev.
The thread — The reference to Tyre's fortress aligns with the northern boundary described in Joshua 19:29. The enumeration of Hivite and Canaanite cities parallels the geographic scope outlined in Joshua 11:3.
Why it lands — The verse documents the precise geographic extent of a royal census, tracing a route from the north to the southernmost city. It asks the reader to note the administrative scope of the operation without adding interpretive commentary.
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 came to the strong hold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beer–sheba.
Cross-references
- Joshua 19:29 The border then turned back toward Ramah as far as the fortified city of Tyre, turned toward Hosah, and came out at the Sea in the region of Achzib,
- Joshua 11:3 to the Canaanites in the east and west; to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Jebusites in the hill country; and to the Hivites at the foot of Hermon in the land of Mizpah.
- Genesis 21:22 At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do.
- Judges 3:3 the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.
- 2 Samuel 24:2 So the king said to Joab the commander of his army, who was with him, “Go now throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and register the troops, so that I may know their number.”