Bible Strands
2 Samuel 24:8
At the end of nine months and twenty days, having gone through the whole land, they returned to Jerusalem.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator reports that Joab and his officers finish a royal census after surveying the territory from the northern fortresses to the southern Negev. This moment occurs immediately after their route through Tyre and the Hivite and Canaanite cities, and directly precedes Joab's oral report to King David.
The words — The verb וַ/יָּשֻׁ֖טוּ (va/i.ya.Shu.tu) literally means "and they went about," denoting a systematic circuit. It is coupled with בְּ/כָל\־ הָ/אָ֑רֶץ (be./khol ha./'A.retz), "in all the land," which marks the exhaustive geographic boundary of the survey.
The thread — The phrase "all the land" parallels the territorial scope in Joshua 11:2 and the complete inheritance descriptions in Joshua 21:43. The census function reappears in Numbers 1:1-4 and 26:1-4, where leaders must number the congregation prior to military or administrative reorganization.
Why it lands — The verse states only the elapsed time and the return to Jerusalem, leaving the moral weight of the king's order unexplained. It asks the reader to weigh the administrative ambition against the sudden divine response that follows in the immediate context.
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The Hebrew words
King James Version
So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.