Bible Strands
2 Samuel 8:5
When the Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand of their men.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The biblical narrator records David’s military response after the initial defeat of Hadadezer of Zobah described in the preceding verse. The account places David in the field confronting a coalition of Aramean forces arriving from Damascus.
The words — לַ/עְזֹ֕ר (la/'.Zor) translates to "to help," marking the Aramean intervention as a deliberate reinforcement. וַ/יַּ֤ךְ (va/i.Yakh) means "and he struck down," denoting a decisive, completed military action against that reinforcement.
The thread — This engagement with Hadadezer’s allies runs parallel to 1 Chronicles 18:5 and resurfaces in 1 Kings 11:23 through the displaced commander Rezon. The strike directly enables the subsequent establishment of tribute-bearing garrisons in Damascus recorded in 2 Samuel 8:6.
Why it lands — The text reports a specific tactical counterattack that eliminates a foreign coalition, requiring the reader to note the concrete expansion of David’s control. It frames territorial consolidation as a sequential result of neutralizing allied opposition to Zobah.
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 when the Syrians of Damascus came to succour Hadadezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 11:23 And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah,
- 2 Samuel 8:3 David also defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, who had marched out to restore his dominion along the Euphrates River.
- 1 Chronicles 18:5 When the Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand of their men.
- Job 9:13 God does not restrain His anger; the helpers of Rahab cower beneath Him.
- Psalms 83:4 saying, “Come, let us erase them as a nation; may the name of Israel be remembered no more.”
- Isaiah 7:8 For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered as a people.
- Isaiah 8:9 Huddle together, O peoples, and be shattered; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for battle, and be shattered; prepare for battle, and be shattered!
- Isaiah 31:3 But the Egyptians are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the LORD stretches out His hand, the helper will stumble, and the one he helps will fall; both will perish together.