1 Chronicles 20


1 Chronicles 20 is the twentieth chapter of the Books of Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible or the First Book of Chronicles in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is compiled from older sources by an unknown person or group, designated by modern scholars as "the Chronicler", and had the final shape established in late fifth or fourth century BCE. This chapter records the account of David's wars against the neighboring nations, especially the Ammonites and the Philistines. The whole chapter belongs to the section focusing on the kingship of David.

Text

This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 8 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Aleppo Codex, and Codex Leningradensis.
Extant manuscripts of a Koine Greek translation known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE, include Codex Vaticanus, Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Marchalianus.

Old Testament references

  • :
  • :.

    The capture of Rabbah (20:1–3)

The passage parallels 2 Samuel 11:1; 12:26a, 30–31, leaving out the episodes involving David, Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite as well as, which would be between verse 1 and 2.

Verse 2

  • "The crown of their king": from Hebrew: את־עטרת־מלכם --; rendered "the crown of Milkom" in NRSV, following Septuagint and Vulgate, referring to "Milkom", 'the national deity of the Ammonites'.
  • "Talent": a weight measurement about
  • "Spoil": or "plunder"

    Battles against the Philistines (20:4–8)

This passage contains the accounts of three battles against the Philistines involving David's mighty warriors out of the four reported in. The episode where Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, saved David from being killed by Ishbi-benob is not included in the Chronicles, probably to avoid the unpleasant impression of a Philistine endangering David, so the number "four" appearing in is also removed in the corresponding verse 8. The Chronicles also harmonizes the confusing claims in the books of Samuel into a clearer statement in verse 5.

Verse 5

New English Translation
The Hebrew text comparison with the corresponding verse demonstrates that the Chronicles provides clarification to the older text written before the exile, as can be seen here :
The relation of Lahmi to Goliath in the older text is only given using the word "’êṯ" which can be rendered as "together with; related to", whereas in the newer version, it is given using the word "’ă·ḥî" meaning "brother". Therefore it is clear in the Chronicles that David killed Goliath, then Elhanan killed the brother of Goliath.
It is also noted that the word "’ōregîm" is written only once in this verse, but it is found twice in 2 Samuel, the first of which is attached to the proper name "Jaare" to be "Jaare-oregim", which may create confusion with the second use of the word to describe the weapon of the Philistine.

Verse 8

  • "The giant": from Hebrew: הרפא hā-, "Rapha", whereas in 2 Samuel 21:22 it is written as הרפה hā-, "Raphah." By slightly changing a consonant, the Chronicler presents "Rapha's descendants" as "Rephaites", who are legendary "giants" mentioned in, 20-21; 3:11-13. This elevates the significance of the mentioned battles, although it does not appear as such in the English translation.