Investigation: Hebrew, Greek, Samuel and Chronicles

Journey of a Passage

• 2 Samuel 8:4; 10:18: Horsemen and chariots: Samuel, the Greek and Chronicles →In 8:4 the Hebrew has 1,700 horsemen; the library's Greek and 1 Chronicles 18:4 have 1,000 chariots and 7,000 horsemen. 4QSam-a is reported to agree with the Greek. In 10:18, Samuel has 700 chariots and 40,000 horsemen; Chronicles has 7,000 charioteers and 40,000 foot.
• 2 Samuel 12:31: Saws and brick-molds: labor or torture? →After Rabbah falls, David "put" its people "to" or "under" saws, iron picks and iron axes, and made them pass "through the brick-mold." Older translations read torture and killing; many modern ones read forced labor. The library's Greek reads extermination.
• 2 Samuel 21:19: Who killed Goliath? →The Hebrew says Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim, a Bethlehemite, killed Goliath the Gittite. 1 Samuel 17 says David killed him; 1 Chronicles 20:5 says Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi, Goliath's brother. The KJV adds "the brother of" in italics.
• 2 Samuel 23:8: The chief of the Three: 800 or 300? →The Hebrew of 23:8 is difficult: "Josheb-basshebeth a Tachmonite… he was Adino the Eznite, over eight hundred slain at one time." 1 Chronicles 11:11: "Jashobeam a Hachmonite… lifted up his spear against three hundred." The library's Greek calls him "Ishbosheth the Canaanite."
• 2 Samuel 24:1, 9: Who moved David to count the people? →"The anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David" (2 Samuel 24:1). "And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David" (1 Chronicles 21:1). The census totals also differ. These are two biblical histories, not two manuscripts.
• 2 Samuel 24:24: Fifty shekels of silver, or six hundred of gold? →David buys "the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver" from Araunah. In 1 Chronicles 21:25 he gives Ornan "for the place six hundred shekels of gold." Different books, different amounts, different metals, and possibly different things bought.
• 1 Chronicles 8:33–34 (and 9:39–40): Esh-baal and Merib-baal →Chronicles names Saul's son Esh-baal and Jonathan's son Merib-baal. 2 Samuel calls them Ish-bosheth ("man of shame") and Mephibosheth. Most scholars think the Baal forms are original and scribes later replaced "Baal" with "shame" in Samuel.
• 1 Chronicles 17:13–14: The covenant without the "rod of men" →2 Samuel 7:14–16 promises David's son discipline "with the rod of men" if he sins, and speaks of "thy house and thy kingdom." 1 Chronicles 17:13–14 omits the warning and reads "mine house and my kingdom."
• 1 Chronicles 23:3, 24, 27: Levites from thirty, or from twenty? →Within one chapter, 23:3 counts Levites from thirty years old and 23:24, 27 from twenty. Numbers 4:3 says thirty and Numbers 8:24 twenty-five; Ezra 3:8 twenty. The library's Greek reads "thirty" in 23:24.