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Journey of a Passage

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."

Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original SamuelUnknown (debated)
  2. 1 Chronicles (parallel account)Composed c. 4th century BC
  3. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Samuel
Greek
  1. Septuagint, 2 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd century BC; revised (kaige) from 11:2Translated from a Hebrew text of the period
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Unknown (debated)

    Original Samuel

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  2. Composed c. 4th century BC

    1 Chronicles (parallel account)

    ✓ Contains this passage

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex, quoted here in English.

    Jashobeam, an Hachmonite… lifted up his spear against three hundred (1 Chr 11:11)

    A parallel account.

  3. Translated c. 2nd century BC; revised (kaige) from 11:2

    Septuagint, 2 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of the period

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Isboseth le Chananéen… Adinon l'Asonien, qui… tira l'épée contre huit cents hommes

    One Greek text (Vaticanus type) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical edition.

  4. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Sedens in cathedra sapientissimus princeps inter tres, ipse est quasi tenerrimus ligni vermiculus, qui octingentos interfecit

    Sitting in the chair, the wisest chief among the three, he is like the tenderest worm of the wood, who killed eight hundred

    Jerome translates the names as words.

  5. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Samuel

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    יֹשֵׁב בַּשֶּׁבֶת תַּחְכְּמֹנִי… הוּא עֲדִינוֹ הָעֶצְנִי עַל־שְׁמֹנֶה מֵאוֹת חָלָל

    Josheb-basshebeth a Tachmonite… he was Adino the Eznite, over eight hundred slain

    "Adino the Eznite" may be a corruption of "he raised his spear" (as in Chronicles).

  6. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    The Tachmonite that sat in the seat… Adino the Eznite… against eight hundred

    Follows the Hebrew.

What changed, and why

The name may originally have been Ishbaal (Greek "Isboseth"); the Hebrew "yoshev bashevet" ("sitting in the seat") may be a corruption. Both name and number differ between Samuel and Chronicles.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedSamuel has 800 and Chronicles 300.
  • Plausible, not confirmedThe original name was Ishbaal.

Sources

  • E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (2012)

Related lessons

  • David's Last Words and His Mighty Men →"The last words of David": a short oracle on the just ruler, like the morning light. Then the roll of David's mighty men: the Three (Josheb-basshebeth, Eleazar, Shammah), the three who broke through to bring water from Bethlehem's well, Abishai and Benaiah, and the Thirty. The list ends: "Uriah the Hittite: thirty and seven in all."
  • Investigation: Samuel and Chronicles, When Two Histories Differ →1 Chronicles retells much of 2 Samuel, centuries later, with its own emphases. It leaves out Bathsheba, Amnon and Absalom; it names Satan where Samuel names the LORD; its numbers and names differ. These are differences between two biblical books, not copying errors in one.
  • Hebron, Jerusalem and the Mighty Men →All Israel comes to David at Hebron and anoints him king "according to the word of the LORD by Samuel." David takes Jebus, which becomes the city of David; Joab, first to strike, becomes chief. A long list of David's mighty men follows, beginning with Jashobeam, who killed three hundred, and including the three who broke through to bring water from Bethlehem's well.