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2 Samuel 12:27

in 2 Samuel 12

Then Joab sent messengers to David to say, “I have fought against Rabbah and have captured the water supply of the city.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Rabbah; yea, I have taken the city of waters.

KJV

And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken the city of waters.

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This verse in 2 Samuel 12

Commentary

8 notes on this verse
The city of waters - The lower town of Rabbah (the modern Ammam), so called from a stream which rises within it and flows through it. The upper town with the citadel lay on a hill to the north of the stream, and was probably not tenable for any length of time after the supply of water was cut off.

This site's exposition

took the royal city

on 2 Samuel 12:26-28

While the household drama of the chapter's first half plays out, the siege of Rabbah has been running in the background since chapter eleven opened with kings going out to battle and David staying home. Joab takes the city of waters, the lower town built on its stream, and sends word to David rather than finishing the conquest himself. John Wesley and Matthew Henry both read Joab's restraint as deference to his king's honour, calling David to the field so that the victory is counted to his name and not to his general's. The request also quietly restores David to the field he had avoided at the start of chapter eleven, the very absence that opened the door to Bathsheba.

This site's exposition

have captured the water supply of the city

Clarke says the Hebrew can mean that Joab cut off the water supply of the city, as Josephus reports. Barnes places the upper city on a hill north of the stream. Without water, the citadel lay ready for David to capture.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the L ORD . And Nathan said unto David, The L ORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. 14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the L ORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:90%@v13-14

And Joab sent messengers to David,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Herein he showed himself a faithful servant, that sought his master's honour, and his own only in subordination to his, and left an example to the servants of the Lord Jesus, in every thing they do, to consult his honour. Not unto us, but to thy name, give glory.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

the city of waters--Rabbah, like Aroer, was divided into two parts--one the lower town, insulated by the winding course of the Jabbok, which flowed almost round it, and the upper and stronger town, called the royal city. "The first was taken by Joab, but the honor of capturing so strongly a fortified place as the other was an honor reserved for the king himself."

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

And have taken the city of waters - The city where the tank or reservoir was that supplied the city and suburbs with water. Some think that the original, לכדתי את עיר המים lachadti eth ir hammayim, should be translated I have intercepted, or cut off, the waters of the city: and Houbigant translates the place, et aquas ab urbe jam derivavi; “And I have already drawn off the waters from the city.” This perfectly agrees with the account in Josephus, who says των τε ὑδατων αυτους αποτεμνομενος, having cut off their waters, Antiq., lib. vii., cap. 7. This was the reason why David should come speedily, as the citadel, deprived of water, could not long hold out.

The words behind it

13 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיִּשְׁלַ֥חand he sent

    vaiyishlachH7971 →845 times

  • יוֹאָ֛בJoab

    yoavH3097 →144 times

  • מַלְאָכִ֖יםmessengers

    malakhimH4397 →213 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • דָּוִ֑דDavid

    davidH1732 →999 times

  • וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙and he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • נִלְחַ֣מְתִּיI have fought

    nilchamtiH3898 →177 times

  • בְרַבָּ֔הagainst Rabbah

    verabahH7237 →15 times

  • גַּם־also

    gam-H1571 →769 times

  • לָכַ֖דְתִּיI have captured

    lakhadtiH3920 →121 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • עִ֥יר[the] city of

    ʾirH5892 →1090 times

  • הַמָּֽיִם׃the waters

    hamayimH4325 →581 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

3 in all, six open

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    2 Samuel 11:1

    In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, David sent out Joab and his servants with the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David…

    it leads to

    • 1 Chronicles 20:1

      In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, Joab led out the army and ravaged the land of the Ammonites. He came to Rabbah and besieged it, but David remained…

    • 1 Kings 20:26

      In the spring, Ben-hadad mobilized the Arameans and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.

    • 1 Kings 20:22

      Afterward, the prophet approached the king of Israel and said, “Go and strengthen your position, and take note what you must do, for in the spring the king of Aram will come up against…

    • 2 Chronicles 36:10

      In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar summoned Jehoiachin and brought him to Babylon, along with the articles of value from the house of the LORD. And he made Jehoiachin’s relative Zedekiah king over Judah and…

    • Ecclesiastes 3:8

      a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 21:20

    Mark out one road for the sword to come against Rabbah of the Ammonites, and another against Judah into fortified Jerusalem.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 49:2

      Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah of the Ammonites. It will become a heap of ruins, and its villages will be burned.…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Amos 1:14

      So I will kindle a fire in the walls of Rabbah to consume its citadels amid war cries on the day of battle and a violent wind on the day of tempest.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 3:11

    (For only Og king of Bashan had remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed of iron, nine cubits long and four cubits wide, is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)

    it leads to

    • Genesis 14:5

      In the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh-kiriathaim,

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Samuel

David Mourns the Death of Absalom, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
David Mourns the Death of Absalom, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
2 Samuel: the study guide →Read 2 Samuel 12 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

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