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2 Samuel 21:16

in 2 Samuel 21

Then Ishbi-benob, a descendant of Rapha, whose bronze spear weighed three hundred shekels and who was bearing a new sword, resolved to kill David.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

and Ishbi-benob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.

KJV

And Ishbi–benob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.

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This verse in 2 Samuel 21

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Being girded with a new sword - As the word sword is not in the original, we may apply the term new to his armor in general; he had got new arms, a new coat of mail, or something that defended him well, and rendered him very formidable: or it may mean a strong or sharp sword.

This site's exposition

went down, and his servants with him

on 2 Samuel 21:15-16

War with the Philistines resumes, and this time David himself grows faint in the field, an old soldier's admission the text states without embarrassment. Ishbi-benob, one of the giant's line, moves to kill him while he is weakened, carrying a spear of three hundred shekels of brass and armed with a new sword. The threat lands at the point where David is most exposed, worn from decades of exactly this kind of war, the same war that began at Gath a generation earlier with one shepherd and one stone.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

1 Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the L ORD . And the L ORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:90%@v1

And Ishbibenob, which was of the sons of the giant,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel--Although the Philistines had completely succumbed to the army of David, yet the appearance of any gigantic champions among them revived their courage and stirred them up to renewed inroads on the Hebrew territory.
Ishbi-benob - A corrupt reading. The whole passage should perhaps run thus: “And David waxed faint. So they halted in Gob (as in 2Sa 21:18-19). And there was a man (in Gob) which was of the sons of the giant, etc.” Sons of the giant - The “giant” here 2Sa 21:18, 2Sa 21:20, 2Sa 21:22 is “ha-Raphah,” whence, the “Rephaim” Gen 14:5; Deu 2:11. The sons of Ha-raphah, or Rephaim, are different from the “Nephilim,” or Giants Gen 6:4; Num 13:33. The sons of Anak were not strictly Rephaim, but Nephilim. Three hundred shekels of brass - About eight pounds. Goliath’s spear’s head weighed “six hundred shekels of iron.”

The words behind it

18 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.

  • וְיִשְׁבִּ֨יand Ishbi-

    veyishboH3430 →

  • בְּנֹ֜בBenob

    benoH3430 →

  • אֲשֶׁ֣ר׀who

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • בִּילִידֵ֣י[was] among those born of

    bilideiH3211 →

  • הָרָפָ֗הthe Raphah

    harafahH7497 →25 times

  • וּמִשְׁקַ֤לand [the] weight of

    umishkalH4948 →49 times

  • קֵינוֹ֙spear his

    keinoH7013 →

  • שְׁלֹ֤שׁ[was] three

    sheloshH7969 →432 times

  • מֵאוֹת֙hundred<s>

    meotH3967 →581 times

  • מִשְׁקַ֣ל[the] weight of

    mishkalH4948 →49 times

  • נְחֹ֔שֶׁתbronze

    nechoshetH5178 →140 times

  • וְה֖וּאand he

    vehu'H1931 →1879 times

  • חָג֣וּר[was] girded

    chagurH2296 →44 times

  • חֲדָשָׁ֑הa new [weapon]

    chadashahH2319 →53 times

  • וַיֹּ֖אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • לְהַכּ֥וֹתto strike down

    lehakotH5221 →499 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • דָּוִֽד׃David

    davidH1732 →999 times

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

Related verses

14 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

2 Samuel 21:20And there was still another battle at Gath, where there was a man of great stature with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He too was descended from Rapha,4 works2 Samuel 21:18Some time later at Gob, there was another battle with the Philistines. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants of Rapha.4 works2 Samuel 21:22So these four descendants of Rapha in Gath fell at the hands of David and his servants.2 works2 Samuel 5:18Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.2 works1 Samuel 17:4–5Then a champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was six cubits and a span in height,2 worksDeuteronomy 1:28Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying: ‘The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the heavens. We even saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’”2 works
The other 8 cross-references, with their words ▾
Deuteronomy 2:10(The Emites used to live there, a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites.2 worksNumbers 13:32–33So they gave the Israelites a bad report about the land that they had spied out: “The land we explored devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw there are great in stature.2 worksDeuteronomy 9:2The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anakim. You know about them, and you have heard it said, “Who can stand up to the sons of Anak?”2 works1 Samuel 17:45–51But David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.2 worksDeuteronomy 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.)2 worksGenesis 6:4The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and afterward as well—when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown.2 worksDeuteronomy 2:21They were a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites. But the LORD destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place,2 worksGenesis 14:5In 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,2 works

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 21:18

    Some time later at Gob, there was another battle with the Philistines. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants of Rapha.

    it leads to

    • 1 Chronicles 11:29

      Sibbecai the Hushathite, Ilai the Ahohite,

    • 2 Samuel 21:20

      And there was still another battle at Gath, where there was a man of great stature with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He too was descended…

  • Through

    2 Samuel 21:22

    So these four descendants of Rapha in Gath fell at the hands of David and his servants.

    it leads to

    • 1 Chronicles 20:8

      So these descendants of Rapha in Gath fell at the hands of David and his servants.

    • Romans 8:31

      What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

  • Through

    2 Samuel 5:18

    Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.

    it leads to

    • Joshua 15:8

      From there the border went up the Valley of Hinnom along the southern slope of the Jebusites (that is, Jerusalem) and ascended to the top of the hill that faces the Valley of Hinnom…

    • 2 Samuel 23:13

      At harvest time, three of the thirty chief men went down to David at the cave of Adullam, while a company of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.

    • 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,

    • Joshua 17:15

      Joshua answered them, “If you have so many people that the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go to the forest and clear for yourself an area in the land of…

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Samuel

Rizpah’s Kindness toward the Dead — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Rizpah’s Kindness toward the Dead — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
2 Samuel: the study guide →Read 2 Samuel 21 →

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

Read on in 2 Samuel 21 →