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2 Samuel 21:19

in 2 Samuel 21

Once again there was a battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Beth-lehemite slew Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

KJV

And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare–oregim, a Beth–lehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

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This verse in 2 Samuel 21

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
The Hebrew text is manifestly very corrupt. First, for “Jaare-oregim,” 1Ch 20:5 gives us the reading Jair. “Oregim” has evidently got in by a transcriber’s error from the line below, where “oregim” is the Hebrew for “weavers.” Again, the word the “Bethlehemite” is very doubtful.

This site's exposition

Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph

on 2 Samuel 21:18-19

Two more giants fall at Gob, one to Sibbechai and one to Elhanan, and the second name carries the chapter's hardest textual question. The King James reads that Elhanan slew the brother of Goliath, with the words the brother of supplied by the translators to close a gap the Hebrew does not fully explain, while 1 Chronicles 20:5 names the man Elhanan killed as Lahmi, Goliath's brother, plainly. Keil and Delitzsch and most of the bench read the Chronicles text as preserving what Samuel's own text lost in copying, while others hold that Goliath was a title borne by more than one champion of Gath. Barnes states the difficulty as plainly as any of them, that the Hebrew text at this point is corrupt, and the chapter itself settles nothing beyond naming both men dead.

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 there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines,....

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.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim - slew - Goliath the Gittite - Here is a most manifest corruption of the text, or gross mistake of the transcriber; David, not Elhanan, slew Goliath. In 1Ch 20:5, the parallel place, it stands thus: “Elhanan, the son of Jair, slew Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear-staff was like a weaver’s beam.” This is plain; and our translators have borrowed some words from Chronicles to make both texts agree. The corruption may be easily accounted for by considering that ארגים oregim, which signifies weavers, has slipped out of one line into the other; and that בית הלחמי beith hallachmi, the Beth-lehemite, is corrupted from את לחמי eth Lachmi; then the reading will be the same as in Chronicles. Dr. Kennicott has made this appear very plain in his First Dissertation on the Hebrew Text, p. 78, etc.

The words behind it

20 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.

  • וַתְּהִי־and it was

    vatehi-H1961 →3559 times

  • ע֧וֹדagain

    odH5750 →490 times

  • הַמִּלְחָמָ֛ה<the> war

    hamilchamahH4421 →320 times

  • בְּג֖וֹבat Gob

    begovH1359 →

  • עִם־with

    ʾim-H5973 →1050 times

  • פְּלִשְׁתִּ֑ים[the] Philistines

    pelishtimH6430 →287 times

  • וַיַּ֡ךְand he struck down

    vaiyakhH5221 →499 times

  • אֶלְחָנָן֩Elhanan

    ʾelchananH445 →

  • בֶּן־[the] son of

    ben-H1121 →4930 times

  • יַעְרֵ֨יJaare-

    ya'reiH3296 →

  • אֹרְגִ֜יםOregim

    ʾoregimH3296 →

  • בֵּ֣ית[the] Beth-

    beitH1022 →

  • הַלַּחְמִ֗י<the> -lehemite

    halachmiH1022 →

  • אֵ֚ת<obj.>

    ʾetH853 →10935 times

  • גָּלְיָ֣תGoliath

    galyatH1555 →

  • הַגִּתִּ֔יthe Gittite

    hagitiH1663 →10 times

  • וְעֵ֣ץand [the] wood of

    veetzH6086 →328 times

  • חֲנִית֔וֹspear his

    chanitoH2595 →47 times

  • כִּמְנ֖וֹר[was] like a beam of

    kimnorH4500 →

  • אֹרְגִֽים׃ סweavers

    ʾoregimH707 →

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

Related verses

4 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

    1 Chronicles 11:26

    Now these were the mighty men: Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo of Bethlehem,

    it leads to

    • 1 Chronicles 27:7

      The fourth, for the fourth month, was Joab’s brother Asahel, and his son Zebadiah was commander after him. There were 24,000 men in his division.

    • 2 Samuel 23:24

      Now these were members of the Thirty: Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo of Bethlehem,

    • 2 Samuel 2:18–23

      The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was fleet of foot like a wild gazelle,

    • 2 Samuel 3:30

      (Joab and his brother Abishai murdered Abner because he had killed their brother Asahel in the battle at Gibeon.)

  • Through

    1 Chronicles 20:5

    Once again there was a battle with the Philistines, and Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 22:10

      Ahimelech inquired of the LORD for him and gave him provisions. He also gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

    • 1 Samuel 21:9

      The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want, you may take…

    • 1 Samuel 17:4

      Then a champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was six cubits and a span in height,

    • 1 Samuel 17:7

      The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. In addition, his shield bearer went before him.

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); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 2 Samuel 21 →