Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

2 Samuel 8:1

in 2 Samuel 8

Some time later, David defeated the Philistines, subdued them, and took Metheg-ammah from the hand of the Philistines.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them: and David took the bridle of the mother city out of the hand of the Philistines.

KJV

And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them: and David took Metheg–ammah out of the hand of the Philistines.

⋯

This verse in 2 Samuel 8

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

David took Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines--that is, Gath and her suburban towns (1Ch 18:1). That town had been "a bridle" by which the Philistines kept the people of Judah in check.

This site's exposition

smote the Philistines, and subdued them

on 2 Samuel 8:1-2

Metheg-ammah is Gath and its towns, the bridle that had held Israel under the Philistines since Saul's day, and its fall closes the Philistine question that opened at Goliath's own city, the Anakim remnant Joshua 11:22 left at Gath. Moab's measuring by the line is read two ways among the commentators: Adam Clarke reads two parts spared to one destroyed, while Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take Jewish tradition's account that the harsh line answered a massacre of David's parents, left in Moab's keeping during his exile at 1 Samuel 22:3-4. Wesley and Matthew Henry both read the war as Balaam's oracle landing, a sceptre out of Israel smiting the corners of Moab at Numbers 24:17.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

And David took - Gath and her towns, as it is expressed in the parallel place, 1 Chron. xviii, 1. Which are called Metheg-ammah, or the bridle of Ammah, Gath was situate in the mountain of Ammah; and because this being the chief city of the Philistines, and having a king, which none of the rest had, was the bridle which had hitherto kept the Israelites in subjection.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Metheg-ammah was Gath (the chief and royal city of the Philistines) and the towns belonging to it, among which there was a constant garrison kept by the Philistines on the hill Ammah ( 2 Sam. ii. 24 ), which was Metheg, a bridle (so it signifies) or curb upon the people of Israel; this David took out of their hand and used it as a curb upon them.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Meseg Hoamoh. In Divrei Hayomim (I,:1) it's written, "Dovid took Goss from the hand of the Pelishtim." [Goss] is called Meseg Hoamoh because she was the stick that dominated all the Pelishtim.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Samuel 8:1:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

15 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.

  • וַֽיְהִי֙and it was

    vayhiH1961 →3559 times

  • אַֽחֲרֵי־after

    ʾacharei-H310 →715 times

  • כֵ֔ןthus

    khenH3651 →771 times

  • וַיַּ֥ךְand he defeated

    vaiyakhH5221 →499 times

  • דָּוִ֛דDavid

    davidH1732 →999 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • פְּלִשְׁתִּ֖ים[the] Philistines

    pelishtimH6430 →287 times

  • וַיַּכְנִיעֵ֑םand he subdued them

    vaiyakhniemH3665 →

  • וַיִּקַּ֥חand he took

    vaiyikachH3947 →966 times

  • דָּוִ֛דDavid

    davidH1732 →999 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • מֶ֥תֶגMetheg-

    metegH4965 →

  • הָאַמָּ֖ה<the> -ammah

    haamahH4965 →

  • מִיַּ֥דfrom [the] hand of

    miyadH3027 →1618 times

  • פְּלִשְׁתִּֽים׃[the] Philistines

    pelishtimH6430 →287 times

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

Related verses

6 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.

1 Chronicles 18:1–17Some time later, David defeated the Philistines, subdued them, and took Gath and its villages from the hand of the Philistines.5 worksJudges 13:5For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. And no razor shall come over his head, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”5 works2 Samuel 21:15–22Once again the Philistines waged war against Israel, and David and his servants went down and fought against the Philistines; but David became exhausted.3 works2 Samuel 7:9I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make for you a name like the greatest in the land.3 works2 Samuel 2:24But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. By sunset, they had gone as far as the hill of Ammah opposite Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.3 works2 Chronicles 26:6Uzziah went out to wage war against the Philistines, and he tore down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. Then he built cities near Ashdod and among the Philistines.2 works

The walk

5 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 7:9

    I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make for you a name like the greatest in the land.

    it leads to

    • 2 Samuel 5:10

      And David became greater and greater, for the LORD God of Hosts was with him.

    • 1 Chronicles 17:8

      I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make for you a name like the greatest in the land.

    • 1 Samuel 18:14

      and he continued to prosper in all his ways, because the LORD was with him.

    • Psalms 18:37–42

      I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back until they were consumed.

    • 2 Samuel 8:6

      Then he placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to David and brought him tribute. So the LORD made David victorious wherever he went.

About 2 Samuel

David Mourns the Death of Absalom — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
David Mourns the Death of Absalom — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
2 Samuel: the study guide →Read 2 Samuel 8 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 2 Samuel 8 →