18:3 David defeated King Hadadezer of Zobah as far as Hamath, when he went to extend his authority 1 to the Euphrates River. 2 18:4 David seized from him 1,000 chariots, 7,000 charioteers, 3 and 20,000 infantrymen. David cut the hamstrings of all but a hundred of Hadadezer’s 4 chariot horses. 5
1 tn Heb “hand.”
2 tn Heb “when he went to set up his hand at the Euphrates River.” The Hebrew word יָד (yad, “hand”) is usually understood to mean “control” or “dominion” here. However, since יָד does occasionally refer to a monument, perhaps one could translate, “to set up his monument at the Euphrates River” (i.e., as a visible marker of the limits of his dominion). For another example of the Hiphil of נָצַב (natsav) used with יָד (“monument”), see 1 Sam 15:12.
3 tn Or “horsemen.”
4 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Hadadezer) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “and David cut the hamstrings of all the chariot horses, and he left from them one hundred chariot horses.”