Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageFrom him David captured seventeen hundred horsemen and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He hamstrung all the chariot horses, keeping only enough for a hundred chariots.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GDawid captured from him one thousand seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand foot soldiers; Dawid hamstrung all the chariot horses, but left enough for a hundred chariots.
KJV
King James VersionAnd David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for an hundred chariots.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleDavid captured from him a thousand chariots, seven thousand charioteers, and twenty thousand foot soldiers, and he hamstrung all the horses except a hundred he kept for the chariots.
Footnotes
The MT gives 1,700 horsemen, while 1 Chronicles 18:4 reads 7,000 — a well-known textual variant, likely a scribal error in one tradition. Hamstringing horses (*va-y'aker*, from *aqar*, to sever the tendon) was standard ancient Near Eastern practice to neutralise captured cavalry permanently. Keeping horses only for one hundred chariots resonates quietly with the Deuteronomic restriction on royal horse accumulation (Deut. 17:16) — the narrator may be affirming David's relative restraint even amid the sweep of empire-building. Both versions follow the MT numbers.
