What Does 2 Samuel 8:4 Mean?
And David seized from him a thousand chariots, and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand men on foot; and David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but left a hundred chariots from among them.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And 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.THE KEY
Power in this verse is a controlled remainder: most captured mobility is crippled, while a chosen fraction stays in service.
THE MEANING
The verse holds the cost of control in view: the horses are hamstrung, and a hundred chariots are retained. Power here is not just taking possession; it is deciding which capacity is crippled and which stays available. The text leaves that violence and calculation side by side.
THE ROOT
וַיְעַקֵּר
wayʿaqqēr
GROWS FROM
עקר
ʿ-q-r
Uproot or pull out; in this context, hamstring.
“hamstrung” in this verse is wayʿaqqēr. English “houghed” sounds like a specialized injury; the Hebrew verb belongs to a root that also means to uproot. It pictures capacity being removed at its base: the horses are captured but made unable to serve as war power.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāqar: Uproot, pull out by the roots
עָקַר
The same root names removal at the base, illuminating how hamstringing strips away the horses’ military capacity.
ʿăqārāh: A barren woman
עֲקָרָה
This related form describes reproductive capacity as absent, showing that the word family also names a loss of generative power.
וַיּוֹתֵר
wayyōtēr
GROWS FROM
יתר
y-t-r
Remain over, be left, or exceed.
“left” in this verse is wayyōtēr. The Hebrew verb for “reserved” carries the sense of what remains over. The hundred chariots are a chosen remainder, so preservation is built into the same account as loss.
ALSO GROWS
yōtēr: More, further, beyond
יוֹתֵר
This form shares the sense of what remains or extends beyond, making the limited reserve visible as a measured portion.
yitrôn: Advantage, gain
יִתְרוֹן
This related noun names what is left as gain or advantage, echoing the deliberate retention of a usable force.
THE PATTERN
War power changes when its instruments are disabled or set aside, with a measured remainder sometimes left usable.
And Joshua did to them as the LORD commanded him, and he hamstrung their horses, and burned their chariots with fire.I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the war-bow will be cut off. He will speak wholeness to the nations, and his rule will be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.Then Jesus said to Peter, Throw your sword into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?THE THREAD
And the LORD said to Joshua, Do not fear before them, for tomorrow at this very hour I will give them all up, pierced before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.Joshua 11:6 uses the same Hebrew root עקר (ʿāqar, uproot or hamstring) for disabling horses, so the connection is carried by the word itself. There, the instruction also includes burning the chariots; here, the hundred retained chariots make the selective boundary visible.
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