What Does 1 Chronicles 18:5 Mean in the King James?
And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadarezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
They come to help Hadarezer, whose Hebrew name carries “help,” and the line ends with 22,000 men dead.
THE MEANING
You meet a stark conjunction: an army arrives to help its king, and 22,000 men are killed. The number keeps the violence visible as human cost, not merely a campaign’s outcome.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that joining a powerful ruler guarantees safety: the men who arrive as reinforcements become the verse’s dead.
THE ROOT
לַעְזֹר
laʿazor
GROWS FROM
עזר
Help, aid, support.
The verb לַעְזֹר (laʿazor, “to help”) shares עזר with Hadadezer, whose name means “Hadad is help.” The name and the arriving aid echo each other, yet the help does not protect the men who come.
ALSO GROWS
ʿezer: Help, aid; a helper.
עֵזֶר
This noun names the support the Arameans bring into the king’s conflict.
Hadadezer: Hadad is help.
הֲדַדְעֶזֶר
The king’s name carries the same “help” sound as the purpose of the army’s arrival, tightening the verse’s painful echo.
דָּוִד
Dāwīd
GROWS FROM
דוד
Beloved, dear one.
David’s name carries the sense of “beloved.” Here that name stands beside a blunt count of people killed, holding cherished identity and royal violence in the same line without softening either.
ALSO GROWS
dod: Beloved, dear one; also an uncle in kinship usage.
דּוֹד
The word-family behind David’s name carries affection, adding a tender note beside the verse’s stark violence.
dodim: Loves, expressions of affection.
דּוֹדִים
This related form extends the name’s language of affection, which the verse places alongside the cost of David’s military action.
THE PATTERN
Military aid and weaponry can magnify power while failing to preserve the lives drawn into conflict.
Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.THE THREAD
My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.Both verses draw on עזר (ʿ-z-r, “help”): 1 Chronicles names military assistance, while the Psalm names help from the Maker of heaven and earth. The shared root brings the contrast in the source of aid into view.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us