1 Chronicles 18 in Hebrew & English

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Tenakh Study · Read 1 Chronicles in Hebrew and English, one chapter per page. Our Tenakh study meets every Wednesday at 7 pm (Central Time) on Zoom. Text us for the Zoom link. Our Messianic Jewish notes appear below each passage; tap Commentary above to hide them. The full commentary on this chapter is on our 1 Chronicles commentary page.

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Tenakh Study · 1 Chronicles 18:1–17

1 Chronicles, Chapter 18

דברי הימים א יח

David defeats the Pelishtim, Mo’av, Hadadezer king of Tzovah and Aram of Darmesek, receives gifts from To’u king of Chamat, and dedicates the spoil to Hashem; Avshai strikes Edom in Gei Melach, and the chapter lists David’s officers.

18:1Now after this it came to pass, that David struck the Pelishtim (Philistines), and subdued them, and took Gat (Gath) and her towns out of the hand of the Pelishtim.

אוַיְהִי֙ אַחֲרֵי־כֵ֔ן וַיַּ֥ךְ דָּוִ֛יד אֶת־פְּלִשְׁתִּ֖ים וַיַּכְנִיעֵ֑ם וַיִּקַּ֛ח אֶת־גַּ֥ת וּבְנֹתֶ֖יהָ מִיַּ֥ד פְּלִשְׁתִּֽים׃

18:2And he struck Mo’av (Moab); and Mo’av became David’s servants, and brought tribute.

בוַיַּ֖ךְ אֶת־מוֹאָ֑ב וַיִּהְי֤וּ מוֹאָב֙ עֲבָדִ֣ים לְדָוִ֔יד נֹשְׂאֵ֖י מִנְחָֽה׃

Hadadezer and Aram

18:3And David struck Hadadezer (Hadarezer) king of Tzovah (Zobah) unto Chamat (Hamath), as he went to stablish his dominion by the river Perat (Euphrates).

גוַיַּ֥ךְ דָּוִ֛יד אֶת־הֲדַדְעֶ֥זֶר מֶֽלֶךְ־צוֹבָ֖ה חֲמָ֑תָה בְּלֶכְתּ֕וֹ לְהַצִּ֥יב יָד֖וֹ בִּֽנְהַר־פְּרָֽת׃

18:4And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: David also hamstrung all the chariot horses, but reserved of them a hundred chariots.

דוַיִּלְכֹּד֩ דָּוִ֨יד מִמֶּ֜נּוּ אֶ֣לֶף רֶ֗כֶב וְשִׁבְעַ֤ת אֲלָפִים֙ פָּֽרָשִׁ֔ים וְעֶשְׂרִ֥ים אֶ֖לֶף אִ֣ישׁ רַגְלִ֑י וַיְעַקֵּ֤ר דָּוִיד֙ אֶת־כָּל־הָרֶ֔כֶב וַיּוֹתֵ֥ר מִמֶּ֖נּוּ מֵ֥אָה רָֽכֶב׃

18:5And when Aram (the Syrians) of Darmesek (Damascus) came to help Hadadezer king of Tzovah, David slew of Aram two and twenty thousand men.

הוַיָּבֹא֙ אֲרַ֣ם דַּרְמֶ֔שֶׂק לַעְז֕וֹר לַהֲדַדְעֶ֖זֶר מֶ֣לֶךְ צוֹבָ֑ה וַיַּ֤ךְ דָּוִיד֙ בַּאֲרָ֔ם עֶשְׂרִֽים־וּשְׁנַ֥יִם אֶ֖לֶף אִֽישׁ׃

18:6Then David put garrisons in Aram Darmesek; and Aram became David’s servants, and brought tribute. Thus Hashem preserved David whithersoever he went.

ווַיָּ֤שֶׂם דָּוִיד֙ בַּאֲרַ֣ם דַּרְמֶ֔שֶׂק וַיְהִ֤י אֲרָם֙ לְדָוִ֔יד עֲבָדִ֖ים נֹשְׂאֵ֣י מִנְחָ֑ה וַיּ֤וֹשַׁע יְהוָה֙ לְדָוִ֔יד בְּכֹ֖ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר הָלָֽךְ׃

18:7And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Yerushalayim (Jerusalem).

זוַיִּקַּ֣ח דָּוִ֗יד אֵ֚ת שִׁלְטֵ֣י הַזָּהָ֔ב אֲשֶׁ֣ר הָי֔וּ עַ֖ל עַבְדֵ֣י הֲדַדְעָ֑זֶר וַיְבִיאֵ֖ם יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם׃

18:8Likewise from Tivchat (Tibhath), and from Kun (Chun), cities of Hadadezer, brought David very much bronze, wherewith Shlomo (Solomon) made the bronze sea, and the pillars, and the vessels of bronze.

חוּמִטִּבְחַ֤ת וּמִכּוּן֙ עָרֵ֣י הֲדַדְעֶ֔זֶר לָקַ֥ח דָּוִ֛יד נְחֹ֖שֶׁת רַבָּ֣ה מְאֹ֑ד בָּ֣הּ ׀ עָשָׂ֣ה שְׁלֹמֹ֗ה אֶת־יָ֤ם הַנְּחֹ֨שֶׁת֙ וְאֶת־הָֽעַמּוּדִ֔ים וְאֵ֖ת כְּלֵ֥י הַנְּחֹֽשֶׁת׃

Commentary · 18:1–8

Pelishtim, Mo’av, Hadadezer: bronze for the sea

Chapter 18 is 2 Samuel 8, and our 2 Samuel commentary covers the wars, the horses and Deuteronomy 17. Here we read what Chronicles changes. Samuel’s puzzling “Meteg ha-Amah” becomes plainly “Gat and her towns” (18:1). Samuel records the measuring lines by which Mo’av was judged (2 Samuel 8:2); Chronicles says only that Mo’av became tributary. Mo’av was Ruth’s people, whose line the genealogies set at the head of Yehudah (2:10–15), and the Chronicler lets the mercy of that lineage stand without the harsh detail. And David’s hand reaches “the river Perat” (18:3), the border Hashem named to Avraham (Genesis 15:18): the covenant Asaf sang about in the tent is drawn on the map.

The king’s name, הֲדַדְעֶזֶר (Hadad’ezer), means “Hadad is help.” Rabbi Palvanov, in his class “Damascus in the End of Days,” explains that “Hadad was one of the gods of the Arameans” and that “kings like to pretend that they’re sons of God.” David is called a son by Hashem’s choice, and this chapter says twice who his help was: “Thus Hashem preserved David whithersoever he went” (18:6, 13).

Where the bronze went (18:8) is the Chronicler’s own clause: the sea, the pillars and the vessels of the Temple. David fights; Shlomo builds. Our Statement of Faith sees the same pattern in the two comings of Messiah: the son of Yosef fights, suffers and gathers; the son of David, the man of peace, builds. In Yeshua they are one man in two comings.

To’u’s gifts, Edom’s garrisons, and “Hashem preserved David”

To’u gives freely, sending his son with vessels of gold, silver and bronze, and Isaiah saw the scene enlarged: “the Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising” (Isaiah 60:3). The Chronicler’s readers remembered Koresh, who sent them home with the Temple’s vessels (Ezra 1:7–11). David keeps none of it: he “dedicated” (הִקְדִּישׁ, hikdish) it “unto Hashem” (18:11), spoils set aside “to maintain the house of Hashem” (26:27).

“All Edom became David’s servants” (18:13), as Yitzchak told Esav, “you shall serve your brother” (Genesis 27:40). Rambam reads Bil’am’s “Edom shall be a possession” (Numbers 24:18) of David, citing this very event (Hilchot Melachim 11:1). What David did in part, the Messiah does in full: “saviours shall come up on mount Tziyon to judge the mount of Esav; and the kingdom shall be Hashem’s” (Obadiah 1:21).

Hebrew lesson: וַיּוֹשַׁע יְהוָה (vayosha Hashem), “Hashem preserved.” Twice the Chronicler writes the refrain (18:6, 13). The verb is יָשַׁע (yasha), to save, the root of the name יֵשׁוּעַ, Yeshua. The English says “preserved”; the Hebrew says “Hashem saved David.” The swords of David and Avshai are in the chapter, but the summary gives the saving to Hashem. The angel told Yosef to name the child Yeshua “for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). The salvation is Hashem’s; the son of David is the one through whom it comes.

Judgment and justice, and the king’s officers

“So David reigned over all Israel, and executed judgment and justice” (18:14). Our 2 Samuel commentary studied this verse with the Talmud (Sanhedrin 6b). Our Statement of Faith quotes it to show that Hashem delegates judgment to His appointed king, which is how we understand why the Father “hath committed all judgment unto the Son” (John 5:22).

Then the change readers notice first. Samuel’s Hebrew says David’s sons were kohanim, priests (2 Samuel 8:18). Chronicles says “the sons of David were chief about the king” (18:17), הָרִאשֹׁנִים לְיַד הַמֶּלֶךְ, “the first ones at the hand of the king.” The Chronicler will not let the word kohanim rest on men of Yehudah even as a figure of speech. The sons of David are princes; the sons of Aharon are priests, the boundary the Torah fixed at Korach’s rebellion and at Uzziyahu’s censer (Numbers 16; 2 Chronicles 26:16–21).

FFOZ draws the same line from Ezekiel’s Temple: “The Davidic Messiah from the tribe of Judah does not qualify for the job. Nevertheless, the Messiah has a big role in the Temple and its services,” as “the Prince” (End of Days, Lesson 20, “Hamon-Gog”). That is our position. Yeshua’s priesthood is “after the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4), in the heavenly sanctuary. On earth the sons of Tzadok serve at the altar, the sons of David sit at the king’s right hand, and the Messiah is the Prince before whom both serve Hashem.

Sources & method

Hebrew text: The Masoretic text with vowels (nikkud) and cantillation marks (ta’amim), from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (public domain) as published by the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (CC BY 4.0). Where the written text (ketiv) differs from the reading (qere), the reading is shown and the written form follows in small type. A paragraph mark (ס or פ) inside a verse is shown in small type.
English translation: The King James Version (public domain), lightly modernized by Benei Avraham: “thee/thou/ye” become “you,” older verb forms are updated (“hath” to “has”), and archaic words are replaced only where the meaning would otherwise be unclear. People and places carry their Hebrew names, with the King James spelling in parentheses the first time on each page (e.g., Yehudah (Judah)). The Divine Name (יהוה, “the LORD” in the KJV) is written “Hashem”; “God” (Elohim) is unchanged, and “law” is “Torah” where the Hebrew is תּוֹרָה.
Verse numbers: Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In 1 Chronicles they differ from most English Bibles in chapters 5, 6 and 12; a note under the summary on those pages explains how.
Commentary: Written for our Wednesday Tenakh study from a Messianic Jewish perspective, in line with the Benei Avraham Statement of Faith. It reads the passage first in its Torah setting, then with the Sages, and then with the witness of the Brit Hadashah. Its sources include the Talmud and Midrash, Rashi, Radak, Rambam, the First Fruits of Zion End of Days lessons, and teachings of Rabbi Efraim Palvanov and Ariel Cohen Alloro. Numerical readings (gematria) are offered as hints, not proofs. The notes here are short versions of our full 1 Chronicles commentary, which is a draft for our teachers to review. They are shown by default; tap Commentary to hide them.
Quiz: Written by Benei Avraham for young readers (about 11 and up). Every answer is in the chapter on this page. Answers and scores are kept only in this browser (local storage) and can be cleared with Start over.
Hebrew font: SBL Hebrew, by the Society of Biblical Literature.

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1 Chronicles 18 (Divrei HaYamim Alef) in Hebrew and English

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Sources & method