Yosua 15:35

15:35 Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah,

Yosua 15:1

15:1 The land allotted to the tribe of Judah by its clans reached to the border of Edom, to the Wilderness of Zin in the Negev far to the south. ¹ 

1 Samuel 17:1-2

David Kills Goliath

17:1 ² The Philistines gathered their troops ³  for battle. They assembled at Socoh in Judah. They camped in Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah. 17:2 Saul and the Israelite army ⁴  assembled and camped in the valley of Elah, where they arranged their battle lines to fight against ⁵  the Philistines.

1 Tawarikh 11:9

11:9 David’s power steadily grew, for the Lord who commands armies was with him. ⁶ 

Nehemia 11:30

11:30 Zanoah, Adullam and their settlements, in Lachish and its fields, and in Azekah and its villages. So they were encamped from Beer Sheba to the Valley of Hinnom.

Yeremia 34:7

34:7 He did this while the army of the king of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem and the cities of Lachish and Azekah. He was attacking these cities because they were the only fortified cities of Judah which were still holding out. ⁷ 

[15:1]  ¹ tn Heb “The lot was to the tribe of the sons of Judah by their clans to the border of Edom, the wilderness of Zin toward the south, southward.”

[17:1]  ² tc The content of 1 Sam 17–18, which includes the David and Goliath story, differs considerably in the LXX as compared to the MT, suggesting that this story circulated in ancient times in more than one form. The LXX for chs. 17–18 is much shorter than the MT, lacking almost half of the material (39 of a total of 88 verses). Many scholars (e.g., McCarter, Klein) think that the shorter text of the LXX is preferable to the MT, which in their view has been expanded by incorporation of later material. Other scholars (e.g., Wellhausen, Driver) conclude that the shorter Greek text (or the Hebrew text that underlies it) reflects an attempt to harmonize certain alleged inconsistencies that appear in the longer version of the story. Given the translation characteristics of the LXX elsewhere in this section, it does not seem likely that these differences are due to deliberate omission of these verses on the part of the translator. It seems more likely that the Greek translator has faithfully rendered here a Hebrew text that itself was much shorter than the MT in these chapters. Whether or not the shorter text represented by the LXX is to be preferred over the MT in 1 Sam 17–18 is a matter over which textual scholars are divided. For a helpful discussion of the major textual issues in this unit see D. Barthélemy, D. W. Gooding, J. Lust, and E. Tov, The Story of David and Goliath (OBO). Overall it seems preferable to stay with the MT, at least for the most part. However, the major textual differences between the LXX and the MT will be mentioned in the notes that accompany the translation so that the reader may be alert to the major problem passages.

[17:1]  ³ tn Heb “camps.”

[17:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “the men of Israel” (so KJV, NASB); NAB, NIV, NRSV “the Israelites.”

[17:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “to meet.”

[11:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “and David went, going and becoming great, and the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, Lord of hosts] was with him.”

[34:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “And the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah which were left, [namely] against Lachish and Azekah for they alone were left of the cities of Judah as fortified cities.” The intent of this sentence is to serve as a circumstantial sentence to v. 6 (= “while the army…”). That thought is picked up by “he did this while….” The long complex sentence in v. 7 has been broken down and qualifying material placed in the proper places to convey the same information in shorter English sentences in conformity with contemporary English style.