The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible

2 Samuel6:1–4

David Fetches the Ark

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2 Samuel 6:1–4 — David Fetches the Ark. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

1“David again assembled the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand …”+

1David again assembled the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand in all.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

dā·wiḏ ’eṯ- ‘ō·wḏ way·yō·sep̄ bā·ḥūr bə·yiś·rā·’êl šə·lō·šîm ’ā·lep̄ kāl-

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-added again — David — [obj] every-chosen-one in-Israel: thirty thousand.

Where the English smooths the original

  • וַיֹּ֨סֶף וַיֹּ֨סֶף (way·yō·sep̄, H622 ʼâçaph, Qal consecutive imperfect) — BSB's smooth “assembled” hides a real morphological knot. The written form looks like yâsaph, “and he added / did again,” and K&D therefore have to explain it as a defective spelling for yeʼĕsōph, the Qal of ʼâçaph (“to gather for any purpose”), comparing 1 Samuel 15:6 and Psalm 104:29. The English verb is certain; the Hebrew consonants are not.
  • בָּח֥וּר בָּח֥וּר (bā·ḥūr, H977 bâchar, Qal passive participle masculine singular) — “the chosen men” is plural in English and singular in Hebrew: a collective, “every picked man.” K&D rule out two easy readings: it “does not mean ‘the young men’ here (νεάνια, lxx), or ‘the fighting men,’ but, according to the etymology of the word, ‘the picked men.’” The word is passive — they were chosen, by David, for this.
  • כָּל־ כָּל־ (kāl-, H3605 kôl, construct) — the Berean interlinear prints this last, glossed “in all,” as though it rounded off the number. In the Hebrew clause it stands before בָּחוּר, governing the object: “all the picked men of Israel.” It totalizes the men, not the arithmetic.
  • שְׁלֹשִׁ֥ים שְׁלֹשִׁ֥ים אָֽלֶף (šə·lō·šîm ʼā·lep̄, H7970 + H505) — the number is not textually settled. Gill: “the Septuagint version says they were about seventy thousand; but the Targum, Syriac, and Arabic versions, have thirty thousand, agreeably to the Hebrew text.” K&D judge the Greek figure “probably with an intentional exaggeration.” ʼeleph itself can denote a military unit as well as the numeral one thousand.
Word by word9 · parsed+
דָּוִ֛דdā·wiḏDavidH1732
√ Dâvid — David, the youngest son of JesseNounpropermasculine singular
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
ע֥וֹד‘ō·wḏagainH5750
√ ʻôwd — properly, iteration or continuanceAdverb
ʻôwd — iteration, continuance The hinge of the verse. K&D: “again, once more, points back to 2 Samuel 5:1, 5:3, where all Israel is said to have assembled for the first time in Hebron to anoint David king.” Barnes and Cambridge allow the alternative that it looks back to the Philistine muster of 5:17-25. Either way the adverb makes this a second national gathering — and Ellicott notes the word is misplaced in the AV word-order.
וַיֹּ֨סֶףway·yō·sep̄assembledH622
√ ʼâçaph — to gather for any purposeConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
ʼâçaph — to gather for any purpose (Qal) The verb of ingathering: harvest, refugees, armies. Here it is transitive and royal — David gathers; contrast Hebron, where, as Gill observes of the Jewish writers' reading, “they gathered themselves, and not David.” The consecutive imperfect drives the whole unit: one man's decision sets thirty thousand and the ark in motion.
בָּח֥וּרbā·ḥūr[the] chosen [men]H977
√ bâchar — properly, to try, iVerbQalQalPassParticiplemasculine singular
bâchar — properly, to try, test, then choose The root means to assay before selecting; the passive participle names men who have already passed that test. The same root stands behind Israel as YHWH's chosen. ⚙ There is an irony the text does not comment on: David's men are picked with care, and the mode of carriage they are picked for is not.
בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֖לbə·yiś·rā·’êlof IsraelH3478
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobPreposition-bNounpropermasculine singular
שְׁלֹשִׁ֥יםšə·lō·šîmthirtyH7970
√ shᵉlôwshîym — thirtyNumbercommon plural
shᵉlôwshîm — thirty Cambridge offers the most economical account: “The smallness of the number may be explained if we suppose it to refer only to the ‘captains of thousands and hundreds and every leader’ mentioned in 1 Chronicles 13:1.” Representatives, not a census.
אָֽלֶף׃’ā·lep̄thousandH505
√ ʼeleph — hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alphabet, and this eventually used as a numeral) a thousandNumbermasculine singular
ʼeleph — a thousand (also a clan-unit) A function-word of counting, but a slippery one; see the divergence note on the textual spread between thirty and seventy.
כָּל־kāl-in allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
The Voices✦ public domain+
Instead of thirty thousand, the lxx have seventy chiliads, probably with an intentional exaggeration, because the number of men in Israel who were capable of bearing arms amounted to more than thirty thousand. The whole nation, through a very considerable body of representatives, was to take part in the removal of the ark.
The smallness of the number may be explained if we suppose it to refer only to the “captains of thousands and hundreds and every leader” mentioned in 1 Chronicles 13:1
The whole narrative indicates the progressive consolidation of David's power, and the settlement of his monarchy on strong foundations.
The manner of the ark’s transport was irregular; for the law strictly enjoined its being carried by the Levites by means of bearing-poles resting on their shoulders; and the copying of the Philistines’ cart, though a new one was made for the purpose, indicates the desuetude into which the decencies of worship had fallen in seventy years.
Maclaren's exposition runs across 6:1-12, so this sentence anticipates v. 3; it is placed here because it names the governing fault of the whole procession at its outset.
2“And he and all his troops set out for Baale of Judah to bring up…”+

2And he and all his troops set out for Baale of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name—the name of the LORD of Hosts, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on it.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yā·qām dā·wiḏ wə·ḵāl hā·‘ām ’ă·šer ’it·tōw way·yê·leḵ mib·ba·‘ă·lê yə·hū·ḏāh lə·ha·‘ă·lō·wṯ miš·šām ’êṯ ’ă·rō·wn hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm ’ă·šer- niq·rā šêm šêm Yah·weh ṣə·ḇā·’ō·wṯ yō·šêḇ hak·kə·ru·ḇîm ‘ā·lāw

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-arose — David — and-all the-people that [were] with-him, and-he-went from-Baale-of-Judah, to-bring-up from-there [obj] the-ark of-the-God, upon-which is-called a-Name — the-Name of-YHWH-of-Hosts, sitting [of] the-cherubim upon-it.

Where the English smooths the original

  • מִֽבַּעֲלֵ֖י מִֽבַּעֲלֵ֖י יְהוּדָ֑ה (mib·ba·‘ă·lê yə·hū·ḏāh, H1184) — BSB's “set out for Baale of Judah” quietly reverses the preposition: the Hebrew is מִן, “from.” Ellicott calls it “either a textual error here … or else the historian is so occupied with his main subject that he omits the mention of the journey to Baale.” Poole and Gill defend the text as it stands (they went thither in order to return thence); Cambridge and most moderns emend to “to,” after 1 Chronicles 13:6; K&D call the alteration unnecessary and hold that the writer “dropped the construction with which he started.” Note also that baʻălê can be read as a common noun, “lords/rulers of Judah,” which the ancient versions did.
  • נִקְרָ֣א נִקְרָ֣א (niq·rā, H7121 qârâʼ, Nifal perfect) — “is called” in English is a label; the Nifal with עַל is an act of ownership: the Name has been called out over the ark. Barnes: “the ark which is called after the Lord of Hosts and bears His Name (see Deuteronomy 28:10; 1 Kings 8:43; Isaiah 4:1).” K&D insist the idiom cannot here mean the name was invoked at the ark, “because no one was allowed to approach the ark for the purpose of invoking the name of the Lord there” — though Poole and Benson prefer exactly that sense.
  • שֵׁ֗ם שֵׁ֗ם שֵׁ֣ם (šêm šêm, H8034) — the word stands twice, absolute and then construct, and English cannot hold it. Pulpit: “Most of the versions omit the second Name, and the translators of the Authorized Version also felt it to be a difficulty.” Cambridge: “‘The Name’ is first written absolutely, as at the end of Leviticus 24:16, and then more fully defined.” The stammer is the point: first the bare Name, then who it belongs to.
  • יֹשֵׁ֥ב יֹשֵׁ֥ב הַכְּרֻבִ֖ים (yō·šêḇ hak·kə·ru·ḇîm, H3427 + H3742) — “enthroned between the cherubim” supplies a preposition the Hebrew does not have; the participle simply governs the cherubim, “the Sitter of the cherubim,” i.e. the One who has them for a throne. Cambridge renders “who sitteth enthroned upon the cherubim.” yâshab is the ordinary verb “to sit, dwell” — including “to sit as judge.”
Word by word23 · parsed+
וַיָּ֣קָם׀way·yā·qāmH6965
√ qûwm — to rise (in various applications, literal, figurative, intensive and causative)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
qûwm — to rise, stand up A narrative starter-verb, but not empty: after seventy years of the ark's neglect, the first thing the text records of the king is that he got up.
דָּוִ֗דdā·wiḏAnd heH1732
√ Dâvid — David, the youngest son of JesseNounpropermasculine singular
וְכָל־wə·ḵāland allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct
הָעָם֙hā·‘āmhis troopsH5971
√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)ArticleNounmasculine singular
ʻam — a people as a congregated unit Not “his troops” only. Poole presses the distinction: “with the whole body of the people; for these seem to be a differing party from the thirty thousand now mentioned.”
אֲשֶׁ֣ר’ă·šerH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
אִתּ֔וֹ’it·tōwH854
√ ʼêth — properly, nearness (used only as a preposition or an adverb), nearPrepositionthird person masculine singular
וַיֵּ֣לֶךְway·yê·leḵset outH1980
√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
מִֽבַּעֲלֵ֖יmib·ba·‘ă·lêvvvH1184
√ Baʻălêy Yᵉhûwdâh — Baale-Jehudah, a place in PalestinePreposition
יְהוּדָ֑הyə·hū·ḏāhfor Baale of JudahH1184
√ Baʻălêy Yᵉhûwdâh — Baale-Jehudah, a place in PalestinePrepositionNounproperfeminine singular
לְהַעֲל֣וֹתlə·ha·‘ă·lō·wṯto bring upH5927
√ ʻâlâh — to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount)Preposition-lVerbHifilInfinitive construct
ʻâlâh — to ascend; Hifil, to bring up The technical verb for moving the ark toward a sanctuary, and the same root behind the whole-burnt offering that goes up. The Hifil makes David and the people the agents of an ascent — which, in this unit, is precisely the claim the narrative will test.
מִשָּׁ֗םmiš·šāmfrom thereH8033
√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenPreposition-mAdverb
אֵ֚ת’êṯH853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
אֲר֣וֹן’ă·rō·wnthe arkH727
√ ʼârôwn — a boxNouncommon singular construct
ʼârôwn — a box Strong's gloss is deliberately flat, and the flatness matters: the most sacred object in Israel is lexically a chest, a coffer. Maclaren sees it in the procession as “the unadorned wooden chest.” Everything weighty about it comes from the Name called over it, not from the noun.
הָאֱלֹהִ֔יםhā·’ĕ·lō·hîmof GodH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseArticleNounmasculine plural
ʼĕlôhîym — God (plural form, singular sense) The unit calls it “the ark of the God” four times and never once “the ark of the covenant” or “of the testimony” — a small lexical fact that keeps the emphasis on presence rather than on the tablets inside.
אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-whichH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
נִקְרָ֣אniq·rāis calledH7121
√ qârâʼ — to call out to (iVerbNifalPerfectthird person masculine singular
שֵׁ֗םšêmby the NameH8034
√ shêm — an appellation, as amark or memorial of individualityNounmasculine singular
shêm — an appellation, as a mark or memorial of individuality Cambridge notes that “in later Jewish writings ‘the Name’ is commonly used to signify God, and especially as an equivalent for the sacred name Jehovah which might not be pronounced”; Pulpit calls this verse “a most interesting sign of the existence at this early date of a special reverence” for it. The ark is not holy as furniture; it is holy as a named possession.
שֵׁ֣םšêmthe nameH8034
√ shêm — an appellation, as amark or memorial of individualityNounmasculine singular construct
יְהוָ֧הYah·wehof the LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
Yᵉhôvâh — the Jewish national name of God Gill unfolds it as “the infinite, incomprehensible, eternal, and immutable Being.” In this clause the Name is not spoken to God but stamped on a box.
צְבָא֛וֹתṣə·ḇā·’ō·wṯof HostsH6635
√ tsâbâʼ — a mass of persons (or figuratively, things), especially regNouncommon plural
tsâbâʼ — a mass of persons or things, especially an army “Of Hosts” is a war-title, and it arrives in a chapter about a peaceful procession — Gill: “the Lord of armies above and below.” ⚙ The title sits oddly beside a cart drawn by oxen, and the narrative that follows will show why.
יֹשֵׁ֥בyō·šêḇwho is enthronedH3427
√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
yâshab — to sit down, specifically as judge The lexicon's own secondary sense is judicial. The One who sits above the cherubim is the One before whom the cart is about to be judged; Maclaren says the solemn designation “by emphasising its awful sanctity, prepares for the incidents which are to follow.”
הַכְּרֻבִ֖יםhak·kə·ru·ḇîmbetween the cherubimH3742
√ kᵉrûwb — a cherub or imaginary figureArticleNounmasculine plural
kᵉrûwb — a cherub The throne-guardians of Eden and of the mercy seat. They are mentioned here only as a location for God's sitting — the text's interest is in the Sitter.
עָלָֽיו׃‘ā·lāwthat are on itH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPrepositionthird person masculine singular
ʻal — upon, over A preposition, but a contested one: K&D devote a paragraph to whether ʻālāw attaches to the cherubim or to the calling of the Name.
The Voices✦ public domain+
Translate, which is called by the name, the name of Jehovah of hosts. The ark is thus described as being the visible symbol of God’s presence and of His covenant with His people.
“The Name” is first written absolutely, as at the end of Leviticus 24:16 , and then more fully defined as “the name of Jehovah of Hosts.”
thus whose belongs not to the ark, but to God ; for what follows is not the name of the ark, but of God.
Poole is resolving a real ambiguity in the AV's “whose name”; K&D reach the same grammatical conclusion by a different route, while disagreeing with Poole about whether the Name was invoked at the ark.
Really it is a most interesting sign of the existence at this early date of a special reverence for the name "with four consonants" which we call "Jehovah."
3“They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the ho…”+

3They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yar·ki·ḇū ’eṯ- ’ă·rō·wn hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm ’el- ḥă·ḏā·šāh ‘ă·ḡā·lāh way·yiś·śā·’u·hū mib·bêṯ ’ă·ḇî·nā·ḏāḇ ’ă·šer bag·giḇ·‘āh wə·‘uz·zā wə·’aḥ·yōw bə·nê ’ă·ḇî·nā·ḏāḇ nō·hă·ḡîm ’eṯ- ḥă·ḏā·šāh hā·‘ă·ḡā·lāh

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-they-made-ride [obj] the-ark of-the-God upon a-cart new, and-they-lifted-it from-the-house of-Abinadab which [was] on-the-hill; and-Uzzah and-Ahio, sons of-Abinadab, driving the-cart new.

Where the English smooths the original

  • וַיַּרְכִּ֜בוּ וַיַּרְכִּ֜בוּ (way·yar·ki·ḇū, H7392 râkab, Hifil) — “they set” is far too mild. Cambridge: “Lit. made the ark to ride.” râkab is the verb for riding an animal or a chariot; the causative makes the ark a passenger. K&D: “hirkîb means here ‘to put (load) upon a cart.’” ⚙ The ark is given a mount — and the mount is the one the Philistines chose for it.
  • חֲדָשָׁ֔ה חֲדָשָׁ֔ה (ḥă·ḏā·šāh, H2319 châdâsh, “new”) — the adjective is the whole defence, and the whole indictment. Cambridge: “Not desecrated by common uses.” Ellicott: “one which had been used for no other purpose, was doubtless intended as a mark of respect … yet it was a violation of the law (Numbers 7:9).” Newness answered the question of purity and ignored the question of obedience.
  • אֶל־ אֶל־ (ʼel-, H413) — BSB reads “on a new cart”; the Hebrew preposition is the one of motion toward (“near, with, among”), not the expected עַל, “upon.” A small syntactic roughness in a verse the commentators already judge textually disturbed.
  • נֹהֲגִ֖ים נֹהֲגִ֖ים (nō·hă·ḡîm, H5090 nâhag, Qal participle plural) — “were guiding” is gentle; the root is “to drive forth (a person, an animal or chariot).” It is drovers' vocabulary. K&D note the construction: “nâhag, to drive (a carriage), is construed here with an accusative, in 1 Chronicles 13:7 with bᵉ.” The ark is not carried; it is driven, like stock.
Word by word20 · parsed+
וַיַּרְכִּ֜בוּway·yar·ki·ḇūThey setH7392
√ râkab — to ride (on an animal or in a vehicle)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
râkab — to ride (Hifil: to cause to ride, to load) The verb that opens the verse already contains the error. Numbers 7:9 withheld wagons from the Kohathites precisely so that this verb could never be used of the ark; the appointed verb was nâsâʼ on the shoulder. The narrator does not editorialize — he simply reports the wrong verb, and lets 6:6-7 supply the comment.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
אֲר֤וֹן’ă·rō·wnthe arkH727
√ ʼârôwn — a boxNouncommon singular construct
הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙hā·’ĕ·lō·hîmof GodH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseArticleNounmasculine plural
אֶל־’el-onH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
חֲדָשָׁ֔הḥă·ḏā·šāha newH2319
√ châdâsh — newAdjectivefeminine singular
châdâsh — new See the divergence note: newness is a real category of reverence (compare the new cart of 1 Samuel 6:7, and the unused colt and unused tomb of the Gospels), but here it is a substitute for a command rather than an expression of one.
עֲגָלָ֣ה‘ă·ḡā·lāhcartH5699
√ ʻăgâlâh — something revolving, iNounfeminine singular
ʻăgâlâh — something revolving, i.e. a wheeled cart The word is built on rolling. JFB gloss it “a covered wagon.” It is the Philistines' solution (1 Samuel 6:7), adopted by Israel; Henry's verdict is exact: “Philistines may carry the ark in a cart without suffering for it; but if Israelites do so, it is at their peril.”
וַיִּשָּׂאֻ֔הוּway·yiś·śā·’u·hūand brought itH5375
√ nâsâʼ — to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relativeConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine pluralthird person masculine singular
nâsâʼ — to lift, bear, carry The most painful word in the verse. nâsâʼ is the legal verb for bearing the ark on the shoulder — and here it describes lifting it onto a wagon. K&D render it “to take away, i.e. drive off,” and rule out the pluperfect “they had taken” on syntactic grounds. The right verb is doing the wrong work.
מִבֵּ֥יתmib·bêṯfrom the houseH1004
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcPreposition-mNounmasculine singular construct
אֲבִינָדָ֖ב’ă·ḇî·nā·ḏāḇof AbinadabH41
√ ʼĂbîynâdâb — Abinadab, the name of four IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
אֲשֶׁ֣ר’ă·šerwhichH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
בַּגִּבְעָ֑הbag·giḇ·‘āhwas on the hillH1389
√ gibʻâh — a hillockPreposition-b, ArticleNounproperfeminine singular
gibʻâh — a hillock Not the town Gibeah. Ellicott, Barnes, Benson, Poole, Cambridge and Pulpit agree in one voice: “Rather, on the hill, as the same word is translated in 1 Samuel 7:1.” The Berean gloss “was on the hill” is right; the older versions' proper name is not.
וְעֻזָּ֣אwə·‘uz·zāUzzahH5798
√ ʻUzzâʼ — Uzza or Uzzah, the name of five IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
וְאַחְי֗וֹwə·’aḥ·yōwand AhioH283
√ ʼAchyôw — Achio, the name of three IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
בְּנֵי֙bə·nêthe sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct
bên — a son, in the widest sense Cambridge and Barnes both take it as “descendants”: the ark had stood in that house some seventy to eighty years, so grandsons or great-grandsons are meant. The house kept the founder's name long after the founder.
אֲבִ֣ינָדָ֔ב’ă·ḇî·nā·ḏāḇof AbinadabH41
√ ʼĂbîynâdâb — Abinadab, the name of four IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
נֹהֲגִ֖יםnō·hă·ḡîmwere guidingH5090
√ nâhag — to drive forth (a person, an animal or chariot), iVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural
nâhag — to drive forth A participle, so durative: the whole journey is spent driving. See the divergence note on the drovers' vocabulary.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
חֲדָשָֽׁה׃ḥă·ḏā·šāhthe newH2319
√ châdâsh — newAdjectivefeminine singular
châdâsh — new The adjective recurs without the article after the definite הָעֲגָלָה — one of the concrete grammatical oddities on which K&D build the case that these words are a copyist's duplication.
הָעֲגָלָ֥הhā·‘ă·ḡā·lāhcartH5699
√ ʻăgâlâh — something revolving, iArticleNounfeminine singular
The Voices✦ public domain+
This was a hasty and inconsiderate procedure, in violation of an express statute (see on [263]Nu 4:15 and see Nu 7:9; 18:3).
“It is matter of astonishment to me,” says Delaney, “how David and all the priests and people could fall into so great an error, and deviate so strangely from the plain precepts of the law of God in this point
The astonishment is Patrick Delaney's, quoted by Benson, not Benson's own sentence; Benson goes on to offer the mitigating history (Saul's slaughter of the priests, the long neglect of the ark) that follows in his note.
Philistines may carry the ark in a cart without suffering for it; but if Israelites do so, it is at their peril, because this was not what God appointed.
As Eleazar the son of Abinadab was old enough to be entrusted with the charge of the Ark when it was placed in his father’s house, we must clearly understand “sons” here in the wider sense of “descendants,” grandsons or great-grandsons.
4“bringing with it the ark of God. And Ahio was walking in front o…”+

4bringing with it the ark of God. And Ahio was walking in front of the ark.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yiś·śā·’u·hū ‘im ’ă·rō·wn hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm mib·bêṯ ’ă·ḇî·nā·ḏāḇ ’ă·šer bag·giḇ·‘āh wə·’aḥ·yōw hō·lêḵ lip̄·nê hā·’ā·rō·wn

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-they-lifted-it from-the-house of-Abinadab which [was] on-the-hill, with the-ark of-the-God; and-Ahio walking before the-ark.

Where the English smooths the original

  • וַיִּשָּׂאֻ֗הוּ וַיִּשָּׂאֻ֗הוּ (way·yiś·śā·’u·hū, H5375 nâsâʼ) — the identical form already stood at 6:3 word 7, and BSB smooths the repetition into the participle “bringing.” That smoothing conceals the text-critical problem every commentator here names: Ellicott, K&D, Cambridge and Pulpit all judge the first half of this verse a scribe's duplicated line.
  • עִ֖ם עִ֖ם (‘im, H5973, “with”) — “bringing with it the ark” is an attempt to rescue a clause that, read straight, says they brought the ark out of Abinadab's house with the ark of God. K&D: “there is no sense whatever in such a sentence.” Their solution is to strike the duplicated words and attach “with the ark of God” to the cart of v. 3: “Uzzah and Ahio … drove the cart with the ark of God.”
  • הֹלֵ֖ךְ הֹלֵ֖ךְ (hō·lêḵ, H1980 hâlak, Qal participle) — not “walked” but “was walking,” a held, continuous picture. And the name itself is uncertain: Cambridge notes “it is doubtful moreover whether Ahio is a proper name at all. The same consonants with different vowels would mean his brethren, as the Sept. renders the word here, or his brother, as the Vulg. renders it in 1 Chronicles 13:7.”
  • לִפְנֵ֥י לִפְנֵ֥י (lip̄·nê, H6440 pânîym, plural construct) — “in front of” is literally “to the face of.” The same idiom will carry the whole of the rest of the chapter, where David dances lipnê YHWH. Here a man walks before the face of the ark to manage oxen.
Word by word12 · parsed+
וַיִּשָּׂאֻ֗הוּway·yiś·śā·’u·hūbringingH5375
√ nâsâʼ — to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relativeConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine pluralthird person masculine singular
nâsâʼ — to lift, bear, carry The verb of lawful ark-bearing, used a second time of a wagon-load. Whether that repetition is the narrator's or a copyist's is the central textual question of this verse; see the apparatus.
עִ֖ם‘imwith itH5973
√ ʻim — adverb or preposition, with (iPreposition
ʻim — with A preposition carrying an unreasonable weight; the sense of the whole verse turns on what it attaches to.
אֲר֣וֹן’ă·rō·wnthe arkH727
√ ʼârôwn — a boxNouncommon singular construct
הָאֱלֹהִ֑יםhā·’ĕ·lō·hîmof GodH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseArticleNounmasculine plural
מִבֵּ֤יתmib·bêṯH1004
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcPreposition-mNounmasculine singular construct
אֲבִֽינָדָב֙’ă·ḇî·nā·ḏāḇH41
√ ʼĂbîynâdâb — Abinadab, the name of four IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
אֲשֶׁ֣ר’ă·šerH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
בַּגִּבְעָ֔הbag·giḇ·‘āhH1389
√ gibʻâh — a hillockPreposition-b, ArticleNounproperfeminine singular
וְאַחְי֕וֹwə·’aḥ·yōwAnd AhioH283
√ ʼAchyôw — Achio, the name of three IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
הֹלֵ֖ךְhō·lêḵwas walkingH1980
√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
hâlak — to walk, go The participle freezes the frame: a man on foot in front, oxen behind, the Name riding on wheels. Gill pictures the division of labour — Ahio “guiding the oxen that drew it, and Uzzah might go behind, or on one side.” ⚙ Everyone in the verse is in motion around the ark, and no one is under it.
לִפְנֵ֥יlip̄·nêin frontH6440
√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Preposition-lNouncommon plural construct
pânîym — the face, as the part that turns To go lipnê the ark is to go before its face — the ark's face being, in this book's idiom, the face of the One enthroned above it.
הָאָרֽוֹן׃hā·’ā·rō·wnof the arkH727
√ ʼârôwn — a boxArticleNouncommon singular
ʼârôwn — a box The unit ends on the noun it began circling: the last word of the last verse is simply “the ark,” definite and unadorned, with a man's back to it.
The Voices✦ public domain+
The text has undoubtedly suffered here through the repetition of a line by the scribes. The whole verse is omitted in the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 13
are wanting in the Septuagint, and can only have been introduced through the error of a copyist, whose eye wandered back to the first עגלה in 2 Samuel 6:3 , so that he copied a whole line twice over
K&D's sentence begins by naming the duplicated Hebrew words; the anchored excerpt starts at the claim itself, so the Hebrew of their citation is not reproduced here.
While Uzzah walked at the side, Ahio went before the oxen to guide and manage them, as the Basques may be seen at the present day doing in the south of France.
and Ahio went before the ark; guiding the oxen that drew it, and Uzzah might go behind, or on one side, to take care that the ark fell not out of it.
Gill's last clause is inference, not text: Scripture nowhere says Uzzah walked behind to steady the ark, though 6:6 shows him near enough to reach it.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

Grand Commentary — the unit, read wholesynthesis · verify+

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The second muster — a kingdom gathering itself around a box — 6:1

The verse turns on one adverb. ע֥וֹד (ʻôwd, “again”) makes this a repeat performance, and the commentators divide over which performance it repeats. K&D say it “points back to 2 Samuel 5:1, 5:3, where all Israel is said to have assembled for the first time in Hebron to anoint David king,” conceding that those assemblies “w[ere] not convened directly by David himself” — the point being simply a second convening. Barnes and Cambridge both allow instead the muster for the Philistine war of 5:17-25, and Gill prefers that, since “they were the choice and young men that were gathered for war.” Ellicott adds a translator's correction: “The word ‘again’ should be transposed: ‘David gathered together again.’” On the number, K&D and Gill agree that the Hebrew's thirty thousand stands against the Septuagint's seventy; Cambridge supplies the most economical reading, that these are the “captains of thousands and hundreds and every leader” of 1 Chronicles 13:1 rather than a levy. Barnes reads the whole scene politically — “the progressive consolidation of David's power” — and Pulpit at length agrees, arguing that David needed a capital that was also a sanctuary. Benson will not let the politics stand alone: “he was sensible that purity and sincerity in the worship of God was the best, and, indeed, only sure stay of his own power.” ⚙ Both are true at once, and the chapter is about what happens when the statecraft is excellent and the rubric is not consulted.

ii. The Name called out over a chest — 6:2

The verse's centre is the stammer שֵׁ֗ם שֵׁ֣ם — “a Name, the Name of YHWH of Hosts.” Cambridge explains the structure: “‘The Name’ is first written absolutely, as at the end of Leviticus 24:16, and then more fully defined as ‘the name of Jehovah of Hosts.’” Pulpit hears in it a datable piece of piety — “a most interesting sign of the existence at this early date of a special reverence for the name ‘with four consonants.’” Ellicott's rendering is the plainest: “which is called by the name, the name of Jehovah of hosts. The ark is thus described as being the visible symbol of God's presence and of His covenant with His people.” Poole settles the grammar that the AV obscured: the relative “belongs not to the ark, but to God.” K&D press further, denying that the Nifal can mean the Name was invoked at the ark, “because no one was allowed to approach the ark for the purpose of invoking the name of the Lord there”; Benson and Poole, less worried, read exactly that devotional sense. The geography is contested too: Ellicott, Cambridge, Poole, Gill and K&D all wrestle with מִן, “from Baale,” where the narrative needs “to.” Maclaren finds the name itself eloquent: Baalah “indicates that it had been a Baal sanctuary. If so, the presence of the ark there was at once a symbol and an omen, showing Jehovah's conquest over the obscene and bloody gods of the land.” ⚙ The verse thus stacks every honour the language has — Name, Hosts, cherubim-throne — on a noun (ʼârôwn) that means, flatly, a box. That stacking is not decoration; it is the premise of the disaster in v. 7.

iii. The new cart — reverence without obedience — 6:3-6:4

Here the vocabulary itself convicts. וַיַּרְכִּ֜בוּ is a Hiphil of râkab: Cambridge, “Lit. made the ark to ride.” נֹהֲגִ֖ים is nâhag, the verb for driving cattle. And וַיִּשָּׂאֻ֔הוּ is nâsâʼ — the very verb of lawful shoulder-carriage — spent on loading a wagon. JFB call the whole thing “a hasty and inconsiderate procedure, in violation of an express statute.” Ellicott concedes the good intention (“a mark of respect”) and still names the breach of Numbers 7:9. Gill is blunter: “it ought not to have been put upon a cart, old or new.” Benson preserves Delaney's astonishment “how David and all the priests and people could fall into so great an error,” and then offers the historical defence — the long irreligious reign, the massacre of the priests at Nob, years immersed in war. Pulpit builds that defence out at length: manuscripts were rare and costly, and “the exact way of bearing the ark was a matter that had long been dismissed from their memories.” Maclaren makes the same point as an indictment of the era, calling the copying of the Philistines' cart evidence of “the desuetude into which the decencies of worship had fallen in seventy years.” Henry gives the theological rule in a sentence: “Philistines may carry the ark in a cart without suffering for it; but if Israelites do so, it is at their peril, because this was not what God appointed.” Verse 4 then repeats itself, and the repetition is almost certainly a scribe's: Ellicott, K&D, Cambridge and Pulpit concur, and 1 Chronicles omits the verse entirely.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Read on its own terms, this unit is about a procession in which everything is right except the one thing commanded. The men are chosen (bâchar, tested and picked). The cart is new (châdâsh, undesecrated). The crowd is national, the king is devout, the object is named with the highest Name Israel knows. And the verbs are all wrong: the ark rides, the ark is driven, the ark is lifted — onto wheels. Numbers 7:9 had deliberately withheld wagons from the Kohathites so that the ark would always have to be borne on human shoulders, at human cost, at human pace. David restores the ark's honour and skips its instructions, and the narrator reports it without a word of comment, letting the vocabulary carry the charge.

⚙ What the passage seems to me to press on a reader is that sincerity is not a substitute for revelation, and newness is not a substitute for obedience. The Philistines had used a cart and gone unpunished (1 Samuel 6:7); Henry's distinction — that Israel knew better — is the right one, and it is uncomfortable, because it means that the more God has told you, the fewer innovations you are permitted. Yet I would not read this unit as a simple rebuke of joy. Maclaren is right that the crowd's gladness “does represent, though in crude form, the effect which the consciousness of God's presence should ever have.” The fault is not that they rejoiced; it is that no one asked how the thing they rejoiced over had said it wished to be carried. Verses 1-4 are, deliberately, all preparation and no arrival — the chapter will not let the procession reach Jerusalem on these wheels.

⚙ The pull-quote printed beside this unit is the tool's own sentence, offered to be tested. It is not a verse of Scripture and must not be cited as one.

The ark never asked for a cart; it asked for shoulders.

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripturecross-refs · verify+

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The Chronicler's parallel — the same cart, a different preposition verbal / quotation — confirmed

1 Chronicles 13:7 narrates this identical moment, and the Verifier's computed overlap is dense and clause-level: the ark (אָרוֹן), the new cart (חֲדָשָׁה), and the drovers' verb nâhag all recur together. K&D note one real difference of construction — “nâhag, to drive (a carriage), is construed here with an accusative, in 1 Chronicles 13:7 with bᵉ.” Cambridge and K&D both judge that the Chronicler is not expanding Samuel but that both writers condense a fuller common source; Cambridge adds that the Chronicler's interest in religious organization explains his extra detail, “where the writer of Samuel is content to condense his account into a single sentence.” Chronicles also omits 2 Samuel 6:4 altogether, which is why that verse's duplicated half is widely judged a scribal slip.

1 Chronicles 13:7

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H727 ʼârôwn (in 174 vv), H5090 nâhag (in 31 vv), H2319 châdâsh (in 48 vv), co-occurring in a single clause; nâhag is the comparatively rare item and is decisive. This is a synoptic parallel of the same event, not a quotation of one book by the other.

Seventy years earlier, on the same hill — 1 Samuel 7:1 verbal / quotation — confirmed

The ark's departure in this unit is the exact mirror of its arrival: 1 Samuel 7:1 put it in the house of Abinadab on the hill, and 2 Samuel 6:3-4 takes it out of the house of Abinadab on the hill. The Verifier confirms all three anchors shared. K&D compute the interval: “about seventy years (viz., twenty years to the victory at Ebenezer … forty years under Samuel and Saul, and about ten years under David).” Cambridge says “seventy or eighty.” The same passage also settles the topography: בַּגִּבְעָה is “on the hill,” not “in Gibeah,” as Ellicott, Barnes, Benson, Poole, Cambridge and Pulpit all insist by appeal to 1 Samuel 7:1 — and it is why Cambridge and Barnes read “sons of Abinadab” as descendants.

1 Samuel 7:1

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H41 ʼĂbîynâdâb (in 11 vv — rare), H1389 gibʻâh (in 71 vv), H727 ʼârôwn (in 174 vv). The rarity of H41 plus the identical house-on-the-hill formula makes the verbal link secure; the two passages are the opening and closing brackets of one custody.

Where the cart is going — Uzzah, three verses ahead verbal / quotation — confirmed

This unit is the loaded first half of a sentence whose verb falls in 6:6-7: the oxen stumble, Uzzah puts out his hand to the ark, and God strikes him. The Verifier links our verses to 2 Samuel 6:6, 6:7 and to 1 Chronicles 13:9-10 by the shared rare name ʻUzzâʼ together with ʼârôwn. Maclaren, reading the whole span, says the solemn designation of the ark in v. 2 “by emphasising its awful sanctity, prepares for the incidents which are to follow,” and that had there “been more trembling in it, it would not have passed so soon into wild terror.” Pulpit distributes the blame widely: “all the guilty were punished … And David also was in fault; for he ought to have commanded the priests to make diligent search.” ⚙ The lexical point stands on its own: the man who touches the ark is named in v. 3, in the same breath as the cart.

2 Samuel 6:6 · 2 Samuel 6:7 · 1 Chronicles 13:9 · 1 Chronicles 13:10

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H5798 ʻUzzâʼ (in 14 vv — rare) and H727 ʼârôwn (in 174 vv) across all four verses. Same narrative, same named actor; the link is continuity of story, not citation.

The withheld wagons — Numbers 7:9 and 4:15 structural / thematic — confirmed

Every commentator in the brief names the same statute. Ellicott: the new cart “was a violation of the law (Numbers 7:9), requiring that the ark should be borne by the Levites.” JFB: “in violation of an express statute (see on Numbers 4:15 and see Numbers 7:9; 18:3).” Cambridge cites Numbers 3:29-31 and 7:9; Gill notes that the Kohathites, alone among the Levites, were given no wagons “for the above reason”; Benson recalls that the law “expressly prohibited any but the priest to touch the ark, upon pain of death, Numbers 4:5; 4:15.” ⚙ The force of Numbers 7:9 is that the absence of a cart was itself legislation: what other clans were given, this clan was denied, so that the ark would always travel on shoulders.

Numbers 7:9 · Numbers 4:15

basis: No Verifier-computed lexeme basis is available for this pair (it is not among the computed thread candidates), so no verbal claim is made. The link is a legal-thematic one, recorded independently by Ellicott, JFB, Cambridge, Gill, Benson, Poole, Pulpit and Maclaren, who all name Numbers 7:9 / 4:15 as the statute this verse breaches.

The Name over the mercy seat — a cross-Testament figure, not a quotation structural / thematic — confirmed

2 Samuel 6:2 describes YHWH as “sitting [of] the cherubim” above the ark; Hebrews 9:5 describes “the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat,” and treats the whole apparatus as a shadow of a greater sanctuary. Cambridge connects our clause to Deuteronomy 28:10 and 1 Kings 8:43, where the Name called over a people or a house marks ownership. ⚙ The New Testament writer is working from the Greek of the Pentateuch, not from Samuel, so there is no verbal link to claim here at all: this is a shared cultic structure — throne-guardians, a covered chest, a Name that owns it — read forward.

Hebrews 9:5 · Deuteronomy 28:10 · 1 Kings 8:43

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew): shared Strong's numbers are impossible across the testaments, so no verbal tier is available or claimed. The basis is the shared cultic structure of cherubim-throne, ark and the Name called over it, with Deuteronomy 28:10 and 1 Kings 8:43 cited for the Name-formula by Barnes and Cambridge.

Flagged: the other men called Ahio flagged — verify source

The Verifier reports 1 Chronicles 8:14, 8:31 and 9:37 as candidates, on the strength of the rare name אַחְיוֹ (ʼAchyôw, in only 6 verses). ⚙ We flag rather than assert: those men are Benjaminite genealogical figures with no connection to the ark or to Abinadab's house, so name-identity here is homonymy, not a link. Worse for the pairing, Cambridge doubts the word is a name at all in our verse: “The same consonants with different vowels would mean his brethren, as the Sept. renders the word here, or his brother, as the Vulg. renders it in 1 Chronicles 13:7.” The lexeme overlap is real and machine-verified; the inference from it is not safe.

1 Chronicles 8:14 · 1 Chronicles 8:31 · 1 Chronicles 9:37

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H283 ʼAchyôw (in 6 vv — rare), which would normally support a verbal tier. Flagged instead because the shared item is a personal name borne by unrelated persons, and because Cambridge reports that in 2 Samuel 6:4 the consonants may not be a name at all (LXX 'his brethren', Vulgate at 1 Chronicles 13:7 'his brother').

Christ in the Unittypology · verify+

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The chest that carried the Name, and the Man who bore it ancient/widely-held

Matthew Henry states the reading the church has long made of this chapter: “Christ is our Ark; in and by him God manifests his favour, and accepts our prayers and praises. The ark especially typified Christ and his mediation, in which the name of Jehovah and all his glories are displayed.” The lexical footing is in v. 2: the ark is not holy as furniture but because a Name has been called out over it — נִקְרָאעָלָיו, the idiom of possession that Barnes traces through Deuteronomy 28:10, 1 Kings 8:43 and Isaiah 4:1. Ellicott: the ark is “the visible symbol of God's presence and of His covenant with His people.” Hebrews takes the same furniture — ark, cherubim, mercy seat — as the shadow whose substance is Christ's own priesthood and blood, and John's prologue says the glory that had dwelt over the cherubim tabernacled in flesh.

Hebrews 9:4-5 · Romans 3:25 · John 1:14 · Colossians 2:9

Borne, not wheeled — the appointed way of approach novel

⚙ The single theological nerve of this unit is that God specified how He would be approached, and that a better-looking method was fatal. Henry's sentence is the hinge: “this was not what God appointed.” Numbers 7:9 gave no wagons to the Kohathites precisely so the ark would travel on shoulders. ⚙ Read forward, the pattern presses toward a claim the New Testament makes explicitly: there is an appointed way of coming to God and no substitute, however new and however sincere, is permitted — “I am the way,” and the access is “by a new and living way which He opened for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh.” The contrast is exact: Uzzah dies for touching what he was not appointed to touch; Hebrews invites the worshipper to enter the holy place with boldness, because someone appointed has borne it.

John 14:6 · Hebrews 10:19-20 · Numbers 7:9

Out of the house of a Baal-town, up to the city of God ancient/widely-held

Maclaren draws a figural reading out of the place-name itself: Baale/Baalah “indicates that it had been a Baal sanctuary. If so, the presence of the ark there was at once a symbol and an omen, showing Jehovah's conquest over the obscene and bloody gods of the land, and forecasting His triumph over all the gods of the nations. Every Baale shall one day be a resting-place of the ark of God.” ⚙ The unit's stated purpose is an ascentלְהַעֲלוֹת, Hifil of ʻâlâh — of the Name out of a town named for a rival god toward the city where it will be enthroned; the Psalms that celebrate the ark's final ascent are read by the apostolic writers of Christ's own ascent and of gifts given to men. The typology is real but the accent here is Maclaren's, and the reader should note that 2 Samuel 6:1-4 records only the setting-out: on these wheels the ascent does not arrive.

Psalm 24:7-10 · Psalm 68:18 · Ephesians 4:8

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

Text. Two verses in this unit are textually disturbed, and the brief's own sources say so in chorus. (1) 6:2, “from Baale of Judah.” The Hebrew has מִן where the narrative needs “to.” Ellicott posits “either a textual error here … or else the historian … omits the mention of the journey to Baale”; Cambridge reports that “most commentators emend the text in accordance with 1 Chronicles 13:6, and read to,” and further that the ancient versions took baʻălê as a common noun, “of the rulers” or “of the men, of Judah,” which would mean a place-name has dropped out. Poole and Gill defend the received text (they went thither in order to return thence); K&D call the versions' appellative reading “decidedly incorrect,” since “thence” in the next clause presupposes a place. Pulpit's explanation is that “the narrator wrote according to the sense, and not according to the grammar.” We have translated the Hebrew as it stands and flagged the difficulty rather than choosing.

(2) 6:4, the duplicated half-verse. Ellicott: “The text has undoubtedly suffered here through the repetition of a line by the scribes.” K&D: the words are “wanting in the Septuagint, and can only have been introduced through the error of a copyist, whose eye wandered back.” Cambridge proposes the corrected reading: “Now Uzzah and Ahio the sons of Abinadab were driving the cart with the Ark of God, and Ahio was going before the Ark.” 1 Chronicles omits 2 Samuel 6:4 entirely. Our literal rendering follows the Masoretic text as printed in the interlinear, duplication and all, because that is what the sourced data contains; the reader should know that the sentence may never have been written that way.

(3) Numbers. MT has thirty thousand; the Septuagint seventy. Gill notes the Targum, Syriac and Arabic support the Hebrew; K&D call the Greek figure an intentional exaggeration. Cambridge's suggestion that thirty thousand counts only officers is an explanation, not a variant.

(4) “Ahio.” Possibly not a name: Cambridge cites LXX “his brethren” and Vulgate (at 1 Chronicles 13:7) “his brother.” Our notes retain the name because the interlinear parses it as a proper noun (H283).

Sources and their limits. The interlinear word-order printed in the brief follows the BSB's English sequence, not the Hebrew: in 6:1, for example, כָּל־ is printed last though it stands before בָּחוּר in the Hebrew clause. Our “literal” lines are rebuilt from the Hebrew order and will therefore not match the index numbers in sequence. The gloss supplied for 6:2 word 7 (מִֽבַּעֲלֵ֖י) is defective in our source (“vvv”); we have taken it with word 8 as the compound place-name, which is what every commentator in the brief does.

What is uncertain. The morphology of וַיֹּ֨סֶף in 6:1 (Strong's assigns H622 ʼâçaph; the written form is that of yâsaph, and K&D must argue for a defective spelling). Whether the Nifal “is called upon it” in 6:2 ever bore the sense “is invoked at it” — K&D say never, Poole and Benson say here. Whether Abinadab was alive (Barnes and Poole doubt it) and whether “sons” means sons (Cambridge, Barnes and K&D prefer descendants). What is machine synthesis. Everything marked ⚙, including the sola-reading, its pull-quote, and the forward reading in the second Christ entry, is this tool's own fallible work and carries no authority; it is offered to be tested against the text. The Benson excerpt at 6:3 quotes Patrick Delaney, not Benson's own voice; the note there records it.

= human, public-domain source, quoted and named. = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)