1 Chronicles 19:4

1 Chronicles 19:4 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Wherefore Hanun took David’s servants, and shaved them, and cut off their garments in the midst hard by their buttocks, and sent them away.
• New International Version (NIV)So Hanun seized David’s envoys, shaved them, cut off their garments at the buttocks, and sent them away.
• English Standard Version (ESV)So Hanun took David's servants and shaved them and cut off their garments in the middle, at their hips, and sent them away;
• New King James Version (NKJV)Therefore Hanun took David’s servants, shaved them, and cut off their garments in the middle, at their buttocks, and sent them away.

Context of 1 Chronicles 19:4

2David said, “I will be kind (gracious) to Hanun son of Nahash, because his father was kind to me.” So David sent messengers to comfort him concerning [the death of] his father. And the servants of David came to the land of the Ammonites to comfort Hanun. 3But the leaders of the Ammonites said to Hanun, “Do you think that David has sent people to console and comfort you because he honors your father? Have his servants not come to you to search and to overthrow and to spy out the land?” Therefore Hanun took David’s servants, shaved them [cutting off half their beards], and cut off their garments in the middle as far as their buttocks, and sent them away [in humiliation]. 5When David was told how the men were treated, he sent messengers to meet them, for they were very humiliated and ashamed [to return]. So the king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow [back], and then return.” 6When the Ammonites saw that they had made themselves hateful to David, Hanun and his people sent 1,000 talents of silver to hire for themselves chariots and horsemen from Mesopotamia, Aram-maacah, and Zobah.

1 Chronicles 19:4 word by word

וַיִּקַּ֨ח חָנ֜וּן אֶת־עַבְדֵ֤י דָוִיד֙ וַֽיְגַלְּחֵ֔ם וַיִּכְרֹ֧ת אֶת־מַדְוֵיהֶ֛ם בַּחֵ֖צִי עַד־הַמִּפְשָׂעָ֑ה וַֽיְשַׁלְּחֵֽם׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Wherefore Hanunחָנוּןchânûn · HanunH2586
• tookלָקַחlâqach · to take: takeH3947
• David’sדָּוִדdâvid dâvîyd · DavidH1732
• servantsעֶ֫בֶד‛ebed · servant/slaveH5650
• and shavedגָּלַחgâlach · to shaveH1548
• them, and cut offכָּרַתkârath · to cut: cutH3772
• their garmentsמָ֫דוּmedev · garmentH4063
• in the midstחֲצִיchêtsîy · halfH2677
• hard by their buttocksמִפְשָׂעָהmiphώâ‛âh · hipH4667
• and sent them awayשָׁלַחshâlach · to send: departH7971

Cross-references for 1 Chronicles 19:4

• Psalms 35:12They repay me evil for good, To the sorrow of my soul.
• Psalms 109:4In return for my love, they attack me, But I am in prayer.
• Leviticus 19:27You shall not trim and round off the side-growth of [the hair on] your heads, nor mar the edges of your beard.
• Isaiah 15:2They have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba; Everyone’s head is shaved, and every beard is cut off [in mourning].
• Jeremiah 41:5that eighty men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria with their beards shaved off and their clothes torn and their bodies cut, carrying in their hands grain offerings and incense to present at the [site of the] house of the Lord [in Jerusalem].
• Jeremiah 48:37For every head is [shaven] bald and every beard cut off; there are cuts (slashes) on all the hands and sackcloth on the loins [all expressions of mourning].
• Isaiah 20:4in the same way the king of Assyria will lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, young and old, stripped and barefoot, even with buttocks uncovered—to the shame of Egypt.
• Isaiah 47:2Take millstones [as a female slave does] and grind meal; Remove your veil, strip off the skirt, Uncover the leg, cross the rivers [at the command of your captors].
• 2 Samuel 10:4So Hanun took David’s servants and shaved off half their beards, and cut off their robes in the middle as far as their hips, and sent them away.
• 2 Chronicles 36:16But they kept mocking the messengers of God and despising His words and scoffing at His prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy or healing.
• Mark 12:4Again he sent them another servant, and they [threw stones and] wounded him in the head, and treated him disgracefully.
• Luke 20:10At harvest time he sent a servant [as his representative] to the tenants, so that they would give him his share of the fruit of the vineyard; but the tenants beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed.

Commentaries on 1 Chronicles 19:4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4And cut off their garments in the midst - Usque ad eorum, pudenda. So the Targum, Jarchi, and others; leaving exposed what nature and decency require to be concealed. See on 2 Samuel 10:4; (note).Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-7The new Ammonite ruler, Hanun, opposed Israel being near his nation. The Ammonites hired Aramean armies from the north. These combined forces gathered at Medeba to challenge David's control of Moab's plateau.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 4-54-5. shaved them--not completely, but only the half of their face. This disrespect to the beard, and indecent exposure of their persons by their clothes being cut off from the girdle downwards, was the grossest indignity to which Jews, in common with all Orientals, could be subjected. No wonder that the men were ashamed to appear in public--that the king recommended them to remain in seclusion on the border till the mark of their disgrace had…Read the comment

Topics related to 1 Chronicles 19:4

• Motive
• Rulers

In the dictionaries

• Chronicles, Books of
• Chronicles, Books of
• Genealogy
• Hard; Hardiness; Harddiness; Hardly
• Joab
• Port; Porter
• Shaving
• Zobah

Commentaries on 1 Chronicles 19

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings