SEV Biblia, Chapter 12:31
Y sacó el pueblo que estaba en ella, y lo puso debajo de sierras, y de trillos de hierro, y de hachas de hierro; y los hizo pasar por hornos de ladrillos; y lo mismo hizo a todas las ciudades de los hijos de Amón. Se volvió luego David con todo el pueblo a Jerusalén.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 12:31
Verse 31. He brought forth the people] And put them under saws. From this representation a great cry has been raised against "David's unparalleled, if not diabolic, cruelty." I believe this interpretation was chiefly taken from the parallel place, 1 Chron. xx. 3, where it is said, he cut them with saws, and with axes, &c. Instead of rŤyw vaiyasar, he sawed, we have here (in Samuel) µŤyw vaiyasem, he put them; and these two words differ from each other only in a part of a single letter, r resh for µ mem. And it is worthy of remark, that instead of rŤyw vaiyasar, he sawed, in 1 Chron. xx. 3, six or seven MSS. collated by Dr. Kennicott have µŤyw vaiyasem, he put them; nor is there found any various reading in all the MSS. yet collated for the text in this chapter, that favours the common reading in Chronicles. The meaning therefore is, He made the people slaves, and employed them in sawing, making iron harrows, or mining, (for the word means both,) and in hewing of wood, and making of brick. Sawing asunder, hacking, chopping, and hewing human beings, have no place in this text, no more than they had in David's conduct towards the Ammonites. It is surprising, and a thing to be deplored, that in this and similar cases our translators had not been more careful to sift the sense of the original words by which they would have avoided a profusion of exceptionable meanings with which they have clothed many passages of the sacred writings.
Though I believe our translation to be by far the best in any language, ancient or modern, yet I am satisfied it stands much in need of revision.
Most of the advantages which our unbelievers have appeared to have over certain passages of Scripture, have arisen from an inaccurate or false translation of the terms in the original; and an appeal to this has generally silenced the gainsayers. But in the time in which our translation was made, Biblical criticism was in its infancy, if indeed it did exist; and we may rather wonder that we find things so well, than be surprised that they are no better.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 31. And he brought forth the people that [were] therein , etc.] Not all the inhabitants of the place, but the princes of the children of Ammon, the counsellors of Hattun, who advised him to use David’s ambassadors in so shameful a manner, and others that expressed their pleasure and satisfaction in it: and put [them] under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron ; whereby they were cut asunder, as some were by the Romans and others f206 , or their flesh torn to pieces, and they put to extreme pain and agony, and so died most miserably; (see 1 Chronicles 20:3); and made them pass through the brickkiln ; where they burnt their bricks, by which they were not only scorched and blistered, but burnt to death; so the word in the “Keri”, or margin, signifies, which we follow; but in the text it is, they caused them to pass through Malcem, the same with Milcom or Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon, ( 1 Kings 11:5,7); unto which they made their children pass through the fire, and burnt them; and now in the same place they themselves are made to pass through, and be burnt, as a righteous punishment of them for their barbarous and wicked idolatry. The word used in the Greek version, according to Suidas f207 , signifies an army, or a battalion of men drawn up in a quadrangular form, like a brick; and in the same sense Josephus f208 uses it; hence a learned man conjectures that David’s army was drawn up in the like form, through which the Ammonites were obliged to pass, and as they passed were assailed with darts, and killed; a like punishment to which is what the Italians call “passing through the pikes”: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon ; to the inhabitants of them; that is, the chief, who bad expressed their joy at the ill usage of his ambassadors: this he did to strike terror into other nations, that they might fear to use his ambassadors in such like manner. This action of David’s showing so much severity, is thought by most to be done when under the power of his lust with Bathsheba, in an hardened and impenitent state, when he had no sense of mercy himself, and so showed none; which is too injurious to his character; for this was a righteous retaliation of this cruel people, ( 1 Samuel 11:2 Amos 1:13). Which may be observed in other instances, ( Judges 8:6,7 1 Samuel 15:33); but the charge of cruelty in David will be easily removed by following the translation of a learned man, and which I think the words will bear, “and he obliged the people that were in it to go out, and put them to the saw”, to cut stones; “and to the iron mines”, to dig there; “and to the axes of iron”, to cut wood, with; “after he had made them to pass with their king” out of the city. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem ; in triumph, and with great spoil.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 26-31 - To be thus severe in putting the children of Ammon to slavery was sign that David's heart was not yet made soft by repentance, at the time when this took place. We shall be most compassionate, kind, an forgiving to others, when we most feel our need of the Lord's forgivin love, and taste the sweetness of it in our own souls __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
ואת 853 העם 5971 אשׁר 834 בה הוציא 3318 וישׂם 7760 במגרה 4050 ובחרצי 2757 הברזל 1270 ובמגזרת 4037 הברזל 1270 והעביר 5674 אותם 853 במלכן 4404 וכן 3651 יעשׂה 6213 לכל 3605 ערי 5892 בני 1121 עמון 5983 וישׁב 7725 דוד 1732 וכל 3605 העם 5971 ירושׁלם׃ 3389
