撒母耳记下 20:15

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

所有跟隨約押的人都來了，把示巴圍困在伯．瑪迦的亞比拉。他們對著城築起攻城的土壘，高度與城的外牆一樣。他們撞擊城牆，要把城牆撞倒。

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
约 押 和 跟 随 的 人 到 了 伯 玛 迦 的 亚 比 拉 ， 围 困 示 巴 ， 就 对 着 城 筑 垒 ； 跟 随 约 押 的 众 民 用 锤 撞 城 ， 要 使 城 塌 陷 。

Contextual Overview

¹⁴ Sheba went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel Beth Maacah. All the Berites also came together and followed him. ¹⁵ So Joab and his men came to Abel Beth Maacah and surrounded it. They piled dirt up against the city wall, and they began hacking at the walls to bring them down. ¹⁶ But a wise woman shouted out from the city, "Listen! Listen! Tell Joab to come here. I want to talk to him!" ¹⁷ So Joab came near her. She asked him, "Are you Joab?" He answered, "Yes, I am." Then she said, "Listen to what I say." Joab said, "I'm listening." ¹⁸ Then the woman said, "In the past people would say, ‘Ask for advice at Abel,' and the problem would be solved. ¹⁹ I am one of the peaceful, loyal people of Israel. You are trying to destroy an important city of Israel. Why must you destroy what belongs to the Lord ?" ²⁰ Joab answered, "I would prefer not to destroy or ruin anything! ²¹ That is not what I want. But there is a man here from the mountains of Ephraim, who is named Sheba son of Bicri. He has turned against King David. If you bring him to me, I will leave the city alone." The woman said to Joab, "His head will be thrown over the wall to you." ²² Then the woman spoke very wisely to all the people of the city. They cut off the head of Sheba son of Bicri and threw it over the wall to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and the army left the city. Every man returned home, and Joab went back to the king in Jerusalem.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

cast up: 2 Kings 19:32, Jeremiah 32:24, Jeremiah 33:4, Luke 19:43

a bank: So LXX generally render solelah, by נסןףקשלב or קשלב; which latter is described by Potter as "a mount, which was raised so high as to equal, if not exceed, the top of the besieged walls. The sides were walled in with bricks or stones, or secured with strong rafters; the fore part only, being by degrees to be moved near the walls, remained bare."

it stood in the trench: or, it stood against the outmost wall

battered: etc. Heb. marred to throw down

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 15:20 - Dan 2 Kings 15:29 - Ijon Ecclesiastes 9:14 - There was Ezekiel 26:8 - he shall make

Cross-References

Genesis 13:9
We should separate. The whole land is there in front of you. If you go to the left, I will go to the right. If you go to the right, I will go to the left."

Genesis 34:10
You can live in the same land with us. You will be free to own land and to trade here."

Genesis 47:6
and you may choose any place in Egypt for them to live. Give your father and your brothers the best land; let them live in the land of Goshen. And if any of them are skilled shepherds, put them in charge of my sheep and cattle."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And they came and besieged him in Abel of Bethmaachah,.... That is, Joab and Abishai, with the forces under them, who pursued him hither:

and they cast up a bank against the city; which some understand of a warlike machine or engine, with which stones were cast; but it rather seems to be a bank of earth thrown up, for the better working of such engines to more advantage against the city, by throwing from thence darts into the city, or stones against the walls of it, to batter it down; such banks were used in sieges, as that Caesar's soldiers raised in twenty five days, which was three hundred thirty feet broad, and eighty feet high z; Kimchi interprets this of filling up the ditches round about the city with dust and earth, and so making it level, whereby they could come the more easily to the walls and batter them, or scale them, and take the city by storm:

and it stood in the trench; the army under Joab stood where the trench round the city had been, now filled up:

and all the people that [were] with Joab battered the wall to throw it down; with their engines, or whatever battering instruments they had; so, often, as Hesiod a says, a whole city suffers for one bad man.

z Caesar. Comment. l. 7. c. 24. a Opera & Dies, l. 1. ver. 236.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Cast up a bank - See the marginal references. The throwing up of mounds against the walls of besieged places by the besiegers is well illustrated in the Assyrian sculptures.

The trench - The “pomoerium,” or fortified space outside the wall. When the mound was planted in the pomoerium the battering engines were able to approach close to the wall to make a breach.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Samuel 20:15. They cast up a bank against the city — The word סללה solelah, which we render bank, means, most probably, a battering engine of some kind, or a tower overlooking the walls, on which archers and slingers could stand and annoy the inhabitants, while others of the besiegers could proceed to sap the walls. That it cannot be a bank that stood in the trench, is evident from the circumstance thus expressed.