[²] Hebrew broken.
13. Gerar] Identified with Jerār, ruins three hours south of Gaza; compare 1 Chronicles iv. 39 (read “Gerar,” LXX. Γέραρα),
so many that they could not recover themselves] Or perhaps, as margin, so that none remained alive.
very much booty] The phrase used belongs to a style earlier than that of the Chronicler. Compare note on verse 9 (against them).
¹⁴And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of the Lord[¹] came upon them: and they spoiled all the cities; for there was much spoil in them.
[¹] Or, a terror from the Lord.
14. the fear of the Lord] The Chroniclers own phrase is “the fear of God” (xx. 29).
much spoil] Again we miss a favourite expression of the Chronicler: “exceeding (lārōbh) much spoil.”
¹⁵They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep in abundance and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.
15. the tents of cattle] These words are so strange an expression that it is probable the text is corrupt. If so, the original reading is unknown, for the LXX. has the same reading as the Hebrew It adds a proper name, evidently intended as the name of an Arabian tribe, but this addition appears to be a gloss derived from a reading of the LXX. in xxii. 1.