1 Chronicles 20:2

1Ch 20:2 And David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and [there were] precious stones in it; and it was set upon David’s head: and he brought also exceeding much spoil out of the city.

1Ch 20:3 And he brought out the people that [were] in it, and cut [them] with saws, and with harrows of iron, and with axes. Even so dealt David with all the cities of the children of Ammon. And David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

Ver. 2,3. {See Trapp on "2Sa 12:31"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Which mounteth about the value of seven thousand and seventy crowns, which is about threescore pound weight.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

David took the crown of their king . . ., and found it to weigh a talent of gold--equal to one hundred twenty-five pounds. Some think that Malcom, rendered in our version "their king," should be taken as a proper name, Milcom or Molech, the Ammonite idol, which, of course, might bear a heavy weight. But, like many other state crowns of Eastern kings, the crown got at Rabbah was not worn on the head, but suspended by chains of gold above the throne.

precious stones--Hebrew, a "stone," or cluster of precious stones, which was set on David's head.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 2. David took the crown of their king - off his head] See 2Sa 12:30.

Precious stones in it] The Targum says, "And there was set in it a precious stone, worth a talent of gold; this was that magnetic stone that supported the woven gold in the air." What does he mean?

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(2) The crown of their king.—Or, “of Milcom” or “Moloch,” their god. The Heb. malkâm, “their Melech” (i.e., king), occurs in this sense (Zep_1:5. Comp. Amo_5:26.) The same title is applied by the prophets to Jehovah (Isa_6:5; Isa_44:6, “Jahweh, the king [melech] of Israel.” Comp. Zep_3:15, and Joh_1:49; Joh_12:15; 2Sa_12:12; Psa_5:2; Psa_89:18; Isa_8:21; and Jer_10:10). The LXX. here has “Molchom, their king”; Vulg., “Melchom”; Arabic, “Malcha, their god;” all confirming our rendering.

A talent of gold.—The Arabic Version says one hundred pounds. Modern scholars consider the “talent of gold” as about one hundred and thirty-one pounds troy. If the weight was anything like this, the crown was obviously more suited for the head of a big idol than of a man.

And there were precious stones in it.—Samuel includes their weight in the talent.

And it was set (Heb., became) upon David’s head.—Vulg., “he made himself a crown out of it.” This may be the meaning; or else the weighty mass of gold and jewels may have been held over the king’s head by his attendants on the occasion of its capture.

Exceeding much spoil.—Comp. the continual boast of the Assyrian conquerors: “spoils without number I carried off” (sallata la mani aslula).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. of their king] So A.V. (rightly). R.V. mg. of Malcam (cp. Zep_1:5), i.e. Milcom, the national god of the Ammonites (1Ki_11:5). LXX. has a double translation of the one Heb. word: Molchol (Molchom) their king. The name of the god, whether the right form be Molech (1Ki_11:7) or Milcom or Malcam, means either “king” or, less probably, “counsellor.” In the former case his image would in all probability wear a crown.

it was set upon David’s head] A symbolic action implying that David completely annexed the Ammonite territory; other conquered nations retained a partial independence on condition of the payment of tribute.

he brought also exceeding much spoil out of the city] R.V. he brought forth the spoil of the city, exceeding much. A kind of triumphal procession of captives and spoil such as an Assyrian relief in the British Museum represents as passing before Sennacherib at the capture of Lachish.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Melchom. Septuagint add the explanation, "their king." It may also be referred to the idol of Ammon. (Haydock) --- The massy crown was suspended over David’s head. (Tirinus) (Du Hamel)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Found it to weigh a talent of gold. Two difficulties present themselves in this verse, viz. the reported weight of this crown, and the uncertainty as to what head it was from which David took it. Whatever was its weight, if David"s head was able to sustain it for a minute or two, the head of the King of the Ammonites might also occasionally have borne it. Yet it would scarcely be likely that the King of the Ammonites would have so ponderous a crown (calculated at a weight of a hundred and fourteen pounds Troy, or a little more or less than one hundredweight) as one of ordinary wear, or that he would have one of extraordinary wear on his head precisely at such a juncture. Both of these difficulties will remove if we suppose that the Hebrew l]m," instead of meaning their king, is the name of the Ammonitish and Moabitish idol (i.q. Moloch), and which we find (Authorized Version) in Zep_1:5, and probably (though not Authorized Version) in Jer_49:1, Jer_49:3, and Amo_1:15. The Septuagint treats the word thus. The point, however, cannot be considered settled.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To weigh a talent - Or, to be worth a talent, that is, five thousand four hundred and seventy five pounds.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

talent

about 33 kilograms (See: Biblical Money)

The crown was set on David's head

This can be stated in active form. Possible meanings are 1) David put the crown on his own head or 2) David's men placed the crown on his head. (See: Active or Passive)

he brought out ... He brought out

These two occurrences of "he" refer to David, but they also refer to David's soldiers who helped David do these things. (See: Synecdoche)

plunder

valuable items taken in war

forced them to work with saws and iron picks and axes

These terms describe difficult manual labor that the defeated people were forced to do.

David required all the cities of the people

The people are referred to by their city. AT: "David required all the peoples of the cities" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

crown

gold

precious

labor

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

and in it was a precious stone in the crown.

and it was set on David’s head Some explain that it was literally on David’s head. It is, however, amazing how his head could endure it. Our Sages, however, explain that there was a magnet in it (A.Z. ad loc.). I heard in Narbonne that it is the prevalent custom in the land of Ishmael to suspend the king’s crown over his head, and he sits opposite it below on a throne, and that which is written: “... and it was on David’s head,” means that it appeared as though it were on his head.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.