2 Samuel 23:31

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Abialbon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite,

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

1 hapax legomenon — only here in the Hebrew Bible
4 first appearances in the Hebrew Bible

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Word by word

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הַבַּרְחֻמִֽי

Barchumîy

H1273

“the · Barhumite”

Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 1× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: by transposition for H978

TWOT: None

Barhumite = "son of the blackened: in the pitied" - a person from Bahurim, a village apparently on or close to the road leading up from the Jordan valley to Jerusalem, and near the south boundary of Benjamin

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

5: words
4: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Notable vocabulary

1 hapax legomenon — a word that appears only here in the entire Hebrew Bible:

הַבַּרְחֻמִֽי Barhumite H1273

First appearance in Scripture

These words make their first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

אֲבִֽי Abialbon H45
הָֽעַרְבָתִ֔י Arbathite H6164
עַזְמָ֖וֶת Azmaveth H5820
הַבַּרְחֻמִֽי Barhumite H1273

Grammatical profile

5 nouns

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

אֲבִֽי Abialbon H45 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 6 words from the Hebrew and 5 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 5 Hebrew tokens and 7 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to 2 Samuel 23:31 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

2 Samuel 3:16 Her husband went with her, weeping as he went, and followed her to Bahurim. Then said Abner to him, Go, return: and he returned.
1 Chronicles 11:32–33 Hurai of the brooks of Gaash, Abiel the Arbathite,

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew 2 Samuel 23:31 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

אֲבִֽי עַלְבוֹן֙ הָֽעַרְבָתִ֔י עַזְמָ֖וֶת הַבַּרְחֻמִֽי

Abialbon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite,

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 2 Samuel 23:31 Septuagint · lemma form

αβιηλ υἱός ὁ αραβωθίτης αζμωθ ὁ βαρσαμίτης

Gadabiel son of the Arabothaeite.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

אֲבִי עַלְבוֹן דְמִן עַרְבָת עַזְמָוֶת דְמִבַּרְחֻם:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on 2 Samuel 23:31 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(31) Abi-albon.—In 1Ch_11:32 written Abiel, probably correctly, the albon having come in from Sha-albon-ite in the line below.

The Barhumite.—More correctly, the Baharumite, i.e., of the Bahurim mentioned in 2Sa_3:16; 2Sa_19:16.

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

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

31. Abi-albon the Arbathite] Called in 1Ch_11:32 Abiel, which is probably the true reading, as Abi-albon is an unknown name, and may easily have arisen from confusion with Shaalbonite in the line below. For a similar confusion cp. ch. 2Sa_21:19. He was a native of Arabah or Beth-arabah, a town in the wilderness of Judah, on the border between Judah and Benjamin (Jos_15:6; Jos_15:61; Jos_18:18; Jos_18:22).

the Barhumite] Of Bahurim: see note on ch. 2Sa_3:16 : a corruption or transposition for Baharumite, which is found in 1Ch_11:33.

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.

John Gill's Exposition

Abialbon the Arbathite,.... A native of Betharabah, either in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:6, or in the tribe of Benjamin, Jos 18:18; he is called Abiel in Ch1 11:32,

Azmaveth the Barhumite; or Bachurimite, the letters transposed, an inhabitant of Bachurim or Bahurim, a city in the tribe of Benjamin, Sa2 16:5.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Abialbon, or Abiel. --- Beromi, or Azmoth, a Bauramite.

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).

The Pulpit Commentary

Abi-albon. He is called Abiel in 1Ch_11:32. He belonged to the town of Beth-Arabah, (Jos_15:61 Jos_18:22) called also Arabah, (Jos_18:18) in the wilderness of Judah. Azmaveth the Barhumite. He was of Bahurim, for which see note on 2Sa_3:16.

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

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

2 Samuel, in the Historical, opens this verse with 5 words (4 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Barchumîy (“Barhumite”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “Barhumite” (Barchumîy) contribute to the verse as a whole?
This verse holds 1 word here found nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. What might the rare word draw attention to?
4 words here appear for the first time in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
2 Samuel 3:16 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
“Abialbon” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
Reading how Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.
4 words make their first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
This verse counts 5 Hebrew ↔ 7 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 3 words in this verse.
“Abialbon” occurs 2× in this single verse.