2 Kings 12:31
And bringing forth the people thereof he sawed them, and drove over them chariots armed with iron: and divided them with knives, and made them pass through brickkilns: so did he to all the cities of the children of Ammon: and David returned, with all the army to Jerusalem.
Open 2 Kings 12:31 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- populum quoque ejus adducens serravit, et circumegit super eos ferrata carpenta : divisitque cultris, et traduxit in typo laterum : sic fecit universis civitatibus filiorum Ammon. Et reversus est David et omnis exercitus in Jerusalem.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ τὸν λαὸν τὸν ὄντα ἐν αὐτῇ ἐξήγαγεν καὶ ἔθηκεν ἐν τῷ πρίονι καὶ ἐν τριβόλοις τοῖς σιδηροῖς καὶ διήγαγεν αὐτοὺς διὰ τοῦ πλινθείου· καὶ οὕτως ἐποίησεν πάσαις ταῖς πόλεσιν υἱῶν Ἀμμών. καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν Δαυεὶδ καὶ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς εἰς Ἰερουσαλήμ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְאֶת הָעָ֨ם אֲשֶׁר בָּ֜הּ הוֹצִ֗יא וַיָּ֣שֶׂם בַּ֠מְּגֵרָה וּבַחֲרִצֵ֨י הַבַּרְזֶ֜ל וּֽבְמַגְזְרֹ֣ת הַבַּרְזֶ֗ל וְהֶעֱבִ֤יר אוֹתָם֙ במלכן וְכֵ֣ן יַעֲשֶׂ֔ה לְכֹ֖ל עָרֵ֣י בְנֵֽי עַמּ֑וֹן וַיָּ֧שָׁב דָּוִ֛ד וְכָל הָעָ֖ם יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם
Haydock's commentary
Sawed. Hebrew, "he put them under saws, and under rollers of iron, and under knives," &c. (Haydock)
The Jews say that Isaias was killed by being sawed asunder; to which punishment St. Paul alludes, Hebrews xi. 37. (Menochius)
Brick-kilns, or furnaces, Psalm xx. 10. (Muis)
Daniel and his companions were thrown into the fiery furnace, Daniel iii. 6, 11., and Esther xiii. 7. (Calmet)
Some condemn David of excessive cruelty on this occasion. (Tirinus; Sanctius)
But the Scripture represents his conduct as irreproachable, except in the affair of Urias; (3 Kings xv. 5,) and at this distance of time, we know not the motives which might have actuated him to treat his enemy with such severity. The Ammonites had probably exercised similar cruelties on his subjects. See 1 Kings xi. 2., and Amos i. 13. (Calmet)
They had shamefully violated the law of nations, and had stirred up various kings against David. (Menochius)
Salien blames Joab for what may seem too cruel. But, though he was barbarous and vindictive, we need not condemn him on this occasion, no more than his master; as we are not to judge of former times by our own manners. (Haydock)
War was then carried on with great cruelty. (Calmet)
Where a note speaks of the Jewish people, the Church teaches that the Passion cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.