1 Chronicles 14:14
◄  1 Chronicles 14:14  ►
New International Version (©2011)
so David inquired of God again, and God answered him, "Do not go directly after them, but circle around them and attack them in front of the poplar trees.

New Living Translation (©2007)
And once again David asked God what to do. "Do not attack them straight on," God replied. "Instead, circle around behind and attack them near the poplar trees.

English Standard Version (©2001)
And when David again inquired of God, God said to him, “You shall not go up after them; go around and come against them opposite the balsam trees.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
David inquired again of God, and God said to him, "You shall not go up after them; circle around behind them and come at them in front of the balsam trees.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Therefore David inquired again of God; and God said unto him, Go not up after them; turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
So David again inquired of God, and God answered him, "Do not pursue them directly. Circle around them and attack them opposite the balsam trees.

International Standard Version (©2012)
When David asked God about it, God told him, "Don't directly attack them. Instead, go around them and come up against them opposite those balsam trees.

NET Bible (©2006)
So David again asked God what he should do. This time God told him, "Don't march up after them; circle around them and come against them in front of the trees.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Once more David asked God. God answered him, "Don't go after them. Circle around, and come at them in front of the balsam trees.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
Therefore David inquired again of God; and God said unto him, Go not up after them; turn away from them, and come upon them opposite the balsam trees.

American King James Version
Therefore David inquired again of God; and God said to him, Go not up after them; turn away from them, and come on them over against the mulberry trees.

American Standard Version
And David inquired again of God; and God said unto him, Thou shalt not go up after them: turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry-trees.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And David consulted God again, and God said to him: Go not up after them, turn away from them, and come upon them over against the pear trees.

Darby Bible Translation
And David inquired again of God; and God said to him, Go not up after them; turn round them and come upon them opposite the mulberry-trees.

English Revised Version
And David inquired again of God; and God said unto him, Thou shalt not go up after them: turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.

Webster's Bible Translation
Therefore David inquired again of God: and God said to him, Go not up after them; turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.

World English Bible
David inquired again of God; and God said to him, "You shall not go up after them. Turn away from them, and come on them over against the mulberry trees.

Young's Literal Translation
and David asketh again of God, and God saith to him, 'Do not go up after them, turn round from them, and thou hast come to them from over-against the mulberries;

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:1-17 David's victories. - In this chapter we have an account of, 1. David's kingdom established. 2. His family built up. 3. His enemies defeated. This is repeated from 2Sa 5. Let the fame of David be looked upon as a type and figure of the exalted honour of the Son of David.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - Go not up after them; turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. The meaning of the directions as here given is sufficiently evident, yet it is somewhat more forcibly expressed in the parallel place, "Thou shalt not go up," i.e. "against the Philistines" (see our tenth verse, and note the form of David's inquiry); "but fetch a compass behind them." The mulberry trees were evidently behind the Philistines. The Hebrew word for the trees here spoken of is הַבְּכָאִים, and the correct rendering of it is probably neither "mulberry" nor, as the Septuagint and Vulgate translate, "pear" trees. But judging from the probable derivation (בָּכָה, to weep), they were trees of the balsam species, and it seems that this is as far as we can safely conjecture. One of the latest authorities (see Condor's 'Handbook to the Bible,' p. 398, 2nd edit.) pronounces it an "unknown species." The tree, strange to say, is only mentioned here and in the parallel place. A summary of opinions as to the tree intended may be found in Smith's 'Bible Dictionary,' 2:439, and this is just sufficient to show that it is not as yet identified with any semblance of certainty. However, it is easy to understand hew the balsam species, from which the exuding gum resembles "tears," might come by the name set forth in the present Hebrew root.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. Go not up after them—The text in 2Sa 5:23, more correctly has, "Go not up."

turn away from them—that is, by stealing round a baca-grove, come upon their rear.

1 Chronicles 14:14 Parallel Commentaries

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Two Victories over the Philistines
…13And the Philistines yet again spread themselves abroad in the valley. 14Therefore David inquired again of God; and God said to him, Go not up after them; turn away from them, and come on them over against the mulberry trees. 15And it shall be, when you shall hear a sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then you shall go out to battle: for God is gone forth before you to smite the host of the Philistines. …

2 Samuel 5:23 so David inquired of the LORD, and he answered, "Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the poplar trees.
1 Chronicles 14:13 Once more the Philistines raided the valley;
1 Chronicles 14:15 As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the poplar trees, move out to battle, because that will mean God has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army."