2 Samuel 18:16
◄  2 Samuel 18:16  ►
New International Version (©2011)
Then Joab sounded the trumpet, and the troops stopped pursuing Israel, for Joab halted them.

New Living Translation (©2007)
Then Joab blew the ram's horn, and his men returned from chasing the army of Israel.

English Standard Version (©2001)
Then Joab blew the trumpet, and the troops came back from pursuing Israel, for Joab restrained them.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Then Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing Israel, for Joab restrained the people.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel: for Joab held back the people.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
Afterward, Joab blew the ram's horn, and the troops broke off their pursuit of Israel because Joab restrained them.

International Standard Version (©2012)
At this, Joab sounded his battle trumpet and his troops stopped pursuing the other Israelis.

NET Bible (©2006)
Then Joab blew the trumpet and the army turned back from chasing Israel, for Joab had called for the army to halt.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Joab blew the ram's horn to stop their [fighting], and the troops returned from pursuing Israel.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel: for Joab held back the people.

American King James Version
And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel: for Joab held back the people.

American Standard Version
And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel; for Joab held back the people.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And Joab sounded the trumpet, and kept back the people from pursuing after Israel in their flight, being willing to spare the multitude.

Darby Bible Translation
And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel; for Joab kept back the people.

English Revised Version
And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel: for Joab held back the people.

Webster's Bible Translation
And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing Israel: for Joab restrained the people.

World English Bible
Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel; for Joab held back the people.

Young's Literal Translation
And Joab bloweth with a trumpet, and the people turneth back from pursuing after Israel, for Joab hath kept back the people;

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

18:9-18 Let young people look upon Absalom, hanging on a tree, accursed, forsaken of heaven and earth; there let them read the Lord's abhorrence of rebellion against parents. Nothing can preserve men from misery and contempt, but heavenly wisdom and the grace of God.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - Joab blew the trumpet. Stem and unscrupulous as he was, yet Joab is always statesmanlike. He had slain Absalom more for public than for private reasons, though he may have grimly remembered his own blazing barley field. But the rebellion being now crushed, further slaughter was impolitic, and would only cause sullen displeasure. The people, at the end of the verse, are those under Joab's command, and a translation proposed by some, "Joab wished to spare the people," is to be rejected.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Joab blew the trumpet,.... As the sign of a retreat:

and the people returned from pursuing after Israel; upon the sound of the trumpet, the meaning of which they understood:

for Joab held back the people: from shedding any more blood; the head of the conspiracy being removed, the thing would be crushed at once; and Joab neither chose to slay any more, nor take any prisoners, to be tried as traitors, being unawares, without thought, drawn into this rebellion.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. Joab blew the trumpet, … and held back the people—Knowing that by the death of the usurper there was no occasion for further bloodshed, he put an end to the pursuit and thereby evinced the temperate policy of his conduct. However harsh and unfeeling to the king Joab may appear, there can be no doubt that he acted the part of a wise statesman in regarding the peace and welfare of the kingdom more than his master's private inclinations, which were opposed to strict justice as well as his own interests. Absalom deserved to die by the divine law (De 21:18, 21), as well as being an enemy to his king and country; and no time was more fitting than when he met that death in open battle.

2 Samuel 18:16 Parallel Commentaries

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Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible


Absalom Killed
…15And ten young men that bore Joab's armor compassed about and smote Absalom, and slew him. 16And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel: for Joab held back the people. 17And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones on him: and all Israel fled every one to his tent.

2 Samuel 2:28 So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the troops came to a halt; they no longer pursued Israel, nor did they fight anymore.
2 Samuel 18:15 And ten of Joab's armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him.
2 Samuel 20:22 Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bikri and threw it to Joab. So he sounded the trumpet, and his men dispersed from the city, each returning to his home. And Joab went back to the king in Jerusalem.