2 Samuel 10:6

That they stank (see notes on 1 Samuel 13:4 ; 1 Samuel 27:12 ). As the Hebrew literally means, had made themselves stink, the Revised Version rightly translates "had made themselves odious." The children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians. From 1 Chronicles 19:6 we learn that his mercenaries from Aram cost Hanun a thousand talents of silver, or nearly five hundred thousand pounds—a vast sum, especially considering the great relative value of silver in those days. The mercenaries, moreover, were gathered out of numerous districts of Aram—from Rehob, Zoba, Beth-Maacah, and Tob; the margin being right in rendering "the men of Tob," instead of "Ish-tob." So, too, the Revised Version, "The men of Tob twelve thousand men." It was to this land that Jephthah fled ( 11:3 ). The whole number of the allies was thirty-three thousand, with which total the parallel place agrees, as they are described there as "thirty-two thousand, and the King of Maacah and his people," who are here said to have been a thousand strong. The text, however, there must be corrupt, as it describes them all as horsemen (Authorized Version, "chariots;" 1 Chronicles 19:7 ); here footmen only are mentioned, with which the narrative agrees (see note on 1 Chronicles 19:18 ).