Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Chronicles 18:12 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 12. 12Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah slew of the Edomites in the valley of salt eighteen thousand.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Credits Abishai with eighteen thousand Edomite deaths in the Salt Valley.
Read It With
- 1 Chronicles 18:9–18:13
Credits Abishai with eighteen thousand Edomite deaths in the Salt Valley. Read 1 Chronicles 18:12 within 18:9–18:13. The complete unit records: Tou's son brings congratulatory vessels, David dedicates them with metals from conquered peoples, and Abishai's Edomite victory brings further subjection.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Temple wealth is explicitly connected to diplomacy and warfare, so later sacred splendor cannot be detached from acquisition. In this exact position, the line beginning “Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah slew of the Edomites in the valley of…” credits Abishai with eighteen thousand Edomite deaths in the Salt Valley.
Follow the Context
- Tou's son brings congratulatory vessels, David dedicates them with metals from conquered peoples, and Abishai's Edomite victory brings further subjection.
- Temple wealth is explicitly connected to diplomacy and warfare, so later sacred splendor cannot be detached from acquisition.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah slew of the Edomites in the valley of…”
In plain language: Credits Abishai with eighteen thousand Edomite deaths in the Salt Valley.
The line beginning “Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah slew of the Edomites in the valley of…” credits Abishai with eighteen thousand Edomite deaths in the Salt Valley.
Why it matters: The wording carries a material literary, historical, temple, royal-power, violence, ethnic, illness, gender, exile, reception, or misuse boundary.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
Dedication does not moralize spoil, excuse domination, or make subject peoples and their losses invisible.
What Remains True
Credits Abishai with eighteen thousand Edomite deaths in the Salt Valley. This concrete detail supports a bounded truth: Accounts of conflict must name agents, victims, land, loss, and literary judgment without converting ancient war into a modern command or ethnic hostility.
How It Can Shape Life
- Because this verse credits Abishai with eighteen thousand Edomite deaths in the Salt Valley, keep it inside 18:9–18:13, compare its Samuel-Kings relationship honestly, protect affected people from coercion or stigma, and apply only the accountable principle the complete unit supports.
Teach It Back
Explain why 1 Chronicles 18:12 credits Abishai with eighteen thousand Edomite deaths in the Salt Valley. Use 18:9–18:13, paraphrase “Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah slew of the Edomites in the valley of…,” state one source or reconstruction limit, identify one person or group power can obscure, and reject one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 1 Chronicles 18:9–18:13 — Diplomatic gifts and war spoil are dedicatedSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
1 Chronicles 18:12 remains within this thought-unit limit: The agent credited with the Edomite victory and the number slain differ among Samuel, Chronicles, Psalms, and witnesses; no silent harmonization is responsible.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 1 Chronicles 18:9–18:13, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Chronicles
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clauses, regnal formulas, temple vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Chr.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 18:9–18:13
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Full Notes: 1 Chronicles
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press; STEP Bible presentation, 2019 edition; current web presentation
Supports: Unit-bounded translation comparisons and only those lexical, textual, grammatical, numerical, historical, and parallel-passage notes attached to these verses.
Exact location: STEP Bible NET2full, 1 Chronicles 18:9–18:13, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗