Discrepancies In Numbers

And the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew [the men of] seven hundred chariots of the Syrians, and forty thousand horsemen, and smote Shobach the captain of their host, who died there. (2 Samuel 10:18) But the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew of the Syrians seven thousand [men which fought in] chariots, and forty thousand footmen, and killed Shophach the captain of the host. (1 Chronicles 19:18)

Differences of the type above, where an Old Testament passage may record 700 Syrians and a parallel passage on the other hand gives us 7,000 Syrians are the result of transcription errors — mistakes that occurred by the copyists.

Other examples of this type can be seen when we compare:

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Author: Philip P. Kapusta

Keywords: Discrepancies, Number discrepancies, Number errors, Errors, Errors in the Bible, Bible errors, Bible discrepancies

Bible reference(s): 2 Kings 8:26, 2 Chronicles 22:2, 2 Samuel 10:18, 1 Chronicles 19:18, 2 Samuel 8:4, 1 Chronicles 18:4, 1 Kings 4:26, 2 Chronicles 9:25

Source: Philip P. Kapusta

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