I found contradictions in the bible 1 !?

Question

Would you please explain me why those contradictions :

II Samuel 8:4.
And David took from him a thousand chariots and seven hundred horseman, and twenty thousand footmen…

I Chronicles 18:4.
And David took from him a thousand chariots and seven thousand horseman, and twenty thousand footmen.

Question: Was it Seven hundred or Seven thousand????
Which is correct????

Answer 1

It is mentioned in the 2nd Kings, Chapter No.8, Verse No.26, it says that… ‘Ahezia… that Ahezia, he was 22 years old, when he began to reign.’ 2nd Chronicles, Chapter No. 22, Verse No. 2, says that… ‘He was 42 years old, when he began to reign. Was he 22 years old, or was he 42 years old? - Mathematical contradiction.

Further more, in 2nd Chronicles, Chapter No. 21, Verse No. 20, it says that… ‘Joaram, the father of Ahezia, he reigned at the age of 32 - and he reigned for 8 years, and he died at the age of 40. Immediately… Ahezia became the next ruler at the age of 42. Father died at the age of 40 - Immediately son takes over, who is at the age of 42. How can a son, be two years older than the father?’

Believe me even... even in Hollywood film, you will not be able to produce it.





There are more then 10000+ contradictions in the bible thats why we bealive that Bible is not word of GOD beacuse God cant make mistake.

Answer 2

Once again you misquoted the Bible.

From Biblegateway.org
2 Samuel 8:4

4 David captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand charioteers [a] and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He hamstrung all but a hundred of the chariot horses.

1 Chronicles 18:4

4 David captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand charioteers and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He hamstrung all but a hundred of the chariot horses.


So the answer is 7,000, not 700.

Two times you've misquoted the Bible!

Answer 3

In my NAB Bible, it says:

2 Samuel 8:4 - "David captured from him 1700 horsemen & 20,000 foot soliders."

1 Chronicles 18:4 - "David took from him 20,000 foot soliders, 1000 chariots and 7000 horsemen."

I don't know why the large difference in the number of horsemen. Now you peaked my curiousity. I will look at this and ask my friend that is a biblical scholar and let you know.

Answer 4

Do consider when reading or studying the Bible, that it is a book that has been translated by many different people. And it was also written by many different people. You will find different accounts of the same story, and different wording for the same sentence, etc...What really matters about the Bible however is the message behind the material that you read. You did not mention why you are reading the BIble. Are you studying it as a personal task or as an assignment?

Answer 5

In my new international version . Both passages you mention say the exact same thing. "David captured 1000 chariots and 7000 charioteers and 20 thousand foot soldiers. he hamstrung all but 100 of the chariot horses."

What your bible calls horsemen mine calls charioteers. those who ride the chariots. I would think that it would be pretty weird to catch more chariots than riders.

Answer 6

Congratulations...I seen literally hundreds of postings of so-called "discrepancies" and this is the first one that has any actual merit (though only in relation to modern translations, not the original word of God)....

The Masoretic text indicates 1,700 horseman here in both verses...this seems to be an extremely rare case of where a scribe made an error when translating it - for instance in the case of the NIV.....though this does not undermine the integrity of the original manuscript of God's word....

Answer 7

If this is the beginning of your exploration of the Bible you are certainly interested in knowing what you read is credible. You will find more than one contradiction in the Bible, I have found numerical contradiction in modern newspaper reports - on the same page, and we have editors these days.

The Bible and the historical data recorded therein was written by different authors and like any other story told by more than one person, you will get different facts. Ask police officer who take the statements of more than one witness to the same crime. The details may vary greatly.

The truths written in the Bible have stood the test of time. Read the Bible the word of God spoken through his people. There are many profound messages you will miss if you focus on factual contradictions.

Answer 8

There are more than that. Try reading the first couple of chapters of Genesis, and you will see that there are two separate (and different) accounts of creation. The Apostle Paul both advocated marriage and the single life in different parts of the New Testament. Plural marriage was both permissible and abominable. The list goes on and on.

There is a book called 'everything you need to know about the bible'. It is very informative. It is neither condemning nor praising the bible, just presenting evidence and letting it speak for itself.

Answer 9

It depends on who's doing the counting. The writer of Samuel was not as devout as the priests who wrote Chronicles. The priests like their David to look as good as possible. (You may also note that the Bathsheba story appears in Samuel, NOT in Chronicles.)

Answer 10

Who cares.

It is different because a different person wrote different parts of the bible. It is a collection of letters from different individuals who are considered saints. So you may see little insignificant contradictions. What gets me is the very huge contradictions and the way some people accept one thing and forget about other things.