2 Samuel 11:22

The Sept. reads this verse as follows: "And Joab's messenger went to the king to Jerusalem. And he came and told David all that Joab had told him, even all the things concerning the war. And David was wroth with Joab, and said unto the messenger, Wherefore did ye approach unto the city to fight? Knew ye not that ye would be struck from the wall? Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal? Did not a woman cast upon him a piece of a millstone from the wall, and he died in Thebez? Wherefore did ye approach unto the wall?" Such a repetition may have formed part of the original text. But it is somewhat strange that Joab should anticipate the illustration which the king would use: and it is possible that the reference to Abimelech originally occurred in David's speech only, and was transferred by mistake to that of Joab also, and finally in the revision of the Hebrew text omitted in the second place, instead of in the first, as it should have been.