As soon as they heard of me they offered me obedience,

Strangers came cringing unto me.

At the mere report of David's victories foreign nations offered their allegiance, as for example Toi of Hamath. See 2 Samuel 8:9 ff. The word rendered submit themselves, marg. yield feigned obedience, denotes originally the unwilling homage paid by the vanquished to their conqueror. Cp. Deuteronomy 33:29; Psalms 66:3; Psalms 81:15.

In 2 Sam. the order of the clauses is inverted.

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