Sometimes, there are numerical and mathematical discrepancies between Bible translations. For example, in 2 Samuel 15:7, Absalom plotted his coup against David’s kingdom for 40 years in some translations, but for four years in other translations. What do we do about those? 

The 40-year translation originates from the Masoretic text (Hebrew) and is reflected in translations such as the King James Version (KJV). At the same time, the four years appear in translations of the Greek Septuagint. The Masoretic Text dates back to around 1000 AD, whereas the Greek Septuagint and other texts, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, originate from around 400 BC. These are different translations of the Old Testament that diverge in varying places. More on those two manuscripts here.

2 Sam 15:7 (KJV) Now it came to pass after forty years that Absalom said to the king, “Please, let me go to Hebron and pay the vow which I made to the LORD.

2 Sam 15:7 (NLT) After four years, Absalom said to the king, “Let me go to Hebron to offer a sacrifice to the LORD and fulfill a vow I made to him.

The KJV uses the Masoretic Text, while the NTL uses the Greek Septuagint. Which version is correct?

The Backstory:
Amnon and Absalom were both sons of David, born to different mothers (David had around eight wives that we know of), and Absalom had a younger sister named Tamar. Amnon raped Tamar and Absalom was angry about it and David did nothing. Two years after Tamar was raped, Absalom killed Amnon and fled to his maternal grandfather’s kingdom om Geshur. He stayed there for three years (2 Samuel 13). Then, after that, David allowed Absalom to return. Still, David put him under house arrest and refused to see him for two years (2 Samuel 14). Absalom campaigns to start a coup against David, and he does this for either four or forty years, according to 2 Samuel 15.

David married Absalom’s mom, the daughter of the King of Geshur, in 2 Samuel 3:3. Since she was a foreign king’s daughter, this was likely a treaty marriage, which makes sense only if David was already king when he married her, which would have been around the start of his reign in Judah. This means at the max Absalom was born at the beginning of King David’s reign when David was 30, and he reigned for 40 years total so he died at age 70 (2 Samuel 5:4). Absalom could not have sought revenge by murdering his half-brother for his sisters rape as a baby. Absalom, Tamar, and Amnon were all adults of marital age when the rape occurred. Furthermore, Absalom couldn’t have plotted against David for 40 years since David only reigned for 40 years (2 Sam 5:4-5), and Absalom was born no earlier than the beginning of his reign in Judah. 

Therefore, either the four years from the Greek Septuagint are correct, while the Masoretic Text is incorrect, or the 40 years from the Masoretic Text applies to something else. Perhaps it has been 40 years since God anointed David (when King Saul was still king). Or 40 years of the people’s love for David since he slew Goliath, until Absalom turned them against David. It could also have been 40 years since the time David defeated the Geshurites (again during the reign of Saul, long before David became king). Absalom’s mother was the daughter of the King of Geshur, so this could be about the breaking of a 40-year-old peace treaty made with the Geshurites. Absalom said he was going to fulfill a vow that he had taken while he was in Geshur (his grandfather’s kingdom); perhaps that was a vow of revenge, motivated by his grandfather’s and mother’s influence, fueled by his scorn for David for his lack of interest in justice for Tamar.

Other places in the Bible may contain some possible transmission errors, resulting in numerical discrepancies. One example is Numbers 3:28, which includes discrepancies in the number of firstborn Kohathites counted. Some translations report 8,600 people, while others report 8,300 people. 8,300 is the correct answer, as the total number of firstborns from all three Levite clans is 22,000 (Num 3:39), which is derived from the sum of the numbers of Merarites (6,200) and Gershonites (7,500) added to the Kohathites. As we can see here: 8,300 + 7,500 + 6,200 = 22,000, the Masoretic text adds an extra 300 to the Kohathites, while the Greek text states 8,300.

A similar discrepancy also exists for the reign of King Saul. 1 Samuel 31:1 says that Saul reigned for two years in some translations, while it says he reigned for 42 years in others. Meanwhile, in Acts 13:21, Paul says that Saul reigned for 40 years. What is happening here?

1 Samuel 13:1 (KJV) Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,

1 Samuel 13:1 (NLT) Saul was thirty years old [this age is only mentioned in the Greek manuscripts] when he became king, and he reigned for forty-two years.

Which version is correct? The solution to this is simple: we should start by just reading a few more verses.
1 Sam 31:1 (KJV) Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, 2 Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in mount Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin: and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent. 3 And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear. 4 And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel also was had in abomination with the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal.

1 Sam 13:1 (NLT) Saul was thirty years old [this age is only mentioned in the Greek manuscripts] when he became king, and he reigned for forty-two years. 2 Saul selected 3,000 special troops from the army of Israel and sent the rest of the men home. He took 2,000 of the chosen men with him to Micmash and the hill country of Bethel. The other 1,000 went with Saul’s son Jonathan to Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. 3 Soon after this, Jonathan attacked and defeated the garrison of Philistines at Geba. 4 All Israel heard the news that Saul had destroyed the Philistine garrison at Geba and that the Philistines now hated the Israelites more than ever. So, the entire Israelite army was summoned to join Saul at Gilgal.

In the KJV, that first verse ends with a comma, so it continues directly into the next verse. That means the “two years” is a timestamp in the history of Saul’s reign. Saul was anointed king and then spent two years building his army, and then he initiated war with Israel’s Philistine oppressors. The NLT translation provides the total number of years for Saul’s reign, combining the first two years he spent transitioning Israel into a monarchy and the subsequent 40 years during which he committed actions as the king of Israel. This war with the Philistines was his first act as king, marking the beginning of a 40-year period. He reigned for a total of 42 years. The distinction between the first two years and the 40 is important because it explains Acts 13:21.

Acts 13:21 (NLT) Then the people begged for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years.

All translations agree on this passage, and since it is from the New Testament, the distinction between the Greek Septuagint and Masoretic texts does not directly apply. However, according to the Greek manuscript of 1 Sam 31:1, Saul’s total number of years is 42, so these 40 years would have been separated by the initiation of his war with the Philistines. Note: The Septuagint says Saul became king around age 30, but the Masoretic doesn’t mention his age at all. This doesn’t matter since the age is irrelevant, but I’m pointing it out as another distinction.

My rule for discrepancies like this between manuscripts that involve numbers is that, since math doesn’t lie, go with whichever numbers are mathematically correct. However, this logic only applies in cases where one number in a math equation is the discrepancy; what about in cases where the lack of information or assignment of the numbers is an issue? 

Example: According to 2 Samuel 2:10, Ishbosheth reigned for two years, whereas David reigned in Hebron as King of Judah for seven and a half years (2 Samuel 5:4-5). David became king of Judah after King Saul’s death (2 Sam 2:4). He became King of Israel after Ishbosheth died (2 Sam 5:3), so how could he have been the king of Judah for seven and a half years if he was made king of Israel after Ishbosheth died, and Ishbosheth only reigned for two years?

Maybe David and Ishbosheth didn’t become kings at the same time, and Ishbosheth was king for the last two years of David’s seven-year reign in Hebron? Sounds nice, but it’s not what happened. David and Ishbosheth became kings around the same time. After hearing about Saul’s death in 1 Samuel 31, David moved from Ziklag in Philistia back to Hebron in Judah (2 Samuel 2:1-3). Then David was anointed king by the tribe of Judah, and he asked Israel to be their king as well.

2 Sam 2: (NLT) 4 Then the men of Judah came to David and anointed him king over the people of Judah. When David heard that the men of Jabesh-gilead had buried Saul, five he sent them this message: “May the Lord bless you for being so loyal to your master, Saul, and giving him a decent burial. 6 May the Lord be loyal to you in return and reward you with his unfailing love! And I, too, will reward you for what you have done. 7 Now that Saul is dead, I ask you to be my strong and loyal subjects like the people of Judah, who have anointed me as their new king.”

However, Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, was just made king in Gilead:
2 Sam 2:8 But Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, had already gone to Mahanaim with Saul’s son Ishbosheth. 9 There he proclaimed Ishbosheth king over Gilead, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, the land of the Ashurites, and all the rest of Israel. 10 Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he became king, and he ruled from Mahanaim for two years. Meanwhile, the people of Judah remained loyal to David. 11 David made Hebron his capital, and he ruled as king of Judah for seven and a half years. 

Let’s take another look at 2 Sam 5:4-5:
2 Sam 5:4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in all. 5 He had reigned over Judah from Hebron for seven years and six months, and from Jerusalem, he reigned over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years.

Notice that it says David reigned from “Hebron” for seven and a half years and from “Jerusalem” for 33 years. David didn’t just move to Jerusalem as soon as Israel made him king; he had to conquer Jerusalem and take it from the Jebusites, and this would have taken time. This is explained in the next few verses.

2 Sam 5:6 David then led his men to Jerusalem to fight against the Jebusites, the original inhabitants of the land who were living there. The Jebusites taunted David, saying, “You’ll never get in here! Even the blind and lame could keep you out!” For the Jebusites thought they were safe. 7 But David captured the fortress of Zion, which is now called the City of David. 8 On the day of the attack, David said to his troops, “I hate those ‘lame’ and ‘blind’ Jebusites. Whoever attacks them should strike by going into the city through the water tunnel.” That is the origin of the saying, “The blind and the lame may not enter the house.” 9 So David made the fortress his home, and he called it the City of David. He extended the city, starting at the supporting terraces and working inward. 10 And David became more and more powerful, because the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies was with him.

The solution here is that David and Ishbosheth became kings simultaneously after Saul’s death, and when Ishbosheth was killed two years later, David was accepted as king by Israel. However, he was still in Hebron and had to conquer Jerusalem before he could rule from it. This conquest would have taken time, and based on the numbers we have, it would have taken approximately five and a half years (7.5 – 2 = 5.5 years). Before conquering Jerusalem, David was an honorary king over Israel, but this title was not officially recognized until after he had conquered the city. The text doesn’t directly provide a time frame, but this unknown variable fits into our equation, which subtracts two years from the seven years of David’s reign over Judah from Hebron. Therefore, even though the last five years of his seven-year rule in Hebron as King of Judah were after Ishbosheth’s death, they occurred before he conquered and moved to the new capital, Jerusalem, the “City of David,” and established himself formally as King of all Israel.

Another conflict regarding the reign of Saul exists concerning the length of time he reigned after Samuel’s death. Jews from the 1st century, like Paul in Acts 13:21 and the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, believed that Saul reigned for 40 years. However, Josephus suggests (Antiquities, Book 6, Chapter 14, Section 9) that Saul reigned 18 years while Samuel was alive, and for another 22 years after Samuel’s death. 

Since David was made King at the age of 30 when Saul died, that would mean David was eight years old (30 – 22 years) when Samuel died. Eight years old seems a little young for the events that occur in David’s life up until Samuel’s death. Saul gave David his daughter Michal as a wife after David killed 100 Philistines. Even though his military victories are the result of God’s grace in slaying Goliath (1 Sam ch. 17) and later 200 Philistines (1 Sam 18:27), marriage seems unlikely for a male younger than 12-13 years old. In addition, why would Johnathan, who would have been at least 20 (old enough to be drafted in the army), want to be best friends with an 8-year-old (1 Sam 18:1-4)?

Additionally, we know he had a beard, as mentioned in 1 Samuel 21:13, which is when he first fled Saul, who was jealous of him and attempted to kill him. He pretended to be an insane man (drooling on his beard) because the Philistines recognized him as the one who slew Goliath. This is in addition to David talking about the sexual/ritual purity of his soldiers when being offered the Presence Bread in 1 Samuel 21:1-6. I don’t imagine these things applying to an eight-year-old.

Alternatively, some scholars suggest Saul probably reigned for two years after the death of Samuel. The thought is that Saul started chasing David again around eight months after Samuel died. In 1 Samuel 25:26-27, David and his men fled from Saul and hid in Ziklag (in Philistia) for 16 months (1 Sam 27:7). This totals two years (8 + 16 = 24 months). Then, after Saul’s death, David returned to Judah (2 Sam 2:1) and became king at the age of 30. It appears that the Bible itself doesn’t agree with what Josephus wrote about the length of Saul’s reign before and after Samuel’s death, or even how old Saul was when Samuel died, so those numbers can be adjusted as long as the endpoints of that time frame line up. Eight years old is too young to have a beard, be married, be a leader of grown men, and even instruct them on ritual purity and sex practices. Therefore, a distribution of 18 and then 22 doesn’t seem correct, and since the Bible doesn’t specify it, we don’t need to accept it. Saul’s reign lasting two more years (or anything less than 15 years) after Samuel’s death seems more reasonable to me since David would be at least 13 years old (if Saul lived another 15 years after Samuel’s death) when he slew Goliath.

Some numeric discrepancies between the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text, such as the ages of the patriarchs between Noah and Abraham (Gen. ch. 5 and 11), are still debated since we lack a third source to confirm them. The Dead Sea Scrolls don’t have this part of Genesis, and the New Testament doesn’t directly quote from it. Although the genealogy of Luke 3:35-36 contains unique elements only found in the Septuagint version of Genesis 11. This and other scriptural references to the Old Testament suggest that the New Testament favors the Septuagint manuscript of the Old Testament. However, the pro-Masoretic camp has suggested that New Testament copyists referenced the Septuagint for Old Testament quotes because Greek was the business language of the day, and most 1st-century Jews were only using the Greek text. Until we obtain a third witness or receive a direct revelation from God, the debate will continue over those chapters. In the meantime, we can use the clues we are given to solve the simpler discrepancies.

Some issues, such as those in Numbers 3:28, can arise from copy errors or damage caused by the wear and tear of manuscripts. Numbers 3:28 has 8,600 Korathites in the Masoretic text and 8,300 in the Septuagint. One possibility is that one letter was misinterpreted as another because the ink faded in certain areas. The Hebrew number system uses Hebrew letters via the gematria system. In Gematria, each Hebrew letter has a numerical value. In Hebrew, the difference between the letter gimel (ג‎), which has a value of three, and vav (ו‎), which has a value of six, is that gimel has a horizontal serif at the top and a diagonal line at the bottom (like the English letter “R”). If the two marks are missing, then the gimel may resemble a vav, and this could be the reason it was translated as a “6,” resulting in 8,300 being incorrectly translated as 8,600. This is one idea, but there could be various reasons for it. Ultimately, we have the older Septuagint manuscript, which reveals the correct version.

These discrepancies don’t devalue the word of God as truth. It simply reminds us that while God is perfect, humans are imperfect and live in an imperfect world that causes decay. Despite mistranslations and copyist errors here and there, God has made it possible for us to have multiple manuscripts to correct any errors that may arise. So when one manuscript gets something wrong, two others will get that thing right. Truth is determined by the word of two or three witnesses (Deut 19:15, 2 Cor 13:1), and these manuscripts function as “witnesses”. It appears that God has built a self-correction mechanism to address any issues that have occurred over the years. In addition, sometimes interpretation is the issue rather than what is written, so it’s essential to think more deeply about what we are reading and how it all fits together contextually. 

An overview of the Saul vs David story:
Samuel is the prophet who initially anointed Saul as king (1 Sam ch. 10). Saul failed to keep God’s instruction so then God had Samuel anoint David as King (1 Sam ch .16). David becomes popular after slaying Goliath and Saul became jealous and persecuted David (1 Sam ch. 18-24). Saul makes peace with David after he spares his life in 1 Samuel 24, and in the next chapter, Samuel dies (1 Sam 25:1). The rest of chapter 25 is about David marrying Abigail, the widow of Nabal. In chapter 26, Saul breaks his promise and goes after David again. David spares his life again, and Saul promises to leave him alone. In chapter 27, David doesn’t take any chances and then seeks refuge amongst the Philistines, Israel’s enemies, under the guise of being a defector. King Achish gave David and his men the city of Ziklag to stay in with their families. 1 Samuel 27:7 says they lived in Ziklag for a year and four months (16 months). They didn’t leave until after Saul died, when the Philistines defeated him in 1 Samuel 31 (2 Samuel chapters 1-2). In 2 Samuel 2, David is made king over the tribe of Judah, and Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, is made king of Israel. David reigned as king of Judah for 7 years and then became king of Israel, reining for 33 years, making his total reign 40 years (2 Sam 5:4-5). When Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, was killed in a coup, David was named King, and then conquered and moved to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 4).

David King of Judah:
During the seven years David reigned in Judah, he and Ishbosheth had a civil war, and David’s side was gaining the upper hand. In 2 Samuel 3, Ishbosheth becomes embroiled in an argument with his adviser Abner over one of Saul’s concubines, and Abner defects, choosing to make peace with David. David agreed to negotiate if his first wife, Michal, the daughter of Saul, was returned to him. She was given away to another man by Saul when David first fled from him (1 Sam 25:44). Abner agreed, and Ishbosheth gave her back. At this point, David had a total of seven wives. His six other wives included the two he acquired after Samuel died (1 Sam 25:39-43) and the four he acquired as king of Judah (2 Sam 3:2-5). Just as Abner was going to consult with the elders of Israel to turn on Ishbosheth, he was killed by David’s right-hand man Joab (Sam 3:22-30) out of revenge for his brother Asahel, who was killed in a battle between Israel and Judah (2 Sam 2:18-32). David was furious because they had just brokered peace (2 Sam 3:31-39). Meanwhile, the people on Ishbosheth’s side were disheartened, and two of them killed Ishbosheth (2 Samuel 4). Afterward, since they now had no king, Israel agreed to be subject to David (2 Samuel chapter 5).

Resources:
Various translations of 2 Sam 15:7
Various translations of 1 Sam 13:1
Comments on Acts 13:21