2nd Samuel Chapter 18 verse 23 Holy Bible
But come what may, `said he', I will run. And he said unto him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and outran the Cushite.
read chapter 18 in ASV
Whatever may come of it, he said, I will go. Then he said to him, Go. So Ahimaaz went running by the lowland road and overtook the Cushite.
read chapter 18 in BBE
-- But, come what may, let me run. And he said to him, Run. And Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and outstripped the Cushite.
read chapter 18 in DARBY
But howsoever, said he, let me run. And he said unto him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and overran Cushy.
read chapter 18 in KJV
But however, said he, let me run. And he said to him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and outran Cushi.
read chapter 18 in WBT
But come what may, [said he], I will run. He said to him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and outran the Cushite.
read chapter 18 in WEB
`And, whatever it be, `said he,' let me run.' And he saith to him, `Run;' and Ahimaaz runneth the way of the circuit, and passeth by the Cushite.
read chapter 18 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 23. - Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain; Hebrew, the kikkar, or Jordan valley. The battle, as we saw in ver. 6, was fought on the eastern side of the river, and Absalom's army, in their flight, would endeavour to reach the fords of the Jordan (comp. Judges 12:5); and probably Joab had pursued them for some distance before the man found in the thicket the body of the unfortunate Absalom. The large slaughter of twenty thousand men (ver. 7) proves that the defeated rebels were vigorously followed. In carrying the news he evidently went back by the route which the troops had followed; while Ahimaaz took a longer course to the west, but one that avoided the tangles and the deep defiles of the forest. Strictly, the Kikkar, as we have seen, was the name of the Jordan valley near Jericho; but it was probably applicable also to the same sort of formation further north. On approaching Mahanaim, Ahimaaz would strike inland, and the two routes would join one another; and one reason which made Ahimaaz go more to the west was that he did net wish the Cushite to know that he had a rival. He would thus go at a steady pace, picking his way through the forest, while Ahimaaz was using his utmost speed.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(23) By the way of the plain.--The word used here is generally applied to the valley of the Jordan and hence it has been argued that the battle could not have been fought on the eastern side of the river, since, in that case, Ahimaaz could not have reached Mahanaim by the Jordan valley except by a long and tedious detour. But the word simply means circuit, or surrounding country, and is used in Nehemiah 12:28 for the country about Jerusalem. Here it means that Ahimaaz ran "by the way of the circuit," i.e., in all probability, by a longer but smoother road than that taken by the Cushite, so that he was able to outrun him.
