1 Chronicles 18:2

Brought gifts ; i.e. in the light of tribute and of acknowledgment of subjection. There are curious additions to this passage in the parallel place, telling the punishment inflicted on Moab: "He smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground [ i.e. causing them to lie prostrate ]; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive." This appears to mean that he put to death two parts of them, and kept the third part alive. The reason of this deliberate and severe punishment is not stated. Once David and the Moabites had been on very different terms ( 1 Samuel 22:3 , 1 Samuel 22:4 ; but see also Psalms 60:8 ).