2 Samuel 5:23

Thou shalt not go up The addition of the Sept. "to meet them" is needed to complete the sense. This answer implies the same question as in 2 Samuel 5:19.

fetch a compass behind them Go round to their rear. "Compass" in old English means "circuit;" and "to fetch a compass" means "to make a circuit or detour," "to go round."

In Chron. the same manœuvre is described in different words: "Go not after them: turn away from them and come upon them," &c.

mulberry trees So the Jewish commentators explain the word bâcâwhich is found only here and in the parallel passage of Chronicles. Probably however a tree called bâcâby the Arabs, resembling the balsam shrub, is meant. The name is derived from bâcâh, "to weep," from the tear-like sap which exudes when a leaf is torn off. "The valley of Baca" (Psalms 84:6) may have been named from these trees, and the Psalmist refers to it with a play upon its etymological significance, "valley of weeping."