A frequent misinterpretation portrays David as personally hating and devaluing the physically disabled, commanding their slaughter as unworthy, whereas the lame and blind specifically denote the arrogant Jebusite foes using hyperbolic taunts about their weakness; another error views the gutter as a filthy sewer implying sordid tactics, when it was a defensible water conduit exploited for surprise attack, and the phrase became a proverb echoed later but not a universal ban on the disabled entering sacred spaces.
II Samuel 5:8
King James Version (1769)
8 And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David’s soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.
This passage recounts David's strategic command during the conquest of Jerusalem from the Jebusites, motivating his warriors to scale the city's water shaft to defeat even its most vulnerable defenders who had mockingly claimed the blind and lame could repel him, illustrating David's bold leadership, reliance on divine promise for victory, and the establishment of Zion as his capital, marking a pivotal step in God's fulfillment of establishing David's kingdom.