Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Chronicles 11:21

"Of the three, he was more honorable than the two, and was made their captain: howbeit he attained not to the [first] three." — 1 Chronicles 11:21 (ASV)

Of the three, he was more honourable than the two. —The Hebrew text here varies from Samuel, which has, “Above (or out of) the three, was he not honored?” The reading of Chronicles seems to be an exegetical alteration of this, and should probably be translated, “Above the three of the second rank he was honored,” that is, he was the most honored member of the second triad. So the Vulgate, et inter tres secundos inclitus. The Septuagint has ἀπὸ τῶν τριῶν ὑπὲρ δύο ένδοξος (“Of the three, renowned above the two”). But the Hebrew expression, which literally means “in the two,” seems plainly to indicate a second group of three. Otherwise, we might translate: “Of the three he was honored among the two,” that is, above the other two members of his triad. Both here and in 1 Chronicles 11:20, the Syriac reads thirty instead of three: “Above the thirty he was honored, and he became chief over them and warlike; the thirty he used to make” (1 Chronicles 11:21). The Arabic is more correct: “And he was mightier than the two, and chief over them two, and he did not come to the three.”

Howbeit he attained not ... —Literally, but to the three he came not, that is, the first triad of warriors (1 Chronicles 11:11–14).