1 Chronicles 19

¹ In the course of time, Nahash king of the Ammonites died, and his son succeeded him.

² David thought, 'I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.' So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun about his father. When David's servants arrived in the land of the Ammonites to comfort Hanun,

³ the Ammonite commanders said to Hanun, 'Do you think David is honoring your father by sending comforters to you? Haven't his servants come to you to explore and spy out the country so they can overthrow it?'

⁴ So Hanun seized David's servants, shaved them, cut off their garments at the buttocks, and sent them away.

⁵ When someone came and told David about the men, he sent messengers to meet them, for they were deeply humiliated. The king said, 'Stay at Jericho until your beards have grown back, and then return.'

⁶ When the Ammonites realized they had become obnoxious to David, Hanun and the Ammonites sent a thousand talents of silver to hire chariots and charioteers from Aram Naharaim, Aram Maakah and Zobah.

⁷ They hired thirty-two thousand chariots and the king of Maakah with his troops, who came and camped near Medeba. The Ammonites also mustered from their towns and came to fight.

⁸ When David heard about this, he sent Joab and the entire army of fighting men.

⁹ The Ammonites came out and drew up in battle formation at the entrance to their city, while the kings who had come were by themselves in the open country.

¹⁰ Joab saw that there were battle lines in front of him and behind him; so he selected some of the best troops in Israel and deployed them against the Arameans.

¹¹ The rest of the men he put under the command of Abishai his brother, and they were deployed against the Ammonites.

¹² Joab said, 'If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you come to my rescue; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will rescue you.'

¹³ 'Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The LORD will do what is good in his sight.'

¹⁴ Then Joab and the troops with him advanced to fight the Arameans, and they fled before him.

¹⁵ When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans were fleeing, they too fled before his brother Abishai and went inside the city. So Joab went to Jerusalem.

¹⁶ When the Arameans saw that they had been routed by Israel, they sent messengers to bring out the Arameans who were beyond the Euphrates River, with Shophach the commander of Hadadezer's army leading them.

¹⁷ When David was told of this, he gathered all Israel and crossed the Jordan; he advanced against them and formed his battle lines opposite them. David formed his lines to meet the Arameans in battle, and they fought against him.

¹⁸ But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven thousand of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers. He also killed Shophach the commander of their army.

¹⁹ When the servants of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became subject to him. After this, the Arameans refused to help the Ammonites anymore.