¹⁷ When David was informed of this, he assembled all of the forces of Israel, crossed the Jordan, and advanced to Helam. The Arameans then drew up in battle formation against David and fought with him. ¹⁸ However, they were compelled to flee from the Israelite forces. David’s men killed seven hundred Arameans in chariots and forty thousand foot soldiers. In addition, Sho-bach, the general of their army, was seriously wounded, and he died on the battlefield.

¹⁹ When all of the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer realized that they had been defeated by Israel, they sued for peace with the Israelites and became their subjects. As a result, the Arameans were afraid to give any further help to the Ammonites.