¹⁸ Then on the seventh day it came to pass that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, “Indeed, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not heed our voice. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He may do some harm!”

¹⁹ When David saw that his servants were whispering, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?”

And they said, “He is dead.”

²⁰ So David arose from the ground, washed and ^(A)anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the Lord and ^(B)worshiped. Then he went to his own house; and when he requested, they set food before him, and he ate. ²¹ Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food.”

²² And he said, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; ^(C)for I said, ‘Who can tell whether ^[a]the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ ²³ But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go ^(D)to him, but ^(E)he shall not return to me.”

Rabbah Is Captured^(A)

²⁶ Now ^(B)Joab fought against ^(C)Rabbah of the people of Ammon, and took the royal city. ²⁷ And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, “I have fought against Rabbah, and I have taken the city’s water supply. ²⁸ Now therefore, gather the rest of the people together and encamp against the city and take it, lest I take the city and it be called after my name.” ²⁹ So David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah, fought against it, and took it. ^30 (D)Then he took their king’s crown from his head. Its weight was a talent of gold, with precious stones. And it was set on David’s head. Also he brought out the ^[a]spoil of the city in great abundance. ³¹ And he brought out the people who were in it, and put them to work with saws and iron picks and iron axes, and made them cross over to the brick works. So he did to all the cities of the people of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

² Then ^(A)he defeated Moab. Forcing them down to the ground, he measured them off with a line. With two lines he measured off those to be put to death, and with one full line those to be kept alive. So the Moabites became David’s ^(B)servants, and ^(C)brought tribute.

³ David also defeated Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of ^(D)Zobah, as he went to recover ^(E)his territory at the River Euphrates. ⁴ David took from him one thousand chariots, ^[a]seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. Also David ^(F)hamstrung all the chariot horses, except that he spared enough of them for one hundred chariots.

⁷ And David took ^(A)the shields of gold that had belonged to the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ Also from ^[a]Betah and from ^(B)Berothai,^[b] cities of Hadadezer, King David took a large amount of bronze.

^5 (A)When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand of the Syrians. ⁶ Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became David’s servants, and brought tribute. So ^(B)the Lord preserved David wherever he went.