² David thought, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash,^(A) just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father.

When David’s men came to the land of the Ammonites,

Saul Rescues the City of Jabesh

11 Nahash^[a](A) the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh Gilead.^(B) And all the men of Jabesh said to him, “Make a treaty^(C) with us, and we will be subject to you.”

Nehemiah’s Final Reforms

13 On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God,^{(A) 2} because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam^(B) to call a curse down on them.^(C) (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.)^{(D) 3} When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent.^(E)

³ No Ammonite^(A) or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.^{(B) 4} For they did not come to meet you with bread and water^(C) on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam^(D) son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim^[a](E) to pronounce a curse on you.^{(F) 5} However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse^(G) into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves^(H) you. ⁶ Do not seek a treaty^(I) of friendship with them as long as you live.^(J)

³ Tobiah^(A) the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!”^(B)

⁴ Hear us, our God, for we are despised.^(C) Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. ⁵ Do not cover up their guilt^(D) or blot out their sins from your sight,^(E) for they have thrown insults in the face of^[a] the builders.

⁶ So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.

⁷ But when Sanballat, Tobiah,^(F) the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry.

³ From there David went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, “Would you let my father and mother come and stay with you until I learn what God will do for me?” ⁴ So he left them with the king of Moab,^(A) and they stayed with him as long as David was in the stronghold.