David's Victories

8 ^(A)After this David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and David took ^(B)Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines.

David Defeats His Enemies

18 ^(A)After this David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and he took Gath and its villages out of the hand of the Philistines.

² And he defeated Moab, and the Moabites became servants to David and brought tribute.

³ David also defeated ^(B)Hadadezer king of ^(C)Zobah-Hamath, as he went to set up his monument^[a] at the river Euphrates. ⁴ And David took from him 1,000 chariots, ^(D)7,000 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. And David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but left enough for 100 chariots. ⁵ And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king ^(E)of Zobah, David struck down 22,000 men of the Syrians. ⁶ Then David put garrisons^[b] in Syria of Damascus, and the Syrians became servants to David and brought tribute. And the Lord gave victory to David^[c] wherever he went. ⁷ And David took the shields of gold that were carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ And from ^(F)Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took a large amount of bronze. ^(G)With it Solomon made the bronze sea and the pillars and the vessels of bronze.

⁹ When ^(H)Tou king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the whole army of Hadadezer, king ^(I)of Zobah, ¹⁰ he sent his son ^(J)Hadoram to King David, to ask about his health and to bless him because he had fought against ^(K)Hadadezer and defeated him; for ^(L)Hadadezer had often been at war with Tou. And he sent all sorts of articles of gold, of silver, and of bronze. ¹¹ These also King David dedicated to the Lord, together with the silver and gold that he had carried off from all the nations, from ^(M)Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amalek.

¹² And ^(N)Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, killed 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. ¹³ Then he put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David's servants. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went.

David's Administration

¹⁴ So David reigned over all Israel, and he administered justice and equity to all his people. ¹⁵ And ^(O)Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder; ^16 (P)and Zadok the son of Ahitub and ^(Q)Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were priests; and ^(R)Shavsha was secretary; ¹⁷ and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David's sons were the ^(S)chief officials in the service of the king.

War with the Philistines

¹⁵ There was war again between the Philistines and Israel, and David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines. And David grew weary. ¹⁶ And Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants ^(A)of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels^[a] of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David. ¹⁷ But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David's men swore to him, ^(B)“You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench ^(C)the lamp of Israel.”

^18 (D)After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then ^(E)Sibbecai ^(F)the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was one of the descendants ^(G)of the giants. ¹⁹ And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and ^(H)Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, ^(I)the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.^{[b] 20} And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended ^(J)from the giants. ²¹ And when ^(K)he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David's brother, struck him down. ²² These four were descended ^(L)from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

^9 (A)And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.

²⁴ But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. And as the sun was going down they came to the hill of Ammah, which lies before Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.