Subjugation of Ammon and Aram^(A)

10 Sometime later, the Ammonite king died and his son Hanun succeeded him as king, ² so David told himself, “I will be loyal to Nahash’s son Hanun, since in his loyalty his father showed gracious love to me.” So David sent a delegation^[a] to Hanun to console him about his loss of^[b] his father.

But when David’s delegation arrived in Ammonite territory, ³ the Ammonite officials asked their lord Hanun, “Do you think that because David has sent a delegation of consolers to you that he is honoring your father? His delegation has arrived intending to search, scout the land, and then overthrow it, hasn’t it?” ⁴ So Hanun arrested David’s delegation, shaved off half of their beards, cut off their clothes at the waist line, and sent them away in disgrace.^[c]

⁵ When David had been informed about the incident,^[d] he sent word^[e] to them, since the men had been deeply humiliated. The king told them, “Stay at Jericho until your beards have grown back, and then return.”