David Captures Rabbah^(A)

²⁶ Joab fought against Rabbah, a royal city of the Ammonites, and he was about to capture it. ²⁷ Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah and have captured ·its water supply [or the City of Waters]. ²⁸ Now bring the ·other soldiers [^Lrest of the army] together and attack this city. Capture it before I capture it myself and it is ·called by my name [named after me]!”

²⁹ So David gathered all the army and went to Rabbah and ·fought against [attacked] it and captured it. ³⁰ David took the crown ·off their king’s [or of Milcom from his] head [^CMilcom was their main god] and had it placed on his own head. That gold crown weighed ·about seventy-five pounds [^La talent], and ·it had valuable gems in it [was set with precious stones]. And David took ·many valuable things [great amounts of plunder/spoil] from the city. ³¹ He also brought out the people of the city and forced them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes. He also ·made them build with bricks [sent them to the brick kilns]. David did this to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his army returned to Jerusalem.