2 Samuel 8:1-15

Legacy Standard Bible

David Strikes Down Nations

8 ^(A)Now it happened afterwards, that David struck the Philistines and subdued them; and David took ^[a]control of the chief city from the hand of the Philistines.

^2 (B)He also struck ^(C)Moab, and measured them with the line, making them lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death and one full line to keep alive. And ^(D)the Moabites became servants to David, ^(E)bringing tribute.

³ Then David struck ^(F)Hadadezer, the son of Rehob king of Zobah, as ^(G)he went to restore his ^[b]power at the ^[c]River. ⁴ And David captured from him 1,700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers; and David ^(H)hamstrung all the chariot horses, but left enough of them for 100 chariots. ⁵ Then ^(I)the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer, king of Zobah. And David struck down 22,000 Arameans. ⁶ Then David placed garrisons among the Arameans of Damascus; and ^(J)the Arameans became servants to David, bringing tribute. And ^(K)Yahweh granted salvation to David wherever he went. ⁷ And David took the small shields of gold which were ^[d]carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ Also from ^[e]Betah and from ^(L)Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took a very large amount of bronze.

⁹ Then Toi king of ^(M)Hamath heard that David had struck down all the military force of Hadadezer, ¹⁰ so Toi sent ^[f]Joram his son to King David to ^[g]greet him and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and struck him down; for Hadadezer ^[h]had been at war with Toi. And in ^[i]Joram’s hand were articles of silver, of gold, and of bronze. ¹¹ King David also ^(N)set these apart as holy to Yahweh, with the silver and the gold that he had set apart as holy from all the nations which he had subdued: ¹² from ^[j]Aram, ^(O)Moab, ^(P)the sons of Ammon, ^(Q)the Philistines, ^(R)Amalek, and from the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

¹³ So ^(S)David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down 18,000 ^[k]Arameans in ^(T)the Valley of Salt. ¹⁴ Then he placed garrisons in Edom. In all Edom he placed garrisons, and ^(U)all the Edomites became servants to David. And ^(V)Yahweh granted salvation to David wherever he went.

¹⁵ So David reigned over all Israel; and David was doing justice and righteousness for all his people.