⁸ Now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses—if you are able on your part to put riders on them!

⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine. ⁴¹ So the Philistine came, and began drawing near to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him. ⁴² And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he ^(A)disdained^[a] him; for he was only a youth, ^(B)ruddy and good-looking. ⁴³ So the Philistine ^(C)said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

^13 (A)For he says:

² And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish—stones that are burned?”

³ Now ^(A)Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.”

^4 (B)Hear, O our God, for we are despised; ^(C)turn their reproach on their own heads, and give them as plunder to a land of captivity! ^5 (D)Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You; for they have provoked You to anger before the builders.

²³ Now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses—if you are able on your part to put riders on them!

¹⁴ And he took all ^(A)the gold and silver, all the articles that were found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and hostages, and returned to Samaria.

¹⁸ So he said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive; and if they have come out for war, take them alive.”

¹⁰ Then Ben-Hadad sent to him and said, ^(A)“The gods do so to me, and more also, if enough dust is left of Samaria for a handful for each of the people ^[a]who follow me.”