David Captures Rabbah

²⁶ Meanwhile, Joab was fighting against Rabbah, the capital of Ammon, and he captured the royal fortifications.^{[a] 27} Joab sent messengers to tell David, “I have fought against Rabbah and captured its water supply.^{[b] 28} Now bring the rest of the army and capture the city. Otherwise, I will capture it and get credit for the victory.”

²⁹ So David gathered the rest of the army and went to Rabbah, and he fought against it and captured it. ³⁰ David removed the crown from the king’s head,^[c] and it was placed on his own head. The crown was made of gold and set with gems, and it weighed seventy-five pounds.^[d] David took a vast amount of plunder from the city. ³¹ He also made slaves of the people of Rabbah and forced them to labor with^[e] saws, iron picks, and iron axes, and to work in the brick kilns.^[f] That is how he dealt with the people of all the Ammonite towns. Then David and all the army returned to Jerusalem.

David and Bathsheba

11 In the spring of the year,^[a] when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem.

¹⁷ David remarked longingly to his men, “Oh, how I would love some of that good water from the well by the gate in Bethlehem.” ¹⁸ So the Three broke through the Philistine lines, drew some water from the well by the gate in Bethlehem, and brought it back to David. But David refused to drink it. Instead, he poured it out as an offering to the Lord. ¹⁹ “God forbid that I should drink this!” he exclaimed. “This water is as precious as the blood of these men^[a] who risked their lives to bring it to me.” So David did not drink it. These are examples of the exploits of the Three.

⁶ David had said to his troops, “Whoever is first to attack the Jebusites will become the commander of my armies!” And Joab, the son of David’s sister Zeruiah, was first to attack, so he became the commander of David’s armies.

¹² Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to the one who attacks and captures Kiriath-sepher.”

²⁴ They confronted a man coming out of the town and said to him, “Show us a way into the town, and we will have mercy on you.” ²⁵ So he showed them a way in, and they killed everyone in the town except that man and his family.