To the Director: A special Davidic psalm to the tune of^[a] “Lily of The Covenant,” for teaching about his battle with Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah, when Joab returned and attacked 12,000 Edomites in the Salt Valley.^[b]

A Prayer for God’s Help against Adversaries

David’s Military Victories^(A)

8 Sometime later, David defeated and subdued the Philistines, taking Metheg-ammah away from the Philistines. ² David also conquered Moab, then measured them with a cord, making them lie down on the ground. He executed everyone measured out in each two lengths’ measurement of the cord, but spared the ones measured out by every third length. Then the Moabites were placed under servitude to David, and made to pay tribute.

³ David also attacked King Hadadezer, Rehob’s son from Zobah, when he was attempting to restore his hegemony^[a] over the Euphrates^[b] River. ⁴ David captured 1,000 of his chariots, 1,700^[c] horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. David hamstrung all the chariot horses except for enough to supply^[d] 100 chariots. ⁵ When Arameans came from Damascus to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, David killed 22,000 of them. ⁶ David erected garrisons in the Aramean kingdom of Damascus, placing the Arameans under servitude to him,^[e] and they paid tribute to him. ⁷ David also confiscated the gold shields that belonged to Hadadezer’s officers and took them to Jerusalem. ⁸ He^[f] also confiscated a vast quantity of bronze from Betah and Berothai, cities under Hadadezer’s control.

⁹ When King Tou of Hamath learned that David had conquered the entire army of King Hadadezer of Zobah, ¹⁰ Tou sent his son Joram to King David to greet him and congratulate him on his victory over Hadadezer, because he had been at war with Tou. Joram brought articles of silver, gold, and bronze with him, ¹¹ and King David dedicated them to the Lord, along with the silver and gold that had been dedicated from all the nations that he had conquered, ¹² including from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, Amalek, and spoil from King Hadadezer, Rehob’s son from Zobah.

¹³ David made a name for himself when he returned from killing 18,000 Edomites in the Salt Valley. ¹⁴ He erected garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites became subservient to David, while the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went.

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.”

⁶ When the Ammonites realized that they had created quite a stink with^[f] David, they hired 20,000 Aramean mercenaries from Beth-rehob and Zobah, along with the king of Maacah and 1,000 men, and 12,000 men from Tob. ⁷ In response, David sent out Joab and his entire army of elite soldiers. ⁸ The Ammonites went out in battle formation at the entrance to the city^[g] gate, while the Arameans from Zobah and Rehob, along with the army^[h] from Tob and Maacah, were out by themselves in the open fields.

⁹ When Joab observed that the battle lines were set up to oppose him both in front and behind, he appointed the best troops in Israel and arrayed them to oppose the Arameans, ¹⁰ putting the rest of his forces under the command of his brother Abishai, who arrayed them to oppose the Ammonites. ¹¹ He said, “If the Arameans prove too strong for me, then you are to help me. If the Ammonites prove too strong for you, then I will come help you. ¹² Be strong, be courageous on behalf of our people and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what he thinks is best.”

¹³ So Joab and the soldiers who were with him attacked the Arameans in battle formation, and the Arameans retreated in front of him. ¹⁴ When the Ammonites saw the Arameans retreating, they also retreated from Abishai back to the city. Then Joab broke off his attack against the Ammonites and went back to Jerusalem. ¹⁵ After the Arameans realized that they had been defeated by Israel, they regrouped. ¹⁶ Hadadezer sent for the Arameans who lived beyond the Euphrates River,^[i] and they set out for Helam, with Shobach^[j] leading them as commander of Hadadezer’s army.

¹⁷ When David learned this, he mustered all of Israel, crossed the Jordan River, and approached Helam. The Arameans assembled in battle array to attack David, and started their assault. ¹⁸ But the Arameans retreated from Israel, and David’s forces^[k] killed 700 of their charioteers, 40,000 soldiers, and mortally wounded Shobach, the commander of their army. As a result, Shobach^[l] died there. ¹⁹ When all the kings who were allied with^[m] Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they sought terms of peace with the Israelis and became subservient to them. Furthermore, the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.

Subjugation of Ammon and Aram^(A)

19 Some time later, King Nahash of Ammon died and his son succeeded him, ² so David told himself, “I will be loyal to Nahash’s son Hanun, since his father showed loyal, gracious love to me.” So David sent a delegation^[a] to console him about his loss of his^[b] father.

But when David’s delegation arrived to visit^[c] Hanun in Ammonite territory to console him, ³ the Ammonite officials asked 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 to search, overthrow, and scout the land, hasn’t it?” ⁴ So Hanun arrested David’s delegation, shaved off their beards, cut off their clothes at the waist line, and sent them away in disgrace.^[d]

⁵ After they had departed, David was informed about the men, so he sent word^[e] to them, since they had been deeply humiliated. He told them, “Stay at Jericho until your beards have grown back, and then return.”

⁶ When the Ammonites realized that they had created quite a stink with David, Hanun and the Ammonites spent 1,000 silver talents^[f] to hire chariots and mercenaries from Mesopotamia, from Aram-maacah, and from Zobah. ⁷ They hired 32,000 chariots, along with the king of Maacah and his army, who arrived and encamped at Medeba. The Ammonites also were mustered and came out to battle from their home cities. ⁸ In response, David sent out Joab and his entire army of elite soldiers. ⁹ The Ammonites went out in battle formation in front of the entrance to the city while the kings who had come stayed by themselves in the open fields.

¹⁰ When Joab observed that the battle lines were set up to oppose him both in front and behind, he appointed some special forces from Israel and arrayed them to oppose the Arameans, ¹¹ putting the rest of his forces under command of his brother Abishai, who arrayed them to oppose the Ammonites. ¹² He told Abishai,^[g] “If the Arameans prove too strong for me, then you are to help me. If the Ammonites prove too strong for you, then I will help you. ¹³ Be strong, be courageous on behalf of our people and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what he thinks is best.” ¹⁴ So Joab and the soldiers who were with him attacked the Arameans in battle formation, and the Arameans retreated in front of him. ¹⁵ When the Ammonites saw the Arameans retreating, they also retreated from Joab’s brother Abishai back to the city and Joab left for Jerusalem. ¹⁶ After the Arameans realized that they had been defeated by Israel, they sent for the Arameans who lived beyond the Euphrates River.^[h] Shophach^[i] was leading them as commander of Hadadezer’s army.

¹⁷ When David learned this, he mustered all of Israel, crossed the Jordan, approached the Arameans, and drew up his forces against them. After David had assembled in battle array against the Arameans, the Arameans^[j] attacked him. ¹⁸ The Arameans retreated from Israel, and David’s forces^[k] killed 7,000 Aramean charioteers, 40,000 soldiers, and Shophach, the commander of their army. ¹⁹ When Hadadezer’s officials saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they sought terms of peace with David and became subservient to him. After this, the Arameans were unwilling to help the Ammonites anymore.