60 Written by David at the time he was at war with Syria, with the outcome still uncertain; this was when Joab, captain of his forces, slaughtered twelve thousand men of Edom in Salt Valley.

O God, you have rejected us and broken our defenses; you have become angry and deserted us. Lord, restore us again to your favor. ² You have caused this nation to tremble in fear; you have torn it apart. Lord, heal it now, for it is shaken to its depths. ³ You have been very hard on us and made us reel beneath your blows.

^4-5 But you have given us a banner to rally to; all who love truth will rally to it;^[a] then you can deliver your beloved people. Use your strong right arm to rescue us. ^6-7 God has promised to help us. He has vowed it by his holiness! No wonder I exult! “Shechem, Succoth, Gilead, Manasseh—still are mine!” he says. “Judah shall continue to produce kings, and Ephraim great warriors. ⁸ Moab shall become my lowly servant, and Edom my slave. And I will shout in triumph over the Philistines.”

^9-10 Who will bring me in triumph into Edom’s strong cities? God will! He who cast us off! He who abandoned us to our foes! ¹¹ Yes, Lord, help us against our enemies, for man’s help is useless.

¹² With God’s help we shall do mighty things, for he will trample down our foes.

8 After this David subdued and humbled the Philistines by conquering Gath, their largest city. ² He also devastated the land of Moab. He divided his victims by making them lie down side by side in rows. Two-thirds of each row, as measured with a tape, were butchered, and one-third were spared to become David’s servants—they paid him tribute each year.

³ He also destroyed the forces of King Hadadezer (son of Rehob) of Zobah in a battle at the Euphrates River, for Hadadezer had attempted to regain his power. ⁴ David captured seventeen hundred cavalry and twenty thousand infantry; then he lamed all of the chariot horses except for one hundred teams. ⁵ He also slaughtered twenty-two thousand Syrians from Damascus when they came to help Hadadezer. ⁶ David placed several army garrisons in Damascus, and the Syrians became David’s subjects and brought him annual tribute money. So the Lord gave him victories wherever he turned. ⁷ David brought the gold shields to Jerusalem which King Hadadezer’s officers had used. ⁸ He also carried back to Jerusalem a very large amount of bronze from Hadadezer’s cities of Betah and Berothai.

⁹ When King Toi of Hamath heard about David’s victory over the army of Hadadezer, ¹⁰ he sent his son Joram to congratulate him, for Hadadezer and Toi were enemies. He gave David presents made from silver, gold, and bronze. ^11-12 David dedicated all of these to the Lord, along with the silver and gold he had taken from Syria, Moab, Ammon, the Philistines, Amalek, and King Hadadezer.

¹³ So David became very famous. After his return he destroyed eighteen thousand Edomites^[a] in Salt Valley, ¹⁴ and then placed garrisons throughout Edom, so that the entire nation was forced to pay tribute to Israel—another example of the way the Lord made him victorious wherever he went.

10 Some time after this the Ammonite king died and his son Hanun replaced him.

² “I am going to show special respect for him,” David said, “because his father, Nahash, was always so loyal and kind to me.” So David sent ambassadors to express regrets to Hanun about his father’s death.

³ But Hanun’s officers told him, “These men aren’t here to honor your father! David has sent them to spy out the city before attacking it!”

⁴ So Hanun took David’s men and shaved off half their beards and cut their robes off at the buttocks and sent them home half naked. ⁵ When David heard what had happened he told them to stay at Jericho until their beards grew out; for the men were very embarrassed over their appearance.

⁶ Now the people of Ammon realized how seriously they had angered David, so they hired twenty thousand Syrian mercenaries from the lands of Rehob and Zobah, one thousand from the king of Maacah, and ten thousand from the land of Tob. ^7-8 When David heard about this, he sent Joab and the entire Israeli army to attack them. The Ammonites defended the gates of their city while the Syrians from Zobah, Rehob, Tob, and Maacah fought in the fields. ⁹ When Joab realized that he would have to fight on two fronts, he selected the best fighters in his army, placed them under his personal command, and took them out to fight the Syrians in the fields. ¹⁰ He left the rest of the army to his brother Abishai, who was to attack the city.

¹¹ “If I need assistance against the Syrians, come out and help me,” Joab instructed him. “And if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will come and help you. ¹² Courage! We must really act like men today if we are going to save our people and the cities of our God. May the Lord’s will be done.”

¹³ And when Joab and his troops attacked, the Syrians began to run away. ¹⁴ Then, when the Ammonites saw the Syrians running, they ran too, and retreated into the city. Afterwards Joab returned to Jerusalem. ^15-16 The Syrians now realized that they were no match for Israel. So when they regrouped, they were joined by additional Syrian troops summoned by Hadadezer from the other side of the Euphrates River. These troops arrived at Helam under the command of Shobach, the commander-in-chief of all of Hadadezer’s forces.

¹⁷ When David heard what was happening, he personally led the Israeli army to Helam, where the Syrians attacked him. ¹⁸ But again the Syrians fled from the Israelis, this time leaving seven hundred charioteers dead on the field, also forty thousand cavalrymen, including General Shobach. ¹⁹ When Hadadezer’s allies saw that the Syrians had been defeated, they surrendered to David and became his servants. And the Syrians were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore after that.

19 When King Nahash of Ammon died, his son Hanun became the new king.

^2-3 Then David declared, “I am going to show friendship to Hanun because of all the kind things his father did for me.”

So David sent a message of sympathy to Hanun for the death of his father. But when David’s ambassadors arrived, King Hanun’s counselors warned him, “Don’t fool yourself that David has sent these men to honor your father! They are here to spy out the land so that they can come in and conquer it!”

⁴ So King Hanun insulted King David’s ambassadors by shaving their beards and cutting their robes off at the middle to expose their buttocks; then he sent them back to David in shame. ⁵ When David heard what had happened, he sent a message to his embarrassed emissaries, telling them to stay at Jericho until their beards had grown out again. ⁶ When King Hanun realized his mistake he sent $2,000,000 to enlist mercenary troops, chariots, and cavalry from Mesopotamia, Aram-maacah, and Zobah. ⁷ He hired thirty-two thousand chariots, as well as the support of the king of Maacah and his entire army. These forces camped at Medeba where they were joined by the troops King Hanun had recruited from his cities.

⁸ When David learned of this, he sent Joab and the mightiest warriors of Israel. ⁹ The army of Ammon went out to meet them and began the battle at the gates of the city of Medeba. Meanwhile, the mercenary forces were out in the field. ¹⁰ When Joab realized that the enemy forces were both in front and behind him, he divided his army and sent one group to engage the Syrians. ¹¹ The other group, under the command of his brother Abishai, moved against the Ammonites.

¹² “If the Syrians are too strong for me, come and help me,” Joab told his brother; “and if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I’ll come and help you. ¹³ Be courageous and let us act like men to save our people and the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what is best.”

¹⁴ So Joab and his troops attacked the Syrians, and the Syrians turned and fled. ¹⁵ When the Ammonites, under attack by Abishai’s troops, saw that the Syrians were retreating, they fled into the city. Then Joab returned to Jerusalem.

¹⁶ After their defeat, the Syrians summoned additional troops from east of the Euphrates River, led personally by Shophach, King Hadadezer’s commander-in-chief. ^17-18 When this news reached David, he mobilized all Israel, crossed the Jordan River, and engaged the enemy troops in battle. But the Syrians again fled from David, and he killed seven thousand charioteers and forty thousand of their troops. He also killed Shophach, the commander-in-chief of the Syrian army. ¹⁹ Then King Hadadezer’s troops surrendered to King David and became his subjects. And never again did the Syrians aid the Ammonites in their battles.