Beginning

Chapter 18

David’s Victories. ^1 (A)After this, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them; and he took Gath and its towns away from the Philistines. ² He also defeated Moab, and the Moabites became David’s subjects, paying tribute.

³ David then defeated Hadadezer, king of Zobah, toward Hamath, who was on his way to set up his victory stele at the river Euphrates. ⁴ David captured from him one thousand chariots, seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but left one hundred for his chariots.^{(B) 5} The Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer, king of Zobah, but David also defeated twenty-two thousand of their men in Aram. ⁶ Then David set up garrisons in the Damascus region of Aram, and the Arameans became David’s subjects, paying tribute. Thus the Lord made David victorious in all his campaigns.

⁷ David took the golden shields that were carried by Hadadezer’s attendants and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ David likewise took away from Tibhath and Cun, cities of Hadadezer, large quantities of bronze; Solomon later used it to make the bronze sea and the pillars and the vessels of bronze.^(C)

⁹ When Tou, king of Hamath, heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer, king of Zobah, ¹⁰ he sent his son Hadoram to wish King David well and to congratulate him on having waged a victorious war against Hadadezer; for Hadadezer had been at war with Tou. He also brought gold, silver and bronze articles of every sort.^{(D) 11} These also King David consecrated to the Lord along with all the silver and gold that he had taken from the nations: from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amalek.

¹² Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, also defeated eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.^{(E) 13} He set up garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David’s subjects. Thus the Lord brought David victory in all his undertakings.

David’s Officials. ^14 (F)David was king over all Israel; he dispensed justice and right to all his people. ¹⁵ Joab, son of Zeruiah, was in command of the army; Jehoshaphat, son of Ahilud, was chancellor;^{(G) 16} Zadok, son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech, son of Abiathar, were priests;^[a] Shavsha was scribe;^{(H) 17} Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, was in command of the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were the chief assistants to the king.^[b](I)

Chapter 19

Campaigns Against Ammon. ^1 (J)Afterward Nahash, king of the Ammonites, died and his son succeeded him as king. ² David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun, the son of Nahash, for his father showed kindness to me.” Therefore he sent envoys to console him over his father. But when David’s servants had entered the land of the Ammonites to console Hanun, ³ the Ammonite princes said to Hanun, “Do you think David is doing this—sending you these consolers—to honor your father? Have not his servants rather come to you to explore the land, spying it out for its overthrow?” ⁴ So Hanun seized David’s servants and had them shaved and their garments cut off halfway at the hips. Then he sent them away. ⁵ David was told about the men, and he sent word for them to be intercepted, for the men had been greatly disgraced. “Remain at Jericho,” the king told them, “until your beards have grown again; then come back here.”

⁶ When the Ammonites realized that they had put themselves in bad odor with David, Hanun and the Ammonites sent a thousand talents of silver to hire chariots and horsemen from Aram Naharaim, from Aram-maacah, and from Zobah. ⁷ They hired thirty-two thousand chariots along with the king of Maacah and his army, who came and encamped before Medeba. The Ammonites also assembled from their cities and came out for war.

⁸ When David heard of this, he sent Joab and his whole army of warriors against them. ⁹ The Ammonites marched out and lined up for battle at the entrance of the city, while the kings who had come to their help remained apart in the open field. ¹⁰ When Joab saw that there was a battle line both in front of and behind him, he chose some of the best fighters among the Israelites and lined them up against the Arameans; ¹¹ the rest of the army, which he placed under the command of his brother Abishai, then lined up to oppose the Ammonites. ¹² And he said: “If the Arameans prove too strong for me, you must come and save me; and if the Ammonites prove too strong for you, I will save you. ¹³ Hold firm and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and the cities of our God; and may the Lord do what is good in his sight.” ¹⁴ Joab therefore advanced with his men to engage the Arameans in battle; but they fled before him. ¹⁵ And when the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they too fled before his brother Abishai, and entered their city. Joab then came to Jerusalem.

¹⁶ Seeing themselves vanquished by Israel, the Arameans sent messengers to bring out the Arameans from beyond the Euphrates, with Shophach, the commander of Hadadezer’s army, at their head. ¹⁷ When this was reported to David, he gathered all Israel together, crossed the Jordan, and met them. With the army of David drawn up to fight the Arameans, they gave battle. ¹⁸ But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed seven thousand of their chariot fighters and forty thousand of their foot soldiers; he also put to death Shophach, the commander of the army. ¹⁹ When the vassals of Hadadezer saw themselves vanquished by Israel, they made peace with David and became his subjects. After this, the Arameans refused to come to the aid of the Ammonites.

Chapter 20

¹ At the turn of the year,^[c] the time when kings go to war, Joab led the army out in force, laid waste the land of the Ammonites, and went on to besiege Rabbah; David himself remained in Jerusalem. When Joab had attacked Rabbah and destroyed it, ² David took the crown of Milcom from the idol’s head. It was found to weigh a talent of gold, with precious stones on it; this crown David wore on his own head. He also brought out a great amount of spoil from the city. ³ He deported the people of the city and set them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes. David dealt thus with all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and his whole army returned to Jerusalem.^(K)

Victories over the Philistines. ^4 (L)Afterward there was another battle with the Philistines, at Gezer. At that time, Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Sippai, one of the descendants of the Rephaim, and the Philistines were subdued.^(M)

⁵ There was another battle with the Philistines, and Elhanan, the son of Jair, slew Lahmi, the brother of Goliath^[d] of Gath, whose spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam.^(N)

⁶ There was another battle, at Gath, and there was a giant, who had six fingers to each hand and six toes to each foot; twenty-four in all. He too was descended from the Rephaim. ⁷ He defied Israel, and Jonathan, the son of Shimea, David’s brother, slew him. ⁸ These were the descendants of the Rephaim of Gath who died at the hands of David and his servants.

Chapter 21

David’s Census; the Plague. ^1 (O)A satan^[e] rose up against Israel, and he incited David to take a census of Israel.^{(P) 2} David therefore said to Joab and to the other generals of the army, “Go, number the Israelites from Beer-sheba to Dan, and report back to me that I may know their number.” ³ But Joab replied: “May the Lord increase his people a hundredfold! My lord king, are not all of them my lord’s subjects? Why does my lord seek to do this thing? Why should he bring guilt upon Israel?” ⁴ However, the king’s command prevailed over Joab, who departed and traversed all of Israel, and then returned to Jerusalem. ⁵ Joab reported the census figures to David: of men capable of wielding a sword, there were in all Israel one million one hundred thousand, and in Judah four hundred and seventy thousand. ⁶ Levi and Benjamin, however, he did not include in the census, for the king’s command was repugnant to Joab.^{(Q) 7} This command was evil in the sight of God, and he struck Israel. ⁸ Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly in doing this thing. Take away your servant’s guilt, for I have acted very foolishly.”

⁹ Then the Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer, in these words:^{(R) 10} Go, tell David: Thus says the Lord: I am laying out three options; choose one of them, and I will inflict it on you. ¹¹ Accordingly, Gad went to David and said to him: “Thus says the Lord: Decide now— ¹² will it be three years of famine; or three months of fleeing your enemies, with the sword of your foes ever at your back; or three days of the Lord’s own sword, a plague in the land, with the Lord’s destroying angel in every part of Israel? Now consider: What answer am I to give him who sent me?” ¹³ Then David said to Gad: “I am in serious trouble. But let me fall into the hand of the Lord, whose mercy is very great, rather than into hands of men.”

¹⁴ Therefore the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand Israelites died. ¹⁵ God also sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it; but as the angel was on the point of destroying it, the Lord saw and changed his mind about the calamity, and said to the destroying angel, “Enough now! Stay your hand!”^(S)

Ornan’s Threshing Floor. The angel of the Lord was then standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ¹⁶ When David raised his eyes, he saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, drawn sword in hand stretched out against Jerusalem.^(T) David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell face down, ¹⁷ and David prayed to God: “Was it not I who ordered the census of the people? I am the one who sinned, I did this wicked thing. But these sheep, what have they done? O Lord, my God, strike me and my father’s family, but do not afflict your people with this plague!”

¹⁸ Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to tell David to go up and set up an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.^{(U) 19} David went up at the word of Gad, which he spoke in the name of the Lord. ²⁰ Ornan turned around and saw the king; his four sons who were with him hid themselves, but Ornan kept on threshing wheat. ²¹ But as David came toward Ornan, he looked up and saw that it was David, and left the threshing floor and bowed down before David, his face to the ground. ²² David said to Ornan: “Sell me the site of this threshing floor, that I may build on it an altar to the Lord. Sell it to me at its full price, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people.” ²³ But Ornan said to David: “Take it as your own, and let my lord the king do what is good in his sight. See, I also give you the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering. I give it all to you.” ²⁴ But King David replied to Ornan: “No! I will buy it from you properly, at its full price. I will not take what is yours for the Lord, nor bring burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” ²⁵ So David paid Ornan six hundred shekels of gold^[f] for the place.

Altar for Burnt Offerings. ²⁶ David then built an altar there to the Lord, and sacrificed burnt offerings and communion offerings. He called upon the Lord, who answered him by sending down fire from heaven upon the altar for burnt offerings.^{(V) 27} Then the Lord gave orders to the angel to return his sword to its sheath.

²⁸ Once David saw that the Lord had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he continued to offer sacrifices there. ²⁹ The tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar for burnt offerings were at that time on the high place at Gibeon.^{(W) 30} But David could not go into his presence to inquire of God, for he was fearful of the sword of the angel of the Lord.