Historical

David’s Military Victories^(A)

18 After this, David defeated and subdued the Philistines, and then took possession of Gath and its towns from Philistine control. ² He also conquered Moab, placing them in servitude and making them pay tribute.

³ David also defeated King Hadadezer of Zobah, which is near Hamath,^[a] while he was going about establishing his hegemony^[b] as far as the Euphrates^[c] River. ⁴ David confiscated 1,000 chariots, 7,000 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers from him, and hamstrung all of the chariot horses except for a reserve force of 100 chariots. ⁵ When Arameans came from Damascus to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, David killed 22,000 of them. ⁶ David later erected garrisons^[d] in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans were placed under servitude to David, to whom they paid tribute. ⁷ David also confiscated the gold shields that belonged to Hadadezer’s officials and took them to Jerusalem. ⁸ David also confiscated a vast quantity of bronze from Tibhath^[e] and Cun, cities under Hadadezer’s control. Later on, Solomon crafted the bronze sea, the pillars, and the bronze vessels for the Temple.^[f]

⁹ When King Tou of Hamath learned that David had conquered King Hadadezer of Zobah’s entire army, ¹⁰ he sent his son Hadoram to King David to meet and congratulate him, because he had fought against and defeated Hadadezer. Since Hadadezer had often been to war against Tou, he sent all sorts of gold, silver, and bronze goods ¹¹ to King David, which David^[g] also dedicated to the Lord, along with silver and gold that he confiscated from all the surrounding^[h] nations, including Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amalek.

¹² Zeruiah’s son Abishai killed 18,000 Edomites in the Salt Valley. ¹³ He erected garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became subservient to David, while the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went.

David’s Reign^(B)

¹⁴ So David reigned over all of Israel, administering justice and equity to all of his people. ¹⁵ Zeruiah’s son Joab served in charge of the army, Ahilud’s son Jehoshaphat was his personal archivist,^{[i] 16} Ahitub’s son Zadok and Abiathar’s son Ahimelech were priests, Shavsha^[j] was his personal secretary,^{[k] 17} Jehoiada’s son Benaiah supervised the special forces^[l] and mercenaries,^[m] while David’s sons worked as chief officials in service to the king.^[n]

Subjugation of Ammon and Aram^(C)

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^[o] to console him about his loss of his^[p] father.

But when David’s delegation arrived to visit^[q] 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.^[r]

⁵ After they had departed, David was informed about the men, so he sent word^[s] 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^[t] 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,^[u] “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.^[v] Shophach^[w] 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^[x] attacked him. ¹⁸ The Arameans retreated from Israel, and David’s forces^[y] 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.

The Capture of Rabbah^(D)

20 Later the next spring, at the time that kings go out to fight, Joab led out the army, ravaged the territory of the Ammonites, and then went out and attacked Rabbah, while David remained behind in Jerusalem. Joab besieged Rabbah and conquered it. ² David confiscated the crown of their king^[z] from his head, and found that its weight was a talent^[aa] in gold. A precious stone had been set in it, and it was placed on David’s head. He also confiscated a great amount of war booty that had been plundered from the city, ³ brought back the people who had lived in it, and put them to conscripted labor with saws, iron picks, and axes. David did this to every Ammonite city, and then David and his entire army^[ab] returned to Jerusalem.

Fighting Philistine Giants^(E)

⁴ Afterwards, war broke out against the Philistines at Gezer, where Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the Rephaim,^[ac] defeating the Philistines. ⁵ There was also another battle against the Philistines, when Jair’s son Elhanan killed Lahmi the Gittite, Goliath’s brother, whose spear was as big as^[ad] a weaver’s beam. ⁶ There was also a battle at Gath, where there was a very tall man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—for a total of 24 digits—who was a descendant of the Rephaim.^{[ae] 7} When he challenged Israel, Shimei’s son Jonathan, David’s nephew,^[af] killed him. ⁸ These descendants from the giants in Gath died at the hands of David and his servants.