Historical

18 After God blessed David’s monarchy, King David conquered the Philistines—defeating them and seizing their capital city of Gath and its towns.

² He defeated the Moabites, who were his relatives through his ancestor Ruth, and the Moabites served David and brought him tribute.

³ He defeated Hadadezer (king of Zobah) as far as Hamath in Aram, extending the borders of Israel to the Euphrates River. ⁴ From Hadadezer David seized 1,000 chariots, 7,000 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. He cut the leg muscles of all the chariot horses, reserving only 100 for future use with the chariots. ⁵ When the armies of Damascus in Aram came to help their kinsman Hadadezer, David killed 22,000 Arameans. ⁶ Then David built garrisons in Damascus, and the Arameans served him and brought him tribute. The Eternal helped David, ensuring his victory, wherever he went. ⁷ David seized the golden shields from the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ He seized large quantities of bronze from Hadadezer’s cities of Tibhath and Cun (which Solomon later used to cast the bronze basin, pillars, and utensils for the temple). ⁹ When Tou (king of Hamath in Aram) heard that David had defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah, ¹⁰ he was overjoyed since he had been fighting with Hadadezer himself. Tou sent his son, Hadoram, to King David to greet him and to bless him with gold, silver, and bronze, for David had fought Hadadezer and had won the victory. ¹¹ King David then dedicated these gifts to the Eternal along with the silver and gold he had seized from these nations: Edom, Moab, Ammon, Philistia, and Amalek.

¹² One of David’s chiefs, Abishai (son of Zeruiah), defeated 18,000 Edomites in the valley of Salt. ¹³ He built garrisons in Edom, and all the people of that nation served David. The Eternal helped David wherever he went.

¹⁴ David was a just and righteous ruler over all Israel—over his people and the lands he conquered. ¹⁵ Joab (son of Zeruiah) led the army; Jehoshaphat (son of Ahilud) was the recorder; ¹⁶ Zadok (son of Ahitub) and Abimelech (son of Abiathar) were priests; Shavsha was secretary; ¹⁷ Benaiah (son of Jehoiada) governed the Cherethites and the Pelethites. David’s own sons were his trusted chiefs giving him advice.

19 After David had conquered his enemies and united Israel into one nation, Nahash (king of the Ammonites) died, and his son ascended to the throne. ² So David sent messengers into Ammonite territory to console Hanun (son of Nahash) about his father’s death.

³ But the Ammonite chiefs doubted David’s sincerity.

⁴ So Hanun humiliated David’s servants: shaved them, cut their garment hems up to their hips, and sent them away. ⁵ When David heard what had happened, he sent a message to his humiliated servants:

⁶ When Hanun and the Ammonites realized they had made themselves abhorrent to David, they paid 37 tons of silver to mercenaries from Mesopotamia, Aram-maacah, and Zobah. ⁷ They hired 32,000 chariots and the king of Maacah and his people (who camped at Medeba). Then the Ammonites gathered together from their cities for the battle. ⁸ When David heard about Ammon’s preparations, he sent Joab and all of his mighty army. ⁹ The Ammonites approached the city gate in their armor, but the Aramean kings who had come to help the Ammonites were alone in the field.

¹⁰ When Joab realized his forces were at a disadvantage, he asked the most skilled Israelite soldiers to prepare for battle against the Arameans. ¹¹ His brother Abshai commanded the remainder of the forces, who prepared to fight the Ammonites.

¹⁴ When Joab and his forces approached the Arameans, the enemy fled. ¹⁵ When the Ammonites saw the Arameans flee, they also fled from Abshai back into the city walls. Then Joab returned to Jerusalem.

¹⁶ After their defeat by Israel, the Arameans sent for other Arameans who lived beyond the Euphrates River with Shophach (the commander of Hadadezer’s army) leading them. ¹⁷ When David heard, he responded to this mobilization by gathering his forces, crossing the Jordan, and facing the Arameans in formation. When the Arameans saw this they arranged their forces and engaged in battle. ¹⁸ The Arameans fled from the Israelites; and David killed 7,000 charioteers, 40,000 foot soldiers, and Shophach (the commander of the army).

¹⁹ When the servants of Hadadezer realized Israel had defeated them, they surrendered to David and served him—unwilling to help the Ammonites anymore.

20 In the spring (the time when kings wage wars because the spring harvest was over, farm work eased, and soldiers could live off the land), Joab led the army to ravage the land of the Ammonites and overthrow their capital city, Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem during Joab’s campaign. ² David took the crown off the head of their king (which weighed about 75 pounds and was bejeweled) and it was placed on his own head. And David took the great riches of the city. ³ He set the people of the city to work with tools of iron: saws, axes and other sharp implements. This David did to all the Ammonite cities before he and his people returned to Jerusalem.

⁴ After David conquered Ammon, war erupted at the city of Gezer in Philistia. Sibbecai (the Hushathite) killed Sippai (a descendant of the giants) and subjugated the city. ⁵ During another Philistian encounter, Elhanan (son of Jair) killed Lahmi (brother of Goliath the Gittite) whose spear was as long as a weaver’s beam. ⁶ War also broke out at Gath, where there lived a tall man who had 24 fingers and toes—6 fingers on each hand and 6 toes on each foot—who was descended from the giants. ⁷ When he taunted Israel, Jonathan (son of Shimea, David’s brother) killed him. ⁸ All these were descended from the giants in Gath (a Philistine capital), and they were killed by David and his men.