and gold he had taken from all these nations: Edom and Moab, the Ammonites and the Philistines, and Amalek.
12 Abishai son of Zeruiah struck down eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
13 He put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became subject to David. The Lord gave David victory everywhere he went.
14 David reigned over all Israel, doing what was just and right for all his people.
15 Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder;
16 Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Shavsha was secretary;
17 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites; and David's sons were chief officials at the king's side.
19 In the course of time, Nahash king of the Ammonites died, and his son succeeded him as king.
2 David thought, 'I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.' So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father. When David's men came to Hanun in the land of the Ammonites to express sympathy to him,
3 the Ammonite nobles said to Hanun, 'Do you think David is honoring your father by sending men to you to express sympathy? Haven't his men come to you to explore and spy out the country and overthrow it?'
4 So Hanun seized David's men, shaved them, cut off their garments in the middle at the buttocks, and sent them away.
5 When someone came and told David about the men, he sent messengers to meet them, for they were greatly humiliated. The king said, 'Stay at Jericho till your beards have grown, and then come back.'
6 When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench in David's nostrils, Hanun and the Ammonites sent a thousand talents of silver to hire chariots and charioteers from Aram Naharaim, Aram Maacah and Zobah.
7 They hired thirty-two thousand chariots and charioteers, as well as the king of Maacah with his troops, who came and camped near Medeba, while the Ammonites were mustered from their towns and moved out for battle.
8 On hearing this, David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men.
9 The Ammonites came out and drew up in battle formation at the entrance to their city, while the kings who had come were by themselves in the open country.
10 Joab saw that there were battle lines in front of him and behind him; so he selected some of the best troops in Israel and deployed them against the Arameans.
11 He put the rest of the men under the command of Abishai his brother, and they were deployed against the Ammonites.
12 Joab said, 'If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to rescue me; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will rescue you.
13 Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his sight.'
14 Then Joab and the troops with him advanced to fight the Arameans, and they fled before him.
15 When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans were fleeing, they too fled before his brother Abishai and went inside the city. So Joab went back to Jerusalem.
16 After the Arameans saw that they had been routed by Israel, they sent messengers and had Arameans brought from beyond the River, with Shophach the commander of Hadadezer's army leading them.
17 When David was told of this, he gathered all Israel and crossed the Jordan; he advanced against them and formed his battle lines opposite them. David formed his lines to meet the Arameans in battle, and they fought against him.
18 But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven thousand of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers. He also killed Shophach the commander of their army.
19 When the vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became subject to him. So the Arameans were not willing to help the Ammonites anymore.
20 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, Joab led out the armed forces. He laid waste the land of the Ammonites and went to Rabbah and besieged it, but David remained in Jerusalem. Joab attacked Rabbah and left it in ruins.
2 David took the crown from the head of their king -its weight was found to be a talent of gold, and it was set with precious stones-and it was placed on David's head. He took a great quantity of plunder from the city
3 and brought out the people who were there, consigning them to labor with saws and with iron picks and axes. David did this to all the Ammonite towns. Then David and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.
4 In the course of time, war broke out with the Philistines, at Gezer. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the Rephaites, and the Philistines were subjugated.
