Chronological Plan

¹Now it happened afterward that the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun became king in his place.

²Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent some of his servants to console him about his father. But when David’s servants came to the land of the Ammonites,

³the commanders of the Ammonites said to their lord Hanun, “Do you think that David is simply honoring your father since he has sent you servants to console you? Has David not sent his servants to you in order to explore the city, to spy it out and overthrow it?”

⁴So Hanun took David’s servants and shaved off half of their beards, and cut off their robes in the middle as far as their buttocks, and sent them away.

⁵When messengers informed David, he sent servants to meet them, because the men were extremely humiliated. And the king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow back, and then you shall return.”

⁶Now when the sons of Ammon saw that they had become repulsive to David, the sons of Ammon sent messengers and hired the Arameans of Beth-rehob and the Arameans of Zobah, twenty thousand foot soldiers, and the king of Maacah with a thousand men, and the men of Tob with twelve thousand men.

⁷When David heard about this, he sent Joab and all the army, the warriors.

⁸And the sons of Ammon came out and lined up for battle at the entrance of the city, while the Arameans of Zobah and of Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were stationed by themselves in the field.

⁹Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him at the front and at the rear, he selected warriors from all the choice men in Israel, and lined them up against the Arameans.

¹⁰But the remainder of the people he placed under the command of his brother Abishai, and he lined them up against the sons of Ammon.

¹¹And he said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come to help you.

¹²Be strong, and let’s 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.”

¹³So Joab and the people who were with him advanced to the battle against the Arameans, and they fled from him.

¹⁴When the sons of Ammon saw that the Arameans had fled, they also fled from Abishai and entered the city. Then Joab returned from fighting against the sons of Ammon and came to Jerusalem.

¹⁵When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they assembled together.

¹⁶And Hadadezer sent word and brought out the Arameans who were beyond the Euphrates River, and they came to Helam; and Shobach the commander of the army of Hadadezer led them.

¹⁷Now when it was reported to David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Arameans lined up against David and fought him.

¹⁸But the Arameans fled from Israel, and David killed seven hundred charioteers of the Arameans and forty thousand horsemen, and struck Shobach the commander of their army, and he died there.

¹⁹When all the kings, servants of Hadadezer, saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Arameans were afraid to help the sons of Ammon anymore.

¹Now it came about after this, that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon died, and his son became king in his place.

²Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent messengers to console him concerning his father. And David’s servants came into the land of the sons of Ammon to Hanun to console him.

³But the commanders among the sons of Ammon said to Hanun, “Do you think that David is honoring your father, in that he has sent comforters to you? Have his servants not come to you to search, to demolish, and to spy out the land?”

⁴So Hanun took David’s servants and shaved them, and cut off their robes in the middle as far as their buttocks, and sent them away.

⁵Then certain people went and told David about the men. And he sent messengers to meet them, because the men were very humiliated. And the king said, “Stay at Jericho until your beards grow back, then return.”

⁶When the sons of Ammon saw that they had made themselves repulsive to David, Hanun and the sons of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to hire for themselves chariots and horsemen from Mesopotamia, Aram-maacah, and Zobah.

⁷So they hired for themselves thirty-two thousand chariots, and the king of Maacah and his people, who came and camped opposite Medeba. And the sons of Ammon gathered together from their cities and came to the battle.

⁸When David heard about it, he sent Joab and all the army, the mighty men.

⁹The sons of Ammon came out and drew up in battle formation at the entrance of the city; and the kings who had come were by themselves in the field.

¹⁰Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him at the front and at the rear, he selected warriors from all the choice men in Israel and lined them up against the Arameans.

¹¹But the remainder of the people he placed under the command of Abshai his brother; and they lined up against the sons of Ammon.

¹²He said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will help you.

¹³Be strong, and let’s show ourselves courageous for the benefit of our people and the cities of our God; and may the LORD do what is good in His sight.”

¹⁴So Joab and the people who were with him advanced to battle against the Arameans, and they fled from him.

¹⁵When the sons of Ammon saw that the Arameans had fled, they also fled from his brother Abshai and entered the city. Then Joab came to Jerusalem.

¹⁶When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they sent messengers and brought out the Arameans who were beyond the Euphrates River, with Shophach the commander of the army of Hadadezer leading them.

¹⁷When it was reported to David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan, and came upon them and drew up in formation against them. And when David drew up in battle formation against the Arameans, they fought against him.

¹⁸And the Arameans fled from Israel, and David killed of the Arameans seven thousand charioteers and forty thousand foot soldiers; and he put Shophach the commander of the army to death.

¹⁹So when the servants of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and served him. So the Arameans were not willing to help the sons of Ammon anymore.