1 Chronicles 19-20

Contemporary English Version

Israel Fights Ammon and Syria

(2 Samuel 10.1-19)

19 Some time later, King Nahash of Ammon died, and his son Hanun became king. ² David said, “Nahash was kind to me, so I will be kind to his son.” He sent some officials to Ammon to tell Hanun how sorry he was that his father had died.

But when David's officials arrived at Ammon, ³ the Ammonite leaders said to Hanun, “Do you really believe King David is honoring your father by sending these men to comfort you? He probably sent them to spy on our country, so he can come and destroy it.”

⁴ Hanun arrested David's officials and had their beards shaved off and their robes cut off just below the waist, and then he sent them away. ⁵ They were terribly ashamed.

When David found out what had happened to his officials, he sent a message that told them, “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow back. Then you can come home.”

⁶ The Ammonites realized they had made David furious. So they paid 34 tons of silver to hire chariot troops from Mesopotamia and from the Syrian kingdoms of Maacah and Zobah. ⁷ Thirty-two thousand troops, as well as the king of Maacah and his army, came and camped near Medeba. The Ammonite troops also left their towns and came to prepare for battle.

⁸ David heard what was happening, and he sent out Joab with his army. ⁹ The Ammonite troops marched to the entrance of the city^[a] and prepared for battle, while the Syrian troops took their positions in the open fields.

¹⁰ Joab saw that the enemy troops were lined up on both sides of him. So he picked some of the best Israelite soldiers to fight the Syrians. ¹¹ Then he put his brother Abishai in command of the rest of the army and told them to fight against the Ammonites. ¹² Joab told his brother, “If the Syrians are too much for me to handle, come and help me. And if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I'll come and help you. ¹³ Be brave and fight hard to protect our people and the towns of our Lord God. I pray he will do whatever pleases him.”

¹⁴ Joab and his soldiers attacked the Syrians, and the Syrians ran from them. ¹⁵ When the Ammonite troops saw that the Syrians had run away, they ran from Abishai's soldiers and went back into their own city. Joab then returned to Jerusalem.

¹⁶ As soon as the Syrians realized they had been defeated, they sent for their troops that were stationed on the other side of the Euphrates River. Shophach, the commander of Hadadezer's army, led these troops to Ammon.

¹⁷ David found out what the Syrians were doing, and he brought Israel's entire army together. They crossed the Jordan River, and he commanded them to take their positions facing the Syrian troops.

Soon after the fighting began, ¹⁸ the Syrians ran from Israel. David killed 7,000 chariot troops and 40,000 regular soldiers. He also killed Shophach, their commander.

¹⁹ When the kings who had been under Hadadezer's rule saw that Israel had defeated them, they made peace with David and accepted him as their new ruler. The Syrians never helped the Ammonites again.

The End of the War with Ammon

(2 Samuel 11.1; 12.26-31)

20 ^(A) The next spring, the time when kings go to war, Joab marched out in command of the Israelite army and destroyed towns all over the country of Ammon. He attacked the capital city of Rabbah and left it in ruins. But David stayed in Jerusalem.

² Later, David himself went to Rabbah, where he took the crown from the statue of their god Milcom.^[b] The crown was made of about 34 kilograms of gold, and there was a valuable jewel on it. David put the jewel on his crown,^[c] then carried off everything else of value. ³ He forced the people of Rabbah to work with saws, iron picks, and axes. He also did the same thing with the people in all the other Ammonite towns.

David then led Israel's army back to Jerusalem.

The Descendants of the Rephaim

(2 Samuel 21.15-22)

⁴ Some time later, Israel fought a battle against the Philistines at Gezer. During this battle, Sibbecai from Hushah killed Sippai, a descendant of the Rephaim,^[d] and the Philistines were defeated.

^5 (B) In another battle against the Philistines, Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath from Gath, whose spear shaft was like a weaver's beam.^[e]

⁶ Another one of the Philistine soldiers who was a descendant of the Rephaim was as big as a giant and had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. During a battle at Gath, ⁷ he made fun of Israel, so David's nephew Jonathan^[f] killed him.

⁸ David and his soldiers killed these three men from Gath who were descendants of the Rephaim.