Saul Defeats the Ammonites

11 Now ^(A)Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged ^(B)Jabesh-gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make ^(C)a covenant with us and we will serve you.” ² But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “I will make it with you on this condition, ^(D)that I will gouge out the right eye of every one of you, and thereby I will inflict ^(E)a disgrace on all Israel.” ³ So ^(F)the elders of Jabesh said to him, “Allow us seven days to send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you.”

Ammon and Aram Defeated

10 ^(A)Now it happened afterward that ^(B)the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun became king in his place. ² Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of ^(C)Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent ^[a]some of his servants to console him about his father. But when David’s servants came to the land of the Ammonites, ³ the commanders of the Ammonites said to their lord Hanun, “^[b]Do you think that David is simply honoring your father since he has sent you servants ^[c]to console you? ^(D)Has David not sent his servants to you in order to explore the city, to spy it out and overthrow it?” ⁴ So Hanun took David’s servants and ^(E)shaved off half of their beards, and ^(F)cut off their robes in the middle as far as their buttocks, and sent them away. ⁵ When 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.”

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

²¹ To ^(A)Edom, ^(B)Moab, and the sons of ^(C)Ammon;

¹⁰ Then Ishmael took captive all the ^(A)remnant of the people who were in Mizpah, the ^(B)king’s daughters and all the people who were left in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had put in the custody of Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and proceeded to cross over to the sons of ^(C)Ammon.