David's Messengers Abused
1
Now it
came about
after this, that
Nahash the
king of the
sons of
Ammon died, and his
son became king in his
place.
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3
But the
princes of 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 not his
servants come to you to
search and to
overthrow and to
spy out the
land ?"
4
So
Hanun took David's servants and
shaved them and
cut off their
garments in the
middle as
far as their
hips, and
sent them
away.
5
Then certain persons
went and
told David about the
men. And he
sent to
meet them, for the
men were
greatly humiliated. And the
king said, "
Stay at
Jericho until * your
beards grow, and then
return."
6
When the
sons of
Ammon saw that they had
made themselves
odious to
David,
Hanun and the
sons of
Ammon sent 1,000 talents of
silver to
hire for themselves
chariots and
horsemen from
Mesopotamia, from
Aram-maacah * and from
Zobah.
7
So they
hired for themselves
32,000 * * chariots, and the
king of
Maacah and his
people, who
came and
camped before Medeba. And the
sons of
Ammon gathered together from their
cities and
came to
battle.
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8
When
David heard of it, he
sent Joab and
all the
army, the
mighty men.
9
The
sons of
Ammon came out and
drew up in
battle array at the
entrance of the
city, and the
kings who had
come were by
themselves in the
field.
Ammon and Aram Defeated
10
Now when
Joab saw that the
battle was set
against him in
front and in the
rear, he
selected from
all the
choice men of
Israel and they
arrayed themselves
against the
Arameans.
11
But the
remainder of the
people he
placed in the
hand of
Abshai his
brother ; and they
arrayed themselves
against the
sons of
Ammon.
12
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
help you.
13
"Be
strong, and let us
show ourselves
courageous for the
sake of our
people and for the
cities of our
God ; and may the
LORD do what is
good in His
sight."
14
So
Joab and the
people who were with him
drew near to the
battle against the
Arameans, and they
fled before * him.
17
When it was
told 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 array
against the
Arameans, they
fought against him.
19
So when the
servants of
Hadadezer saw that they were
defeated by
Israel, they
made peace with
David and
served him. Thus the
Arameans were not
willing to
help the
sons of
Ammon anymore.