David’s Messengers Disgraced (1 Chronicles 19:1–9)
1 UST Sometime later, Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, died. His son Hanun became the next Ammonite king. BSB BSB: Some time later, the king of the Ammonites died and was succeeded by his son Hanun.
2 UST David thought to himself,“Nahash was kind to me, so I will be kind to his son Hanun.” So David sent some of his officials to tell Hanun that David was sorry that Hanun’ s father had died. When those messengers arrived in the land of Ammon, BSB BSB: And David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent some of his servants to console Hanun concerning his father. But when they arrived in the land of the Ammonites,
3 UST the Ammonite military leaders said to King Hanun,“You should not think that when David sent these men to tell you he is sorry that your father died, he did that to honor your father. He sent them here to look around the city to determine how his army can conquer us!” BSB BSB: the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, “Just because David has sent you comforters, do you really believe he is showing respect for your father? Has not David instead sent his servants to explore the city, spy it out, and overthrow it?”
4 UST { Hanun believed what they said.} So he commanded some of his soldiers to seize David’ s officials and{ insult them by} shaving off one side of their beards. He also had them cut off the lower part of their robes so that their buttocks would show. Then he made them leave Ammon and go back to Israel. BSB BSB: So Hanun took David’s servants, shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their garments at the hips, and sent them away.
5 UST This made the men feel very ashamed. When David found out about what Hanun had done to his officials, he sent messengers to meet them on their way back to Jerusalem.{ The messengers met them at the city of Jericho.} They told the men,“The king says you may stay here at Jericho until your beards have grown back and only return home after that.” BSB BSB: When this was reported to David, he sent messengers to meet the men, since they had been thoroughly humiliated. The king told them, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown back, and then return.”
6 UST Then the Ammonite leaders realized that they had greatly insulted David. So they sent some men to hire some soldiers from other nearby areas to help defend them. They hired 20, 000 soldiers from the Aramean regions of Beth Rehob and Zobah. They also hired 1, 000 soldiers from the army of the king of Maacah and 12, 000 soldiers from the region of Tob. BSB BSB: When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench to David, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth-rehob and Zoba, as well as a thousand men from the king of Maacah and twelve thousand men from Tob.
7 UST When David heard about that, he sent Joab with all of the best Israelite soldiers to fight against them. BSB BSB: On hearing this, David sent Joab and the entire army of mighty men.
8 UST The Ammonite soldiers came from their city and formed a battle line in front of its wall. At the same time, the foreign soldiers whom their king had hired from Zobah, Rehob, Tob, and Maacah formed a separate battle line in the open fields nearby. BSB BSB: The Ammonites marched out and arrayed themselves for battle at the entrance of the city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the open country.
David Defeats Ammon and Aram (1 Chronicles 19:10–19)
9 UST Joab saw that there were enemy armies in front of his troops and behind his troops. So he chose some of the best Israelite soldiers and put them in position to fight against the soldiers who were in the fields. BSB BSB: When Joab saw the battle lines before him and behind him, he selected some of the best men of Israel and arrayed them against the Arameans.
10 UST He told his brother Abishai to command the rest of the soldiers. They would oppose the Ammonite soldiers who had formed a battle line in front of their city wall. BSB BSB: And he placed the rest of the troops under the command of his brother Abishai, who arrayed them against the Ammonites.
11 UST Joab told Abishai,“If the soldiers from Aram are too strong for my men to defeat, then your men must come and help us. But if the Ammonite soldiers are too strong for your men, then my men will come and help them. BSB BSB: “If the Arameans are too strong for me,” said Joab, “then you will come to my rescue. And if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to your rescue.
12 UST We must be strong and fight hard so that our enemies do not defeat us and then come and kill our people and destroy the cities in Israel, where we worship the true God. We will depend on Yahweh to make the right army win this battle.” BSB BSB: Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and for the cities of our God. May the LORD do what is good in His sight.”
13 UST Then Joab and the soldiers he commanded advanced to attack the army of Aram.{ They defeated the Arameans so badly that} the Arameans ran away from them. BSB BSB: So Joab and his troops advanced to fight the Arameans, who fled before him.
14 UST When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans were running away, they also ran away from Abishai and the soldiers he was commanding. They retreated back inside their city. So Joab and his army stopped fighting against them and went back to Jerusalem. BSB BSB: When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they too fled before Abishai, and they entered the city. So Joab returned from fighting against the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem.
15 UST The Arameans thought about how the Israelite army had defeated them. They decided to gather a much bigger army. BSB BSB: When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they regrouped.
16 UST King Hadadezer summoned a great number of soldiers from the Aramean kingdoms that were on the other side of the Euphrates River. They gathered at the city of Helam. Hadadezer had his own army commander, Shobach, lead this army. BSB BSB: Hadadezer sent messengers to bring more Arameans from beyond the Euphrates, and they came to Helam with Shobach the commander of Hadadezer’s army leading them.
17 UST When David learned about this, he gathered all of the Israelite fighting men and led them across the Jordan River. They marched to Helam. The Aramean army formed a battle line there, and the two armies fought. BSB BSB: When this was reported to David, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan, and went to Helam. Then the Arameans arrayed themselves against David and fought against him.
18 UST { The Israelites defeated the Arameans so badly that} the Aramean soldiers ran away from the Israelite soldiers. David and his army killed 700 of their chariot drivers and 40, 000 other soldiers. They also wounded Shobach, Hadadezer’ s army commander, so badly that he died on the battlefield. BSB BSB: But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred charioteers and forty thousand foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobach the commander of their army, who died there.
19 UST Then all the kings who has been Hadadezer’ s subjects thought about how the Israelites had defeated their combined armies. They decided to make a peace treaty with the Israelites. They agreed to accept David as their king. The Arameans would not help the Ammonites anymore after that, because they were afraid of Israel. BSB BSB: When all the kings who were subject to Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subject to them. So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.
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