1 ChroniclesChapter 19

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¹Some time later, Nahash king of the Ammonites died. His son became king after him. ²David said, "I will be kind to Hanun son of Nahash, because his father was kind to me." So David sent messengers to comfort Hanun about his father's death. David's servants came to the land of the Ammonites to comfort him. ³But the Ammonite princes said to Hanun, "David has sent men to comfort you. Do you really think he is honoring your father? No! His servants have come to look over the land. They came to spy on it and destroy it." ⁴So Hanun took David's servants and shaved off their beards. He cut off their clothes at the hips. Then he sent them away. ⁵Someone came and told David what had happened to his men. The men were deeply shamed. So David sent messengers to meet them. The king told them, "Stay in Jericho until your beards grow back. Then come home." ⁶The Ammonites saw that David now hated them. So Hanun and the Ammonites sent 1,000 talents of silver to hire chariots and horsemen. They hired them from Aram-naharaim, Aram-maacah, and Zobah.a ⁷They hired 32,000 chariots. They also hired the king of Maacah and his troops. These came and camped near Medeba. The Ammonites were also called together from their cities, and they marched out for battle. ⁸David heard about this. So he sent Joab and the whole army of mighty men. ⁹The Ammonites marched out and lined up for battle at the entrance to their city. The kings who had come stayed by themselves out in the open country. ¹⁰Joab saw that there were battle lines in front of him and behind him. So he chose some of Israel's best men. He lined them up against the Arameans. ¹¹He put the rest of the troops under the command of his brother Abishai. Abishai lined them up against the Ammonites. ¹²Joab said, "If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you will come and rescue me. And if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come and rescue you. ¹³Be strong! Let's fight bravely for our people and for the cities of our God. May the LORD do what he thinks is good." ¹⁴Then Joab and his troops went forward to fight the Arameans. And the Arameans ran away from him. ¹⁵The Ammonites saw that the Arameans had run away. So they also ran away from Joab's brother Abishai and went into their city. Then Joab went back to Jerusalem. ¹⁶The Arameans saw that Israel had beaten them. So they sent messengers to bring more Arameans from beyond the Euphrates River. Shophach, the commander of Hadadezer's army, led them. ¹⁷David was told about this. So he gathered all Israel and crossed the Jordan River. He went toward the Arameans and lined up for battle against them. When David lined up to fight them, they fought against him. ¹⁸But the Arameans ran away from Israel. David killed 7,000 of their chariot drivers and 40,000 of their foot soldiers. He also killed Shophach, the commander of their army. ¹⁹Hadadezer's servants saw that Israel had beaten them. So they made peace with David and became his servants. After that, the Arameans would not help the Ammonites anymore.