1 Chronicles 18 – 20

David’s Wars

1 Chronicles 18

¹ After this David defeated the Philistines. He subdued them and took Gath and its villages from the control of the Philistines.

² He defeated Moab, so the Moabites became subjects of David and paid tribute.

³ David also defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah, as he was on his way to Hamath to establish control ^[1] at the river Euphrates. ⁴ David took from him one thousand chariots, seven thousand charioteers, ^[2] and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He hamstrung all the chariot horses but left enough for one hundred chariots. ⁵ Arameans from Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, but David killed twenty-two thousand men in Aram. ⁶ David placed garrisons in Damascus in Aram. So the Arameans became subject to David and paid tribute.

The Lord gave victory to David everywhere.

⁷ David took the gold shields which belonged to the officials of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ From Tibhath and Kun, ^[3] cities of Hadadezer, David took huge amounts of bronze. With it Solomon later made the sea, the pillars, and the bronze vessels.

⁹ Tou ^[4] king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer king of Zobah. ¹⁰ He sent his son Hadoram ^[5] to King David to ask for peace with him and to bless him, because he had fought against and defeated Hadadezer, who had been at war with Tou. He sent all kinds of articles of gold, silver, and bronze.

¹¹ King David dedicated these to the Lord, along with the silver and gold which he had carried off from all the nations, from Edom, Moab, Ammon, the Philistines, and Amalek.

¹² Abishai son of Zeruiah killed eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. ¹³ He placed garrisons in Edom. All Edom was subject to David.

The Lord gave victory to David everywhere he went.

¹⁴ David was king over all Israel, and he treated his people with justice and fairness.

David’s Officials

David and the Ammonites

1 Chronicles 19

¹ After this, Nahash king of the Ammonites died, and his son became king in his place.

² David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father.

But when David’s officials came to the land of the Ammonites to console Hanun, ³ the officers of the Ammonites said to Hanun, “Do you really think David is honoring your father because he has sent messengers to express sympathy to you? Haven’t his officials come to you as scouts to spy on the land and to overthrow it?”

⁴ So Hanun seized David’s officials, shaved them, and cut off their clothing up to the middle of their buttocks and sent them away.

⁵ After they were sent on their way, David received a report about these men. David sent messengers to meet them, for the men were deeply humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return.”

⁶ The Ammonites saw that they had made themselves a disgusting stench to David. Hanun and the Ammonites sent a thousand talents ^[8] of silver to hire chariots and charioteers for themselves from Aram of the Two Rivers, from Aram Ma’akah, and from Zobah. ⁷ They hired thirty-two thousand chariots, the king of Ma’akah, and his troops. They came and set up camp in front of Medeba. The Ammonites were called together from their cities, and they came for battle.

⁸ When David heard about this, he deployed Joab and the entire army of powerful warriors. ⁹ The Ammonites came out and lined up in battle formation in front of the entrance to the city. The kings who had come from Aram were lined up by themselves in the open country.

¹⁰ Joab saw that the battle lines were drawn up against him both in front of him and behind him, so he chose some of the best troops of Israel and deployed them to confront the Arameans. ¹¹ The rest of the army he put under the command of his brother Abishai. They were deployed to confront the Ammonites.

¹² He said, “If Aram is too strong for me, you will come to my rescue, and if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will rescue you. ¹³ Be strong and act courageously for our people and for the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his eyes.”

¹⁴ Joab and the people who were with him confronted the Arameans in the battle, and the Arameans fled from him.

¹⁵ When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they also fled from Joab’s brother Abishai and entered the city. Joab returned to Jerusalem.

¹⁶ When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated, they sent messengers and summoned the Arameans who were from beyond the Euphrates. Shophak ^[9] the commander of the army of Hadadezer was leading them.

¹⁷ This was reported to David, so he gathered all Israel and crossed the Jordan. He came upon them and deployed for battle against them. David deployed for battle to engage Aram, and they fought against each other.

¹⁸ The Arameans fled from Israel. David killed seven thousand Aramean charioteers and forty thousand foot soldiers. ^[10] He also killed Shophak the commander of the army.

¹⁹ The kings subject to ^[11] Hadadezer saw that they were defeated by Israel. They made peace with David and became subject to him. Then Aram was not willing to rescue the Ammonites anymore.

1 Chronicles 20

¹ When springtime arrived, the time when kings go out to war, Joab led out the army, ravaged the land of the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. David remained in Jerusalem. Joab attacked Rabbah and pulled it down.

² David took the gold crown of their king ^[12] from his head. It weighed seventy-five pounds ^[13] and had a precious stone in it. It was placed on ^[14] David’s head. He brought out large amounts of plunder from the city. ³ He brought out the people who were in the city. He put them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes. ^[15] David did the same to all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and all the troops returned to Jerusalem.

War With the Philistines

⁴ After this, war arose at Gezer ^[16] with the Philistines. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, ^[17] one of the descendants of Rapha the giant, ^[18] and the Philistines were subdued.

⁵ There was another battle with the Philistines. Elhanan, the son of Jair, killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam.

⁶ There was another battle, this time at Gath. There was a very tall man who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four digits in all. He also was descended from Rapha the giant. ^{[19] 7} He taunted Israel, but Jonathan, the son of Shimeah, David’s brother, killed him. ⁸ These were descended from the giant in Gath. They fell by the hand of David and the men who served him.