大卫击败亚扪人和亚兰人
1后来，亚扪王拿辖死了，他儿子继位。 2大卫说：“我要恩待拿辖的儿子哈嫩，因为他父亲曾经恩待我。”他便派臣仆去安慰丧父的哈嫩。大卫的臣仆来到亚扪境内要安慰哈嫩， 3亚扪的官长却对哈嫩说：“大卫派人来安慰你，你以为他是来吊唁你父亲吗？他的臣仆来见你不过是来探听虚实，想征服这地方。” 4哈嫩便把大卫的臣仆抓起来，剃去他们一半胡子，割去他们下身的衣服，然后放走他们。 5消息传到大卫那里，他就派人去迎接他们，告诉他们住在耶利哥，等胡须长好了再回来，因为他们倍觉羞辱。
6哈嫩及其他亚扪人知道得罪了大卫，就派人用三十四吨银子从美索不达米亚、亚兰玛迦和琐巴招兵买马， 7雇了三万二千辆战车和玛迦王及其军队。他们在米底巴附近扎营，亚扪人也从各城出来准备作战。 8大卫听见消息后，就派约押率领全体勇士出战。 9亚扪人在城门前列阵，来助战的诸王在郊野列阵。
10约押见自己前后受敌，就从以色列军中挑选一些精兵迎战亚兰人， 11把余下的军兵交给他的兄弟亚比筛领导，迎战亚扪人。 12他对亚比筛说：“倘若我胜不过亚兰人，你便过来支援我；倘若你胜不过亚扪人，我便过去支援你。 13我们要刚强，为我们的人民和我们上帝的城邑而奋勇作战。愿耶和华成全祂自己的旨意！” 14于是，约押率领军兵进攻亚兰人，亚兰人败逃。 15见亚兰人败逃，亚扪人也逃离亚比筛，退回城中。约押便回师耶路撒冷。
16亚兰人见自己败在以色列人手下，就派使者调来幼发拉底河那边的亚兰人，由哈大底谢的将军朔法率领。 17大卫听到消息后，就召集以色列全军，渡过约旦河，列阵与亚兰人交战。 18他们击溃了亚兰人，杀了七千名战车兵、四万步兵，还杀了他们的将军朔法。 19哈大底谢的属下见自己败于以色列人，便向大卫求和，臣服于他。从此，亚兰人不敢再支援亚扪人了。
David Wins the Battle Over the Ammonites
1Nahash was king of Ammon. After he died, his son became the next king after him. 2David thought, “I’m going to be kind to Hanun. His father Nahash was kind to me.” So David sent messengers to Hanun. He wanted them to tell Hanun how sad he was that Hanun’s father had died. David’s messengers went to the land of Ammon. They told Hanun how sad David was.
3The Ammonite commanders spoke to Hanun. They said, “David has sent messengers to tell you he is sad. They say he wants to honor your father. But the real reason they’ve come is to look the land over. They want to destroy it.” 4So Hanun grabbed David’s messengers. He shaved them. He cut off their clothes just below the waist and left them half naked. Then he sent them away.
5Someone came and told David what had happened to his men. So David sent messengers to them because they were filled with shame. King David said to them, “Stay at Jericho until your beards grow out again. Then come back here.”
6The Ammonites realized that what they had done had made David very angry with them. So Hanun and the Ammonites got 38 tons of silver. They used it to hire chariots and chariot riders from Aram Naharaim, Aram Maakah and Zobah. 7They hired 32,000 chariots and riders. They also hired the king of Maakah and his troops. All of them came out and camped near Medeba. At the same time the Ammonites brought their troops together from their towns. Then they marched out to fight.
8David heard about it. So he sent Joab out with the entire army of Israel’s fighting men. 9The Ammonites marched out. They took up their battle positions at the entrance to their city. The kings who came to help them gathered their troops together in the open country.
10Joab saw that there were lines of soldiers in front of him and behind him. So he chose some of the best troops in Israel. He sent them to march out against the Arameans. 11He put the rest of the men under the command of his brother Abishai. They were sent to march out against the Ammonites. 12Joab said, “Suppose the Arameans are too strong for me. Then you must come and help me. But suppose the Ammonites are too strong for you. Then I’ll come and help you. 13Be strong. Let’s be brave as we fight for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what he thinks is best.”
14Then Joab and the troops with him marched out to attack the Arameans. They ran away from him. 15The Ammonites realized that the Arameans were running away. So they also ran away from Joab’s brother Abishai. They went inside the city. Then Joab went back to Jerusalem.
16The Arameans saw that they had been driven away by Israel. So they sent messengers to get some Arameans from east of the Euphrates River. The Arameans were under the command of Shophak. He was the commander of Hadadezer’s army.
17David was told about it. So he gathered together the whole army of Israel. They went across the Jordan River. David marched out against the Arameans. He lined up his soldiers opposite them. He lined them up to meet the Arameans in battle. The Arameans began to fight against him. 18But then they ran away from Israel. David killed 7,000 of their chariot riders. He killed 40,000 of their soldiers who were on foot. He also killed Shophak, the commander of their army.
19The people who were under the rule of Hadadezer saw that Israel had won the battle over them. So they made a peace treaty with David. They were brought under his rule.
After that, the Arameans wouldn’t help the Ammonites anymore.
