以色列人战胜亚扪人
1后来，亚扪王死了，他儿子哈嫩继位。 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， 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？他不过是来探听虚实，想征服我们的城。” 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亚扪人知道得罪了大卫，便派人到伯·利合和琐巴招募了两万名亚兰步兵、玛迦王的一千人和一万二千名陀伯人。 7大卫听见消息后，就派约押率领全体勇士出战。 8亚扪人在城门前列阵，琐巴和利合的亚兰人、陀伯人以及玛迦人在郊野列阵。 9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， 10把余下的军兵交给他的兄弟亚比筛带领，迎战亚扪人。
11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。 12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！”
13于是，约押率领军兵进攻亚兰人，亚兰人败逃。 14亚扪人见亚兰人败逃，也从亚比筛面前逃回城去。约押打完亚扪人，便回师耶路撒冷。
15亚兰人见自己败在以色列人手下，便再次聚集起来。 16哈大底谢派人把幼发拉底河那边的亚兰人调到希兰来，由他的将军朔法率领。 17大卫听到消息后，就召集以色列全军，渡过约旦河，来到希兰。亚兰人列阵迎战大卫， 18结果又败在以色列人手下，四散逃命。大卫杀了七百名战车兵、四万骑兵，还杀了他们的将军朔法。 19哈大底谢属下的诸王见自己被以色列人打败，便向以色列人求和，臣服大卫。从此，亚兰人再也不敢支援亚扪人了。
David Wins the Victory Over the Ammonites
1The king of Ammon died. His son Hanun 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. 3The Ammonite commanders spoke to their master 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 city over. They want to destroy it.” 4So Hanun grabbed David’s messengers. He shaved off half of each man’s beard. He cut their clothes off just below the waist and left them half naked. Then he sent them away.
5David was told about it. So he sent messengers to his men 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 they hired 20,000 Aramean soldiers who were on foot. The soldiers came from Beth Rehob and Zobah. The Ammonites also hired the king of Maakah and 1,000 men. And they hired 12,000 men from Tob.
7David heard about it. So he sent Joab out with the entire army of Israel’s fighting men. 8The Ammonites marched out. They took up their battle positions at the entrance of their city gate. The Arameans of Zobah and Rehob gathered their troops together in the open country. So did the men of Tob and Maakah.
9Joab 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. 10He put the rest of the men under the command of his brother Abishai. Joab sent them to march out against the Ammonites. 11He 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. 12Be 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.”
13Then Joab and the troops with him marched out to attack the Arameans. They ran away from him. 14The Ammonites realized that the Arameans were running away. So they ran away from Abishai. They went inside the city. After Joab had fought against the Ammonites, he went back to Jerusalem.
15The Arameans saw that they had been driven away by Israel. So they brought their troops together. 16Hadadezer had some Arameans brought from east of the Euphrates River. They went to Helam under the command of Shobak. He was the commander of Hadadezer’s army.
17David was told about it. So he gathered the whole army of Israel together. They went across the Jordan River to Helam. The Arameans lined up their soldiers to go to war against David. They began to fight against him. 18But then they ran away from Israel. David killed 700 of their chariot riders. He killed 40,000 of their soldiers who were on foot. He also struck down Shobak, the commander of their army. Shobak died there. 19All the kings who were under the rule of Hadadezer saw that Israel had won the battle over them. So they made a peace treaty with the Israelites. They were brought under Israel’s rule.
After that, the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.
