A Guerra contra os Amonitas
1Algum tempo depois o rei dos amonitas morreu, e seu filho Hanum foi o seu sucessor. 2Davi pensou: “Serei bondoso com Hanum, filho de Naás, como seu pai foi bondoso comigo”. Então Davi enviou uma delegação para transmitir a Hanum seu pesar pela morte do pai dele.
Mas, quando os mensageiros de Davi chegaram à terra dos amonitas, 3os líderes amonitas disseram a Hanum, seu senhor: “Achas que Davi está honrando teu pai ao enviar mensageiros para expressar condolências? Não é nada disso! Davi os enviou como espiões para examinarem a cidade, a fim de destruí-la”. 4Então Hanum prendeu os mensageiros de Davi, rapou metade da barba de cada um, cortou metade de suas roupas até as nádegas e os mandou embora.
5Quando Davi soube disso, enviou mensageiros ao encontro deles, pois haviam sido profundamente humilhados, e lhes mandou dizer: “Fiquem em Jericó até que a barba cresça e então voltem para casa”.
6Vendo que tinham atraído sobre si o ódio de10.6 Hebraico: se transformado em mau cheiro para. Davi, os amonitas contrataram vinte mil soldados de infantaria dos arameus de Bete-Reobe e de Zobá, mil homens do rei de Maaca e doze mil dos homens de Tobe.
7Ao saber disso, Davi ordenou a Joabe que marchasse com todo o exército. 8Os amonitas saíram e se puseram em posição de combate à entrada da cidade, e os arameus de Zobá e de Reobe e os homens de Tobe e de Maaca posicionaram-se em campo aberto.
9Vendo Joabe que estava cercado pelas linhas de combate, escolheu alguns dos melhores soldados de Israel e os posicionou contra os arameus. 10Pôs o restante dos homens sob o comando de seu irmão Abisai e os posicionou contra os amonitas. 11E Joabe disse a Abisai: “Se os arameus forem fortes demais para mim, venha me ajudar; mas, se os amonitas forem fortes demais para você, eu irei ajudá-lo. 12Seja forte e lutemos com bravura pelo nosso povo e pelas cidades do nosso Deus. E que o Senhor faça o que for de sua vontade”.
13Então Joabe e seus soldados avançaram contra os arameus, que fugiram dele. 14Quando os amonitas viram que os arameus estavam fugindo de Joabe, também fugiram de seu irmão Abisai e entraram na cidade. Assim, Joabe parou a batalha contra os amonitas e voltou para Jerusalém.
15Vendo-se derrotados por Israel, os arameus tornaram a agrupar-se. 16Hadadezer mandou trazer os arameus que viviam do outro lado do Eufrates10.16 Hebraico: do Rio.. Estes chegaram a Helã, tendo à frente Soboque, comandante do exército de Hadadezer.
17Informado disso, Davi reuniu todo o Israel, atravessou o Jordão e chegou a Helã. Os arameus estavam em posição de combate para enfrentá-lo, 18mas acabaram fugindo de diante de Israel. E Davi matou setecentos condutores de carros de guerra e quarenta mil soldados de infantaria10.18 Conforme alguns manuscritos da Septuaginta. O Texto Massorético diz cavaleiros. Veja 1Cr 19.18. dos arameus. Soboque, o comandante do exército, também foi ferido e morreu ali mesmo. 19Quando todos os reis vassalos de Hadadezer viram que tinham sido derrotados por Israel, fizeram a paz com os israelitas e sujeitaram-se a eles.
E os arameus ficaram com medo de voltar a ajudar os amonitas.
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.
