^aNow it happened afterward that ^bthe king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun became king in his place. 2 Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of ^aNahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent ¹some of his servants to console him about his father. But when David’s servants came to the land of the Ammonites, 3 the commanders of the Ammonites said to their lord Hanun, “¹Do you think that David is simply honoring your father since he has sent you servants ²to console you? ^aHas David not sent his servants to you in order to explore the city, to spy it out and overthrow it?” 4 So Hanun took David’s servants and ^ashaved off half of their beards, and ^bcut off their robes in the middle as far as their buttocks, and sent them away. 5 When messengers informed David, he sent servants to meet them, because the men were extremely humiliated. And the king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow back, and then you shall return.”

6 Now when the sons of Ammon saw that ^athey had become repulsive to David, the sons of Ammon sent messengers and ^bhired the Arameans of ^cBeth-rehob and the ^dArameans of Zobah, twenty thousand foot soldiers, and the king of ^eMaacah with a thousand men, and the men of Tob with twelve thousand men. 7 When David heard about this, he sent Joab and all the army, the warriors. 8 And the sons of Ammon came out and lined up for battle ^aat the entrance of the ¹city, while the Arameans of Zobah and of Rehob and the men of ^bTob and Maacah were stationed by themselves in the field.

9 Now when Joab saw that ¹the battle was set against him at the front and at the rear, he selected warriors from all the choice men in Israel, and lined them up against the Arameans. 10 But the remainder of the people he placed ¹under the command of his brother Abishai, and he lined them up against the sons of Ammon. 11 And he said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come to help you. 12 ^aBe strong, and let’s show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and the cities of our God; and ^bmay the LORD do what is good in His sight.” 13 So Joab and the people who were with him advanced to the battle against the Arameans, and ^athey fled from him. 14 When the sons of Ammon saw that the Arameans had fled, they also fled from Abishai and entered the city. ^aThen Joab returned from fighting against the sons of Ammon and came to Jerusalem.

15 When the Arameans saw that they had been ¹defeated by Israel, they assembled together. 16 ^aAnd Hadadezer sent word and brought out the Arameans who were beyond the Euphrates River, and they came to Helam; and ^bShobach the commander of the army of Hadadezer ¹led them. 17 Now when it was reported to David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Arameans lined up against David and fought him. 18 But the Arameans fled from Israel, and David killed ^aseven hundred charioteers of the Arameans and forty thousand horsemen, and struck Shobach the commander of their army, and he died there. 19 When all the kings, servants of Hadadezer, saw that they had been ¹defeated by Israel, ^athey made peace with Israel and served them. So the Arameans were afraid to help the sons of Ammon anymore.