2 Samuel 10:1–6

Ammon and Aram Defeated

^1aNow it happened afterwards that ^bthe king of the Ammonites died, and Hanun his son became king in his place.

²Then 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 concerning his father. But when David’s servants came to the land of the Ammonites,

³the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, “¹Do you think that David is honoring your father because he has sent consolers to you? ^aHas David not sent his servants to you in order to search the city, to spy it out and overthrow it?”

⁴So Hanun took David’s servants and ^ashaved off half of their beards, and ^bcut off their garments in the middle as far as their hips, and sent them away.

⁵When they told it to David, he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly humiliated. And the king said, “¹Stay at Jericho until your beards grow, and then return.”

⁶Now when the sons of Ammon saw that ^athey had become odious to David, the sons of Ammon sent and ^bhired the Arameans of ^cBeth-rehob and the ^dArameans of Zobah, 20,000 foot soldiers, and the king of ^eMaacah with 1,000 men, and the men of Tob with 12,000 men.