Ammon and Aram Defeated

1 aNow it happened afterwards that bthe king of the Ammonites died, and Hanun his son 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 concerning his father. But when David’s servants came to the land of the Ammonites,

3 the 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?”

4 So 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.

5 When 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.”

6 Now 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.