^10:1Later the king of the Ammonites died and his son Hanun succeeded him.¹^10:2David said, “I will express my loyalty² to Hanun son of Nahash just as his father was loyal³ to me.” So David sent his servants with a message expressing sympathy over his father’s death.⁴ When David’s servants entered the land of the Ammonites, ^10:3the Ammonite officials said to their lord Hanun, “Do you really think David is trying to honor your father by sending these messengers to express his sympathy?⁵ No, David has sent his servants to you to get information about the city and spy on it so they can overthrow it!”⁶

^10:4So Hanun seized David’s servants and shaved off half of each one’s beard. He cut the lower part of their robes off so that their buttocks were exposed,⁷ and then sent them away. ^10:5Messengers⁸ told David what had happened,⁹ so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho¹⁰ until your beards have grown again; then you may come back.”

^10:6When the Ammonites realized that David was disgusted with them,¹¹ they¹² sent and hired 20,000 foot soldiers from Aram Beth Rehob and Aram Zobah,¹³ in addition to 1,000 men from the king of Maacah and 12,000 men from Ish-tob.¹⁴

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Footnotes

1 Heb “reigned in his place.”
2 Heb “do loyalty.”
3 Heb “did loyalty.”
4 Heb “and David sent to console him by the hand of his servants concerning his father.”
5 Heb “Is David honoring your father in your eyes when he sends to you ones consoling?”
6 Heb “Is it not to explore the city and to spy on it and to overthrow it [that] David has sent his servants to you?”
7 Heb “and he cut their robes in the middle unto their buttocks.”
8 Heb “they”; the referent (the messengers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 The words “what had happened” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
10 For location see ; ; ; ; ; .
11 Heb “that they were a stench [i.e., disgusting] with David.”
12 Heb “the Ammonites.”
13 Or “Arameans of Beth Rehob and Arameans of Zobah.”
14 Or perhaps “the men of Tob.” The ancient versions (the , the , and ) understand the name to be “Ish-tob.” It is possible that “Ish” is dittographic and that we should read simply “,” a reading adopted by a number of recent English versions.