²David also won the battle over the people of Moab. He made them lie down on the ground. Then he measured them off with a piece of rope. He put two-thirds of them to death. He let the other third remain alive. So the Moabites were brought under David’s rule. They gave him the gifts he required them to bring him.

³David fought against Hadadezer, the son of Rehob. Hadadezer was king of Zobah. He had gone to take back control of the land along the Euphrates River. ⁴David captured 1,000 of Hadadezer’s chariots, 7,000 chariot riders and 20,000 soldiers on foot. He cut the legs of all but 100 of the chariot horses.

⁵The Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer, the king of Zobah. But David struck down 22,000 of them. ⁶He stationed some soldiers in the Aramean kingdom of Damascus. The people of Aram were brought under his rule. They gave him the gifts he required them to bring him. The Lord helped David win his battles everywhere he went.

⁷David took the gold shields that belonged to the officers of Hadadezer. He brought the shields to Jerusalem. ⁸He took a huge amount of bronze from Tebah and Berothai. Those towns belonged to Hadadezer.

⁹Tou was king of Hamath. He heard that David had won the battle over the entire army of Hadadezer. ¹⁰So Tou sent his son Joram to King David. Joram greeted David. He praised him because he had won the battle over Hadadezer. Hadadezer had been at war with Tou. So Joram brought with him articles that were made out of silver, gold and bronze.

¹¹King David set those articles apart for the Lord. He had done the same thing with the silver and gold he had taken from the other nations he had brought under his control. ¹²Those nations were Edom, Moab, Ammon, Philistia and Amalek. He also set apart for the Lord what he had taken from Hadadezer, the son of Rehob. Hadadezer was king of Zobah.

¹³David returned after he had struck down 18,000 men of Edom in the Valley of Salt. He became famous for doing it.

¹⁴He stationed some soldiers all through Edom. The whole nation of Edom was brought under his rule. The Lord helped David win his battles everywhere he went.

David’s Officials

¹⁵David ruled over the whole nation of Israel. He did what was fair and right for all of his people. ¹⁶Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was commander over the army. Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, kept the records. ¹⁷Zadok, the son of Ahitub, was a priest. Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar, was also a priest. Seraiah was the secretary. ¹⁸Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was commander over the Kerethites and Pelethites. And David’s sons were royal advisers.

David Is Kind to Mephibosheth

9David asked, “Is anyone left from the royal house of Saul? If there is, I want to be kind to him because of Jonathan.”

²Ziba was a servant in Saul’s family. David sent for him to come and see him. The king said to him, “Are you Ziba?”

“I’m ready to serve you,” he replied.

³The king asked, “Isn’t anyone left from the royal house of Saul? God has been very kind to me. I would like to be kind to someone in the same way.”

Ziba answered the king, “A son of Jonathan is still living. Both of his feet were hurt.”

⁴“Where is he?” the king asked.

Ziba answered, “He’s in the town of Lo Debar. He’s staying at the house of Makir, the son of Ammiel.”

⁵So King David had Mephibosheth brought from Makir’s house in Lo Debar.

⁶Mephibosheth came to David. He was the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul. Mephibosheth bowed down to David to show him respect.

David said, “Mephibosheth!”

“I’m ready to serve you,” he replied.

⁷“Don’t be afraid,” David told him. “You can be sure that I will be kind to you because of your father Jonathan. I’ll give back to you all of the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul. And I’ll always provide what you need.”

⁸Mephibosheth bowed down to David. He said, “Who am I? Why should you pay attention to me? I’m nothing but a dead dog.”

⁹Then the king sent for Saul’s servant Ziba. He said to him, “I’m giving your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. ¹⁰You and your sons and your servants must farm the land for him. You must bring in the crops. Then he’ll be taken care of. I’ll always provide what he needs.” Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants.

¹¹Then Ziba said to the king, “I’ll do anything you command me to do. You are my king and master.” So David provided what Mephibosheth needed. He treated him like one of the king’s sons.

¹²Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica. All of the members of Ziba’s family became servants of Mephibosheth. ¹³Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem. The king always provided what he needed. Both of his feet were hurt.

David Goes to War Against the People of Ammon

10The 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 nobles 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 hold of David’s men. 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 Maacah 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 Maacah.

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.

¹²“Be 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 who were with him marched out to attack the Arameans. They ran away from him. ¹⁴The Ammonites saw 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 Shobach. 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 Shobach, the commander of their army. Shobach died there.

¹⁹All of 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.

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