2 Samuel 8

David’s Further Conquests

8After this it came to pass that David ¹attacked the Philistines and subdued them. And David took ²Metheg Ammah from the hand of the Philistines.

²Then ^ahe defeated Moab. Forcing them down to the ground, he measured them off with a line. With two lines he measured off those to be put to death, and with one full line those to be kept alive. So the Moabites became David’s ^bservants, and ^cbrought tribute.

³David also defeated Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of ^dZobah, as he went to recover ^ehis territory at the River Euphrates. ⁴David took from him one thousand chariots, ³seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. Also David ^fhamstrung all the chariot horses, except that he spared enough of them for one hundred chariots.

^5gWhen the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand of the Syrians. ⁶Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became David’s servants, and brought tribute. So ^hthe Lord preserved David wherever he went. ⁷And David took ⁱthe shields of gold that had belonged to the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸Also from ⁴Betah and from ^jBerothai, ⁵cities of Hadadezer, King David took a large amount of bronze.

⁹When ⁶Toi king of ^kHamath heard that David had defeated all the army of Hadadezer, ¹⁰then Toi sent ⁷Joram his son to King David, to ⁸greet him and bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him (for Hadadezer had been at war with Toi); and Joram brought with him articles of silver, articles of gold, and articles of bronze. ¹¹King David also ^ldedicated these to the Lord, along with the silver and gold that he had dedicated from all the nations which he had subdued—¹²from ⁹Syria, from Moab, from the people of Ammon, from the ^mPhilistines, from Amalek, and from the spoil of Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

¹³And David made himself a ⁿname when he returned from killing ^oeighteen thousand ¹Syrians in ^pthe Valley of Salt. ¹⁴He also put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom he put garrisons, and ^qall the Edomites became David’s servants. And the Lord preserved David wherever he went.

David’s Administration

¹⁵So David reigned over all Israel; and David administered judgment and justice to all his people. ^16rJoab the son of Zeruiah was over the army; ^sJehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder; ^17tZadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were the priests; ²Seraiah was the ³scribe; ^18uBenaiah the son of Jehoiada was over both the ^vCherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were ⁴chief ministers.