Read the Modern Pastor’s Version

After Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, died, his son took over as king in his place. David said, "I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash because his father showed kindness to me." So he sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father, and David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon to do so.

However, the princes of the children of Ammon didn't understand David's intentions. They asked Hanun, "Do you think David honors your father by sending comforters to you? Or have his servants come to search out, overthrow, and spy out our land?" Hanun took David's servants and subjected them to a humiliating treatment: he shaved them and cut off their garments in the middle at their buttocks. Then he sent them away.

When some of David's men returned and told him what had happened, he was greatly displeased. He instructed them to stay in Jericho until their beards grew back, then return. Meanwhile, the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David. To rectify this situation, Hanun sent a large sum of money – one thousand talents of silver – to hire chariots and horsemen from Mesopotamia, Syria, and Zobah.

The king of Maachah and his people, along with thirty-two thousand hired chariots, arrived in the region of Medeba. The children of Ammon gathered their forces from their cities and prepared for battle. When David heard about this, he sent Joab and all the mighty men with him to engage the enemy.

The armies of the children of Ammon lined up against Israel's army before the city gate, while the kings who had allied with them stood separately in the field. But Joab realized that he was outnumbered from both sides, so he selected Israel's finest warriors and arrayed them against the Syrians. Meanwhile, he gave Abishai his brother command over the rest of the people to fight against the children of Ammon.

Joab advised his men, "If the Syrians prove too strong for me, then you will help me. But if the children of Ammon prove too strong for you, I will come to your aid." He urged them to be courageous and fight on behalf of their people and the cities of God, trusting that the Lord would do what is right in his sight.

The battle between Joab's forces and the Syrians began, and the Syrians fled before them. When the children of Ammon saw this, they too fled from Abishai and entered their city. Then Joab returned to Jerusalem.

However, the Syrians soon realized that they had been defeated by Israel. They sent messengers to gather their forces beyond the river Euphrates, and Shophach, the commander of Hadarezer's army, led them out. This news reached David, who then gathered all Israel and crossed over Jordan to engage the enemy in battle.

As the two armies clashed, the Syrians fled before Israel. In this fierce battle, David's forces killed seven thousand charioteers and forty thousand infantry soldiers. They also killed Shophach, the commander of the army. When Hadarezer's servants saw that they were being defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and submitted to his authority, abandoning their alliance with the children of Ammon.