Defeat of the Ammonites
20 In the spring, the time when kings go to war, Joab marched out with the army, destroyed the land of the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. David stayed in Jerusalem while Joab attacked Rabbah and overthrew it. 2 David took Milcom’s[a] crown from his head. He found that it weighed one kikkar of gold and was set with a valuable stone. It was placed on David’s head. The amount of loot David took from the city was huge. 3 After removing the people who were in the city, David demolished the city with saws, iron picks, and axes,[b] as he did to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.
War with the Philistines
4 Once again war broke out at Gezer with the Philistines. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the Rephah,[c] and the Philistines were subdued. 5 In another war with the Philistines, Jair’s son Elhanan killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam. 6 At another war in Gath there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all, who was also descended from Raphah. 7 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of David’s brother Shimea killed him. 8 These were descended from the Raphah in Gath, and they fell by the hands of David and his servants.
Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles 20:2 LXX, Vulg; MT their king
- 1 Chronicles 20:3 Cf 2 Sam 12:31; MT saws
- 1 Chronicles 20:4 Or giants; also in 20:6-7