19 When King Nahash of Ammon died, his son Hanun became the new king.
2-3 Then David declared, “I am going to show friendship to Hanun because of all the kind things his father did for me.”
So David sent a message of sympathy to Hanun for the death of his father. But when David’s ambassadors arrived, King Hanun’s counselors warned him, “Don’t fool yourself that David has sent these men to honor your father! They are here to spy out the land so that they can come in and conquer it!”
4 So King Hanun insulted King David’s ambassadors by shaving their beards and cutting their robes off at the middle to expose their buttocks; then he sent them back to David in shame. 5 When David heard what had happened, he sent a message to his embarrassed emissaries, telling them to stay at Jericho until their beards had grown out again. 6 When King Hanun realized his mistake he sent $2,000,000 to enlist mercenary troops, chariots, and cavalry from Mesopotamia, Aram-maacah, and Zobah. 7 He hired thirty-two thousand chariots, as well as the support of the king of Maacah and his entire army. These forces camped at Medeba where they were joined by the troops King Hanun had recruited from his cities.
8 When David learned of this, he sent Joab and the mightiest warriors of Israel. 9 The army of Ammon went out to meet them and began the battle at the gates of the city of Medeba. Meanwhile, the mercenary forces were out in the field. 10 When Joab realized that the enemy forces were both in front and behind him, he divided his army and sent one group to engage the Syrians. 11 The other group, under the command of his brother Abishai, moved against the Ammonites.
12 “If the Syrians are too strong for me, come and help me,” Joab told his brother; “and if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I’ll come and help you. 13 Be courageous and let us act like men to save our people and the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what is best.”
14 So Joab and his troops attacked the Syrians, and the Syrians turned and fled. 15 When the Ammonites, under attack by Abishai’s troops, saw that the Syrians were retreating, they fled into the city. Then Joab returned to Jerusalem.
16 After their defeat, the Syrians summoned additional troops from east of the Euphrates River, led personally by Shophach, King Hadadezer’s commander-in-chief. 17-18 When this news reached David, he mobilized all Israel, crossed the Jordan River, and engaged the enemy troops in battle. But the Syrians again fled from David, and he killed seven thousand charioteers and forty thousand of their troops. He also killed Shophach, the commander-in-chief of the Syrian army. 19 Then King Hadadezer’s troops surrendered to King David and became his subjects. And never again did the Syrians aid the Ammonites in their battles.