2 Samuel 10

10 ¹ Later, the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun became king in his place. ² David said, "I'll show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me." So he sent servants to console him over his father's death. But when David's servants reached Ammonite territory, ³ The Ammonite commanders told Hanun their lord, "Do you think David honors your father by sending men to console you? Hasn't David sent his servants to explore the city, spy it out, and overthrow it?"

⁴ Hanun seized David's servants, shaved half of each man's beard, cut their garments off at the hips, and sent them away. ⁵ When David was told, he sent to meet them, since the men were deeply ashamed. The king said, "Stay in Jericho till your beards regrow, then return."

⁶ Seeing they had become a stench to David, the Ammonites sent and hired the Arameans of Beth-rehob and Zobah—twenty thousand foot soldiers—the king of Maacah with a thousand men, and the men of Tob with twelve thousand men. ⁷ On hearing this, David sent Joab with the entire army of fighting men. ⁸ The Ammonites came out and formed battle lines at the entrance to the city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah stood apart in the open field.

⁹ Joab saw that the battle lines faced him on both front and back, so he chose some of Israel's best and lined them up against the Arameans. ¹⁰ He put the rest under his brother Abishai's command, to line up against the Ammonites. ¹¹ Joab said, "If Aram overpowers me, rescue me; if the Ammonites overpower you, I'll rescue you." ¹² Be strong, let's be courageous for our people and our Father's cities. May our Father do what seems good to him. ¹³ Then Joab and the troops with him advanced to fight the Arameans, and they fled before him. ¹⁴ When the Ammonites saw the Arameans flee, they too fled before Abishai and entered the city. So Joab withdrew from the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem.

¹⁵ When the Arameans saw that they had been routed by Israel, they regrouped. ¹⁶ Hadadezer summoned the Arameans beyond the Euphrates; they came to Helam, with Shobach, commander of Hadadezer's army, leading them. ¹⁷ When David heard, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan, and reached Helam. The Arameans lined up against David and fought him. ¹⁸ But the Arameans fled before Israel. David killed seven hundred of their charioteers and forty thousand horsemen, then struck down Shobach, their army commander, who died there. ¹⁹ When all Hadadezer's vassal kings saw they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites again.