1After this, the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun became king.
2David said, "I will be kind to Hanun, Nahash's son, just as his father was kind to me." So David sent his servants to comfort Hanun after his father's death. David's servants went into the land of the Ammonites.
3But the Ammonite officials said to their lord Hanun, "Do you think David is honoring your father by sending people to comfort you? Hasn't David sent his servants to explore the city, spy it out, and then overthrow it?"
4So Hanun captured David's servants, shaved off half their beards, cut off their robes in the middle up to their buttocks, and sent them away.
5When David was told about this, he sent messengers to meet them, because the men were very ashamed. The king said, "Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown back, and then return."
6When the Ammonites realized they had made David despise them, they sent for and hired twenty thousand foot soldiers from the Arameans of Beth Rehob and Zobah, one thousand men from the king of Maacah, and twelve thousand men from Tob.
7When David heard about this, he sent Joab and all his elite soldiers.
8The Ammonites came out and prepared for battle at the entrance of their city gate. The Arameans from Zobah and Rehob, and the men from Tob and Maacah, were by themselves in the open country.
9When Joab saw that he was about to be attacked from both front and rear, he selected some of the best men of Israel and arranged them in position to fight the Arameans.
10He put the rest of the troops under the command of his brother Abishai, and they took positions to fight the Ammonites.
11Joab said, "If the Arameans are too strong for me, you must come and help me. But if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will come and help you."
12"Be brave! Let's fight bravely for our people and for the cities of our God. May Yahweh do what he believes is right."
13So Joab and his men advanced to attack the Arameans, and the Arameans ran away from them.
14When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they also ran away from Abishai and went back into their city. Then Joab returned from fighting the Ammonites and went to Jerusalem.
15When the Arameans saw that Israel had defeated them, they regrouped.
16Hadadezer sent messengers and brought out the Arameans from beyond the Euphrates River; they went to Helam, with Shobach, the commander of Hadadezer's army, leading them.
17When David was told this, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan River, and went to Helam. The Arameans lined up for battle against David and fought him.
18But the Arameans fled from Israel, and David killed seven hundred Aramean charioteers and forty thousand horsemen. He also struck down Shobach, the commander of their army, who died there.
19When all the kings who were under Hadadezer saw that Israel had defeated them, they made peace with Israel and served them. After that, the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.