Through My Bible Yr 2 – September 14

1 Chronicles 18

David’s Victories

¹In the course of time, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and he took Gath and its surrounding villages from the control of the Philistines.

²David also defeated the Moabites, and they became subject to him and brought tribute.

³ Moreover, David fought Hadadezer king of Zobah, as far as Hamath, when he went to establish his control along the Euphrates River. ⁴David captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand charioteers and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He hamstrung all but a hundred of the chariot horses.

⁵ When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand of them. ⁶He put garrisons in the Aramean kingdom of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to him and brought tribute. The LORD gave David victory everywhere he went.

⁷ David took the gold shields carried by the officers of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ From Tebah ^[a]and Cun, towns that belonged to Hadadezer, David took a great quantity of bronze, which Solomon used to make the bronze Sea, the pillars and various bronze articles.

⁹ When Tou king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer king of Zobah, ¹⁰he sent his son Hadoram to King David to greet him and congratulate him on his victory in battle over Hadadezer, who had been at war with Tou. Hadoram brought all kinds of articles of gold and silver and bronze.

¹¹King David dedicated these articles to the LORD, as he had done with the silver and gold he had taken from all these nations: Edom and Moab, the Ammonites and the Philistines, and Amalek.

¹² Abishai son of Zeruiah struck down eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. ¹³He put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became subject to David. The LORD gave David victory everywhere he went.

David’s Officials

¹⁴ David reigned over all Israel, doing what was just and right for all his people. ¹⁵ Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder; ¹⁶ Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech ^[b] son of Abiathar were priests; Shavsha was secretary; ¹⁷Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were chief officials at the king’s side.

1 Chronicles 19

The Battle Against the Ammonites

¹ In the course of time, Nahash king of the Ammonites died, and his son succeeded him as king. ² David thought, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father.
When David’s men came to Hanun in the land of the Ammonites to express sympathy to him, ³ the Ammonite nobles said to Hanun, “Do you think David is honoring your father by sending men to you to express sympathy? Haven’t his men come to you to explore and spy out the country and overthrow it?” ⁴So Hanun seized David’s men, shaved them, cut off their garments in the middle at the buttocks, and sent them away.

⁵When someone came and told David about the men, he sent messengers to meet them, for they were greatly humiliated. The king said, “Stay at Jericho till your beards have grown, and then come back.”

⁶ When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench in David’s nostrils, Hanun and the Ammonites sent a thousand talents ^[c] of silver to hire chariots and charioteers from Aram Naharaim, ^[d] Aram Maacah and Zobah. ⁷They hired thirty-two thousand chariots and charioteers, as well as the king of Maacah with his troops, who came and camped near Medeba, while the Ammonites were mustered from their towns and moved out for battle.

⁸ On hearing this, David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men. ⁹The Ammonites came out and drew up in battle formation at the entrance to their city, while the kings who had come were by themselves in the open country.

¹⁰ Joab saw that there were battle lines in front of him and behind him; so he selected some of the best troops in Israel and deployed them against the Arameans. ¹¹ He put the rest of the men under the command of Abishai his brother, and they were deployed against the Ammonites. ¹² Joab said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to rescue me; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will rescue you. ¹³Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The LORD will do what is good in his sight.”

¹⁴ Then Joab and the troops with him advanced to fight the Arameans, and they fled before him. ¹⁵When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans were fleeing, they too fled before his brother Abishai and went inside the city. So Joab went back to Jerusalem.

¹⁶ After the Arameans saw that they had been routed by Israel, they sent messengers and had Arameans brought from beyond the River, ^[e]with Shophach the commander of Hadadezer’s army leading them.

¹⁷ When David was told of this, he gathered all Israel and crossed the Jordan; he advanced against them and formed his battle lines opposite them. David formed his lines to meet the Arameans in battle, and they fought against him. ¹⁸But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven thousand of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers. He also killed Shophach the commander of their army.

¹⁹ When the vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became subject to him.
So the Arameans were not willing to help the Ammonites anymore.

1 Chronicles 20

The Capture of Rabbah

¹ In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, Joab led out the armed forces. He laid waste the land of the Ammonites and went to Rabbah and besieged it, but David remained in Jerusalem. Joab attacked Rabbah and left it in ruins. ² David took the crown from the head of their king ^[f] —its weight was found to be a talent ^[g] of gold, and it was set with precious stones—and it was placed on David’s head. He took a great quantity of plunder from the city ³and brought out the people who were there, consigning them to labor with saws and with iron picks and axes. David did this to all the Ammonite towns. Then David and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.

War With the Philistines

⁴In the course of time, war broke out with the Philistines, at Gezer. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the Rephaites, and the Philistines were subjugated.

⁵In another battle with the Philistines, Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod.

⁶ In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha. ⁷When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him.

⁸ These were descendants of Rapha in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his men.

Footnotes:

1. 1 Chronicles 18:8 Hebrew Tibhath , a variant of Tebah
2. 1 Chronicles 18:16 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Vulgate and Syriac (see also 2 Samuel 8:17 most Hebrew manuscripts Abimelech
3. 1 Chronicles 19:6 That is, about 37 tons (about 34 metric tons)
4. 1 Chronicles 19:6 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia
5. 1 Chronicles 19:16 That is, the Euphrates
6. 1 Chronicles 20:2 Or of Milcom , that is, Molech
7. 1 Chronicles 20:2 That is, about 75 pounds (about 34 kilograms)

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.