2 Samuel 10 - Easy To Read Version

¹ Later {Nahash} king of the Ammonites died. His son Hanun became the new king after him.

² David said, “Nahash was kind to me. So I will be kind to his son Hanun.” So David sent his officers to comfort Hanun about his father’s death.

³ But the Ammonite leaders said to Hanun, their lord, “Do you think that David is trying to honor your father by sending some men to comfort you? No! David sent these men to secretly study and learn things about your city. They plan to make war against you.”

⁴ So Hanun took David’s officers and shaved off one half of their beards. He cut their clothes in the middle down to their hips. Then he sent them away.

⁵ When the people told David, he sent {messengers} to meet his officers. He did this because these men were very ashamed. King David said, “Wait at Jericho until your beards grow again. Then come back {to Jerusalem}.”

⁶ The Ammonites saw that they had become David’s enemies. So the Ammonites hired Arameans from Beth Rehob and Zobah. There were 20,000 Aramean foot soldiers. The Ammonites also hired the king of Maacah with 1,000 men and 12,000 men from Tob.

⁷ David heard about this. So he sent Joab and the whole army of powerful men.

⁸ The Ammonites came out and got ready for the battle. They stood at the city gate. The Arameans from Zobah and Rehob, and the men from Tob and Maacah did not stand together with the Ammonites in the field.

⁹ Joab saw that there were enemies in front of him and behind him. So Joab chose some of the best Israelite soldiers and lined them up for battle against the Arameans.

¹⁰ Then Joab gave the other men to his brother Abishai to lead against the Ammonites.

¹¹ Joab said {to Abishai}, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, you will help me. If the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will come and help you.

¹² Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and for the cities of our God. The Lord will do what he decides is right.”

¹³ Then Joab and his men attacked the Arameans. The Arameans ran away from Joab and his men.

¹⁴ The Ammonites saw that the Arameans were running away, so they ran away from Abishai and went back to {their} city.

¹⁵ The Arameans saw that the Israelites had defeated them. So they came together {into one big army}.

¹⁶ Hadadezer [61] sent messengers to bring the Arameans that lived on the other side of the Euphrates River. These Arameans came to Helam. Their leader was Shobach, the captain of Hadadezer’s army.

¹⁷ David heard about this. So he gathered all of the Israelites together. They crossed over the Jordan River and went to Helam.

¹⁸ But {David defeated the Arameans, and} the Arameans ran away from the Israelites. David killed 700 chariot drivers and 40,000 horse soldiers. David also killed Shobach the captain of the Aramean army.

¹⁹ The kings that served Hadadezer [62] saw that the Israelites had defeated them. So they made peace with the Israelites and became their servants. The Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites again.