2nd Shamu'AL (2 Samuel) — 10
Daud Defeats the Ammunites
1 Some time after this, King Nahash of the Ammunites died, and his son Hanun became king.
2 Daud said, “I am going to show loyalty to Hanun just as his father, Nahash, was always loyal to me.” So Daud sent ambassadors to express sympathy to Hanun about his father’s death. But when Daud’s ambassadors arrived in the land of Ammun,
3 the Ammunites commanders said to Hanun, their master, “Do you really think these men are coming here to honor your father? No! Daud has sent them to spy out the city so they can come in and conquer it!”
4 So Hanun seized Daud’s ambassadors and shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their robes at the buttocks, and sent them back to Daud in shame.
5 When king Daud heard what had happened, he sent messengers to tell the men, “Stay at Yarichu until your beards grow out, and then come back.” For they felt deep shame because of their appearance.
6 When the people of Ammun realized how seriously they had angered Daud, they sent and hired twenty thousand Aramaan foot soldiers from the lands of Bath-rahub and Zubah, one thousand from the king of Maacah, and twelve thousand from the land of Tub.
7 When Daud heard about this, he sent Yuab and all his warriors to fight them.
8 The Ammunite troops came out and drew up their battle lines at the entrance of the city gate, while the Aramaans from Zubah and Rahub and the men from Tub and Maacah positioned themselves to fight in the open fields.
9 When Yuab saw that he would have to fight on both the front and the rear, he chose some of Yashar'AL elite troops and placed them under his personal command to fight the Aramaans in the fields.
10 He left the rest of the army under the command of his brother Abishai, who was to attack the Ammunites.
11 “If the Aramaans are too strong for me, then come over and help me,” Yuab told his brother. “And if the Ammunites are too strong for you, I will come and help you.
12 Be courageous! Let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH. May 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH’s will be done.”
13 When Yuab and his troops attacked, the Aramaans began to run away.
14 And when the Ammunites saw the Aramaans running, they ran from Abishai and retreated into the city. After the battle was over, Yuab returned to Yahushalam.
15 The Aramaans now realized that they were no match for Yashar'AL. So when they regrouped,
16 they were joined by additional Aramaan troops summoned by Hadadazar from the other side of the Euphrates River. These troops arrived at Halam under the command of Shubach, the commander of Hadadazar’s forces.
17 When Daud heard what was happening, he mobilized all Yashar'AL, crossed the Yurdan River, and led the army to Halam. The Aramaans positioned themselves in battle formation and fought against Daud.
18 But again the Aramaans fled from the Yasharalym. This time Daud’s forces killed seven hundred charioteers and forty thousand foot soldiers, including Shubach, the commander of their army.
19 When all the kings allied with Hadadazar saw that they had been defeated by Yashar'AL, they surrendered to Yashar'AL and became their subjects. After that, the Aramaans were afraid to help the Ammunites.