2 Samuel 10 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Some time later, the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun became king in his place. David said, "I'm going to show loyal kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, the same way his father showed loyal kindness to me." So David sent his officials to bring condolences about his father.

But when David's officials arrived in Ammonite territory, the Ammonite commanders said to Hanun their master, "Do you really think David is sending these men to honor your father? No—David sent them to scout out the city, spy on it, and figure out how to overthrow it."

So Hanun seized David's officials, shaved off half of each man's beard, cut their robes off at the waist — right at the buttocks — and sent them away.

When David was told what happened, he sent messengers to meet the men, because they were completely humiliated. The king told them, "Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown back, and then come home."

When the Ammonites realized they had made themselves repulsive to David, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth-rehob and Zobah, plus the king of Maacah with a thousand men, and twelve thousand men from Tob.

When David heard about this, he sent Joab out with the entire army — all the best fighting men.

The Ammonites came out and formed their battle line at the entrance to their city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah took up positions separately in the open field.

When Joab saw that the battle lines were set against him both in front and behind, he picked the best soldiers in Israel and positioned them to face the Arameans.

He put the rest of the troops under the command of his brother Abishai, and positioned them to face the Ammonites.

Joab said, "If the Arameans are too strong for me, you come help me. And if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I'll come help you.

Stand firm and let's fight with everything we've got — for our people and for the cities of our God. And may Yahweh do what he sees as right."

Joab and his troops advanced to fight the Arameans, and the Arameans fled before them.

When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they ran from Abishai and retreated into the city. So Joab pulled back from the Ammonites and returned to Jerusalem.

When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they regrouped.

Hadadezer sent for the Arameans from beyond the Euphrates River, and they came to Helam, with Shobach the commander of Hadadezer's army leading them.

When David was told about this, he gathered all of Israel, crossed the Jordan, and marched to Helam.

The Arameans formed up their battle line to face David and engaged him in combat.

But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred of their chariot teams and forty thousand horsemen. He also struck down Shobach, their army commander, who died right there on the field.

When all the kings who were allies of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became their subjects. After that, the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites ever again.