1 Chronicles 19

¹Some time later, the king of the Ammonites died and was succeeded by his son Hanun.

²And David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent some of his servants to console Hanun concerning his father. But when they arrived in the land of the Ammonites,

¹²But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we must have a king to rule over us’—even though the Lord your God was your king.

¹Then Nahash the Ammonite came up and laid siege to Jabesh-gilead. All the men of Jabesh said to him, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”

²But Nahash the Ammonite replied, “I will make a treaty with you on one condition, that I may put out everyone’s right eye and bring reproach upon all Israel.”

²⁶When David arrived in Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a gift for you from the plunder of the Lord’s enemies.”

³No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, even to the tenth generation.

⁴For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.

³⁷The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites of today.

³⁸The younger daughter also gave birth to a son, and she named him Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites of today.

¹⁵Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he saved the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man.

⁷“Do not be afraid,” said David, “for surely I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”

¹At that time the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people, and in it they found the passage stating that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,

⁹Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said, “You are spies! You have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”

¹⁰“Not so, my lord,” they replied. “Your servants have come to buy food.

⁴But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with Achish and told him, “Send that man back and let him return to the place you assigned him. He must not go down with us into battle only to become our adversary during the war. What better way for him to regain the favor of his master than with the heads of our men?

⁸But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders; instead, he consulted the young men who had grown up with him and served him.

⁹He asked them, “What message do you advise that we send back to these people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”

²³They sent spies to Bethel (formerly known as Luz),

²⁴and when the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, “Please show us how to get into the city, and we will treat you kindly.”

¹Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim, saying, “Go, inspect the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

²And it was reported to the king of Jericho: “Behold, some men of Israel have come here tonight to spy out the land.”

⁸When the men returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers asked them, “What did you find?”

⁹They answered, “Come on, let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and it is very good. Why would you fail to act? Do not hesitate to go there and take possession of the land!

⁴So Hanun took David’s servants, shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their garments at the hips, and sent them away.

⁵When this was reported to David, he sent messengers to meet the men, since they had been thoroughly humiliated. The king told them, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown back, and then return.”

⁵eighty men who had shaved off their beards, torn their garments, and cut themselves came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, carrying grain offerings and frankincense for the house of the Lord.

⁴so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks—to Egypt’s shame.

¹⁶But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.

²Dibon goes up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails over Nebo, as well as over Medeba. Every head is shaved, every beard is cut off.

⁴In return for my love they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.

⁵They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

²²However, the hair of his head began to grow back after it had been shaved.

²⁴Then the Israelites burned up the city and everything in it. However, they put the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house.

²⁵And Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her father’s household and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent to spy out Jericho. So she has lived among the Israelites to this day.

³¹When his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and recounted all of this to their master.

³⁴In Ahab’s days, Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho. At the cost of Abiram his firstborn he laid its foundation, and at the cost of Segub his youngest he set up its gates, according to the word that the Lord had spoken through Joshua son of Nun.

⁵When the Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand of their men.

⁶When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench to David, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth-rehob and Zoba, as well as a thousand men from the king of Maacah and twelve thousand men from Tob.

³⁰Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”

⁹When King Tou of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer king of Zobah,

⁵Jotham waged war against the king of the Ammonites and defeated them, and that year they gave him a hundred talents of silver, ten thousand cors of wheat, and ten thousand cors of barley. They paid him the same in the second and third years.

⁵So the king of Israel assembled the prophets, four hundred men, and asked them, “Should we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should we refrain?” “Go up,” they replied, “and God will deliver it into the hand of the king.”

³⁰But we have overthrown them; Heshbon is destroyed as far as Dibon. We demolished them as far as Nophah, which reaches to Medeba.”

⁹The area from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the middle of the valley, the whole plateau of Medeba as far as Dibon,

¹⁶The territory from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the middle of the valley, to the whole plateau beyond Medeba,

³Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, because Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.

⁶When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench to David, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth-rehob and Zoba, as well as a thousand men from the king of Maacah and twelve thousand men from Tob.

⁷Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

⁸They collapse and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.

⁸These are the names of David’s mighty men: Josheb-basshebeth the Tahchemonite was chief of the Three. He wielded his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed at one time.

⁹Next in command was Eleazar son of Dodo the Ahohite. As one of the three mighty men, he went with David to taunt the Philistines who had gathered for battle at Pas-dammim. The men of Israel retreated,

¹⁰Now these were the chiefs of David’s mighty men, who, together with all Israel, bolstered and strengthened his kingdom, according to the word of the Lord concerning Israel.

¹¹This is the list of David’s mighty men: Jashobeam son of Hachmoni was chief of the officers; he wielded his spear against three hundred men, whom he killed at one time.

⁶Now David had said, “Whoever is the first to strike down a Jebusite will become chief commander.” And Joab son of Zeruiah went up first, and he became the chief.

¹Now Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army. Accompanied by thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots, he marched up, besieged Samaria, and waged war against it.

⁴“I will do whatever seems best to you,” the king replied. So he stood beside the gate, while all the troops marched out by hundreds and by thousands.

⁶a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and a strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.

³Abijah went into battle with an army of 400,000 chosen men, while Jeroboam drew up in formation against him with 800,000 chosen and mighty men of valor.

⁵With a sound like that of chariots they bound over the mountaintops, like the crackling of fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army deployed for battle.

⁴²They grasp the bow and spear; they are cruel and merciless. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride upon horses, lined up like men in formation against you, O Daughter of Babylon.

⁴²So they fled before the men of Israel toward the wilderness, but the battle overtook them, and the men coming out of the cities struck them down there.

⁴³They surrounded the Benjamites, pursued them, and easily overtook them in the vicinity of Gibeah on the east.

⁹When Joab saw the battle lines before him and behind him, he selected some of the best men of Israel and arrayed them against the Arameans.

¹⁰And he placed the rest of the troops under the command of his brother Abishai, who arrayed them against the Ammonites.

²²Meanwhile, those in the ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces on both sides. So Israel struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained.

¹²Moreover, Abishai son of Zeruiah struck down eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

⁹The Ammonites marched out and arrayed themselves for battle at the entrance to the city, while the kings who had come stayed by themselves in the open country.

²⁰Now Abishai, the brother of Joab, was chief of the Three, and he wielded his spear against three hundred men, killed them, and won a name along with the Three.

²⁷Nevertheless, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending together as one for the faith of the gospel,

²⁸without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a clear sign of their destruction but of your salvation, and it is from God.

²⁰Wherever you hear the sound of the horn, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us!”

⁹Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.

¹⁰For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up!

²Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

¹⁴Wait patiently for the Lord; be strong and courageous. Wait patiently for the Lord!

¹⁴After I had made an inspection, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”

²⁵“Do not be afraid or discouraged,” Joshua said. “Be strong and courageous, for the Lord will do this to all the enemies you fight.”

¹²Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and for the cities of our God. May the Lord do what is good in His sight.”

¹³Be on the alert. Stand firm in the faith. Be men of courage. Be strong.

⁹Take courage and be men, O Philistines! Otherwise, you will serve the Hebrews just as they served you. Now be men and fight!”

⁵Do you not know that the Lord, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?

⁶Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon son of David, rose up and rebelled against his master.

¹³Meanwhile a prophet approached Ahab king of Israel and declared, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Do you see this entire great army? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand this very day, and you will know that I am the Lord.’”

²⁸Then the man of God approached the king of Israel and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because the Arameans have said that the Lord is a god of the hills and not of the valleys, I will deliver all this great army into your hand. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

²⁹For seven days the armies camped opposite each other, and on the seventh day the battle ensued, and the Israelites struck down the Arameans—a hundred thousand foot soldiers in one day.

¹⁵Why have your warriors been laid low? They cannot stand, for the Lord has thrust them down.

¹⁶They continue to stumble; indeed, they have fallen over one another. They say, ‘Get up! Let us return to our people and to the land of our birth, away from the sword of the oppressor.’

¹⁹Meanwhile, these young officers of the district governors marched out of the city, with the army behind them,

²⁰and each one struck down his opponent. So the Arameans fled, with the Israelites in pursuit. But Ben-hadad king of Aram escaped on horseback with the cavalry.

⁷You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you.

³¹What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

¹⁶Hadadezer sent messengers to bring more Arameans from beyond the Euphrates, and they came to Helam with Shobach the commander of Hadadezer’s army leading them.

¹Behold, a day of the Lord is coming when your plunder will be divided in your presence.

²For I will gather all the nations for battle against Jerusalem, and the city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city.

¹Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

⁹Huddle together, O peoples, and be shattered; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for battle, and be shattered; prepare for battle, and be shattered!

¹¹But now many nations have assembled against you, saying, “Let her be defiled, and let us feast our eyes on Zion.”

¹²But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord or understand His plan, for He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.

⁹The Ammonites marched out and arrayed themselves for battle at the entrance to the city, while the kings who had come stayed by themselves in the open country.

⁶Elam takes up a quiver, with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovers the shield.

⁷Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are posted at the gates.

¹⁸But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred charioteers and forty thousand foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobach the commander of their army, who died there.

¹¹The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

¹³Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and for the cities of our God. May the Lord do what is good in His sight.”

¹⁴So Joab and his troops advanced to fight the Arameans, who fled before him.

³²It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way clear.

¹⁶No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength.

¹⁹When all the kings who were subject to Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subject to them. So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.

¹²Ben-hadad received this message while he and the kings were drinking in their tents, and he said to his servants, “Take your positions.” So they stationed themselves against the city.

⁸“Are not all my commanders kings?” he says.

⁴For twelve years they had been subject to Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

⁵In the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh-kiriathaim,

⁴⁴When they hear me, they obey me; foreigners cower before me.

³⁹You have armed me with strength for battle; You have subdued my foes beneath me.