2. David said, “Nahash was kind to me, and I will be kind to his son.” So he sent some officials to the country of Ammon to tell Hanun how sorry he was that his father had died.
3. But Hanun's officials told him, “Do you really believe David is honouring your father by sending these people to comfort you? He probably sent them to spy on our city, so he can destroy it.”
4. Hanun arrested David's officials and had their beards shaved off on one side of their faces. He had their robes cut off just below the waist, and then he sent them away.
5. They were terribly ashamed.When David found out what had happened to his officials, he sent a message and told them, “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow back. Then you can come home.”
6. The Ammonites realized that they had made David very angry, so they hired more foreign soldiers. Twenty thousand of them were foot soldiers from the Aramean cities of Beth-Rehob and Zobah, one thousand were from the king of Maacah, and twelve thousand were from the region of Tob.
7. David heard what they had done, and he sent out Joab with all his well-trained soldiers.
8. The Ammonite troops came out and got ready to fight in front of the gate to their city. The Arameans from Zobah and Rehob and the soldiers from Tob and Maacah formed a separate group in the nearby fields.
9. Joab saw that he had to fight in front and behind at the same time, and he picked some of the best Israelite soldiers to fight the Arameans.
10. He put his brother Abishai in command of the rest of the army and made them fight the Ammonites.
11. Joab told his brother, “If the Arameans are too much for me to handle, you can come and help me. If the Ammonites are too strong for you, I'll come and help you.
12. Be brave and fight hard to protect our people and the cities of our God. I pray that the Lord will do whatever pleases him.”
13. Joab and his soldiers attacked the Arameans, and the Arameans ran from them.
14. When the Ammonite soldiers saw that the Arameans had run away, they ran from Abishai's soldiers and went back into their own city. Joab stopped fighting the Ammonites and returned to Jerusalem.