The One Year Bible for Men - Flipbook - Page 48
July 15
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TH E LORD I S I N H I S HOLY TE M PLE;
TH E LORD STI LL RU LE S FROM H EAVE N.
PSALM 11:4
J u ly 1 5
1 CHRONICLES 19:1–21:30
Some time after this, King Nahash of the
Ammonites died, and his son Hanun* became
king. 2 David said, “I am going to show loyalty
to Hanun because his father, Nahash, was al
ways loyal to me.” So David sent messengers to
express sympathy to Hanun about his father’s
death.
But when David’s ambassadors arrived in the
land of Ammon, 3 the Ammonite commanders
said to Hanun, “Do you really think these men
are coming here to honor your father? No! Da
vid has sent them to spy out the land so they
can come in and conquer it!” 4 So Hanun seized
David’s ambassadors and shaved them, cut off
their robes at the buttocks, and sent them back
to David in shame.
5 When Da
vid heard what had happened
to the men, he sent messengers to tell them,
“Stay at Jericho until your beards grow out,
and then come back.” For they felt deep shame
because of their appearance.
6 When the people of Ammon realized how
seriously they had angered David, Hanun and
the Ammonites sent 75,000 pounds* of silver
to hire chariots and charioteers from Aram-
naharaim, Aram-maacah, and Zobah. 7 They
also hired 32,000 chariots and secured the
support of the king of Maacah and his army.
These forces camped at Medeba, where they
were joined by the A
mmonite troops that Ha
nun had recruited from his own towns. 8 When
David heard about this, he sent Joab and all his
warriors to fight them. 9 The Ammonite troops
came out and drew up their battle lines at the
entrance of the city, while the other kings po
sitioned themselves to fight in the open fields.
10 When Joab saw that he would have to
fight on both the front and the rear, he chose
some of Israel’s elite troops and placed them
under his personal command to fight the
Arameans in the fields. 11 He left the rest of
the army under the command of his brother
Abishai, who was to attack the Ammonites.
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12 “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then
come over and help me,” Joab told his brother.
“And if the A
mmonites are too strong for you,
I will help you. 13 Be courageous! Let us fight
bravely for our people and the cities of our
God. May the Lord’s will be done.”
14 When Joab and his troops attacked, the
Arameans began to run away. 15 And when the
Ammonites saw the Arameans running, they
also ran from Abishai and retreated into the
city. Then Joab returned to Jerusalem.
16 The Aram
eans now realized that they were
no match for Israel, so they sent messengers
and summoned additional Aram
ean troops
from the other side of the Euphrates River.*
These troops were under the command of Sho
bach,* the commander of Hadadez er’s forces.
17 When David heard what was happening,
he mobilized all Israel, crossed the Jordan
River, and positioned his troops in battle for
mation. Then David engaged the A
rameans in
battle, and they fought against him. 18 But again
the Arameans fled from the Israelites. This
time David’s forces killed 7,000 c harioteers
and 40,000 foot soldiers, including Shobach,
the commander of their army. 19 When Hadad
ezer’s allies saw that they had been defeated by
Israel, they surrendered to David and became
his subjects. After that, the Arameans were no
longer willing to help the Ammonites.
20:1 In
the spring of the year,* when kings
normally go out to war, Joab led the Israelite
army in successful attacks against the land of
the Ammonites. In the process he laid siege to
the city of Rabbah, attacking and destroying
it. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem.
2 Then David went to Rabbah and removed
the crown from the king’s head,* and it was
placed on his own head. The crown was made
of gold and set with gems, and he found that
it weighed s eventy-five pounds.* David took
a vast amount of plunder from the city. 3 He
also made slaves of the people of Rabbah and
forced them to labor with saws, iron picks,
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