1 Chronicles 18-21

1 Chronicles 18

¹Some time later, David defeated the Philistines, subdued them, and took Gath and its villages from the hand of the Philistines.

²David also defeated the Moabites, and they became subject to David and brought him tribute.

³As far as Hamath, David also defeated King Hadadezer of Zobah, who had marched out to establish his dominion along the Euphrates River.

⁴David captured from him a thousand chariots, seven thousand charioteers, and twenty thousand foot soldiers, and he hamstrung all the horses except a hundred he kept for the chariots.

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

⁶Then he placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to David and brought him tribute. So the LORD made David victorious wherever he went.

⁷And David took the gold shields that belonged to the officers of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem.

⁸And from Tibhath and Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took a large amount of bronze, with which Solomon made the bronze Sea, the pillars, and various bronze articles.

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

¹⁰he sent his son Hadoram to greet King David and bless him for fighting and defeating Hadadezer, who had been at war with Tou. Hadoram brought all kinds of articles of gold and silver and bronze,

¹¹and King David dedicated these to the LORD, along with the silver and gold he had carried off from all these nations—from Edom and Moab, and from the Ammonites, Philistines, and Amalekites.

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

¹³He placed garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites were subject to David. So the LORD made David victorious wherever he went.

¹⁴Thus David reigned over all Israel and administered justice and righteousness for all his people:

¹⁵Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder;

¹⁶Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Shavsha was the scribe;

¹⁷Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were chief officials at the king’s side.

1 Chronicles 19

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

²And David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent messengers to console Hanun concerning his father. But when David’s servants arrived in the land of the Ammonites to console him,

³the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun, “Just because David has sent you comforters, do you really believe he is showing respect for your father? Have not his servants come to you to explore the land, spy it out, and overthrow it?”

⁴So Hanun took David’s servants, shaved their beards, cut off their garments at the hips, and sent them away.

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

⁶When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench to David, Hanun and the Ammonites sent a thousand talents of silver to hire for themselves chariots and horsemen from Aram-naharaim, Aram-maacah, and Zobah.

⁷So they hired for themselves thirty-two thousand chariots, as well as the king of Maacah with his troops, who came and camped near Medeba while the Ammonites were mustered from their cities and marched out for battle.

⁸On hearing this, David sent Joab and the entire army of mighty men.

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.

¹⁰When 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.

¹¹And he placed the rest of the troops under the command of his brother Abishai, who arrayed them against the Ammonites.

¹²“If the Arameans are too strong for me,” said Joab, “then you will come to my rescue. And if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to your rescue.

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.

¹⁵When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they too fled before Joab’s brother Abishai, and they entered the city. So Joab went back to Jerusalem.

¹⁶When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they sent messengers to bring more Arameans from beyond the Euphrates, with Shophach the commander of Hadadezer’s army leading them.

¹⁷When this was reported to David, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan, advanced toward the Arameans, and arrayed for battle against them. When David lined up to engage them in battle, they fought against him.

¹⁸But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed seven thousand of their charioteers and forty thousand foot soldiers. He also killed Shophach the commander of their army.

¹⁹When Hadadezer’s subjects saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became subject to him. So the Arameans were unwilling to help the Ammonites anymore.

1 Chronicles 20

¹In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, Joab led out the army and ravaged the land of the Ammonites. He came to Rabbah and besieged it, but David remained in Jerusalem. And Joab attacked Rabbah and demolished it.

²Then David took the crown from the head of their king. It was found to weigh a talent of gold and was set with precious stones, and it was placed on David’s head. And David took a great amount of plunder from the city.

³David brought out the people who were there and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes. And he did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.

⁴Some time later, war broke out with the Philistines at Gezer. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, a descendant of the Rephaim, and the Philistines were subdued.

⁵Once again there was a battle with the Philistines, and Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

⁶And there was also a battle at Gath, where there was a man of great stature with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He too was descended from Rapha,

⁷and when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of David’s brother Shimei killed him.

⁸So these descendants of Rapha in Gath fell at the hands of David and his servants.

1 Chronicles 21

¹Then Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.

²So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan and bring me a report, so that I may know their number.”

³But Joab replied, “May the LORD multiply His troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all servants of my lord? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”

⁴Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab. So Joab departed and traveled throughout Israel, and then he returned to Jerusalem.

⁵And Joab reported to David the total number of the troops. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword, including 470,000 in Judah.

⁶But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the count, because the king’s command was detestable to him.

⁷This command was also evil in the sight of God; so He struck Israel.

⁸Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. Now I beg You to take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”

⁹And the LORD instructed Gad, David’s seer,

¹⁰“Go and tell David that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am offering you three options. Choose one of them, and I will carry it out against you.’”

¹¹So Gad went and said to David, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You must choose

¹²between three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies and overtaken by their swords, or three days of the sword of the LORD—days of plague upon the land, with the angel of the LORD ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should reply to Him who sent me.”

¹³David answered Gad, “I am deeply distressed. Please, let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.”

¹⁴So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead.

¹⁵Then God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and relented from the calamity, and He said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

¹⁶When David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.

¹⁷And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave the order to count the people? I am the one who has sinned and acted wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? O LORD my God, please let Your hand fall upon me and my father’s house, but do not let this plague remain upon Your people.”

¹⁸Then the angel of the LORD ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

¹⁹So David went up at the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the LORD.

²⁰Now Ornan was threshing wheat when he turned and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves.

²¹David came to Ornan, and when Ornan looked out and saw David, he left the threshing floor and bowed facedown before David.

²²Then David said to Ornan, “Grant me the site of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar to the LORD. Sell it to me for the full price, so that the plague upon the people may be halted.”

²³Ornan said to David, “Take it! May my lord the king do whatever seems good to him. Look, I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering—I will give it all.”

²⁴“No,” replied King David, “I insist on paying the full price, for I will not take for the LORD what belongs to you, nor will I offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

²⁵So David paid Ornan six hundred shekels of gold for the site.

²⁶And there he built an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. He called upon the LORD, who answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.

²⁷Then the LORD spoke to the angel, who put his sword back into its sheath.

²⁸At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he offered sacrifices there.

²⁹For the tabernacle of the LORD that Moses had made in the wilderness and the altar of burnt offering were presently at the high place in Gibeon,

³⁰but David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.