CHAPTER 18

¹And it happened thereafter that David struck down the Philistines and subjugated them, and he took Gath and its hamlets from the land of the Philistines. ²And he struck down Moab, and Moab became tribute-bearing vassals to David. ³And David struck down Hadadezer king of Zobah on the approach to Hamath as he went to set up his monument by the Euphrates River. ⁴And David captured from him a thousand chariots and seven thousand horsemen and twenty thousand foot soldiers, and David hamstrung all the chariot horses, leaving aside a hundred of them. ⁵And the Arameans of Damascus came to aid Hadadezer king of Zobah, and David struck down twenty-two thousand men from among the Arameans. ⁶And David placed prefects in Aram-Damascus, and the Arameans became tribute-bearing vassals to David, and the LORD made David victorious wherever he went. ⁷And David took the golden quivers that had belonged to the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸And from Tibbath and from Chun, the towers of Hadadezer, David took a great abundance of bronze, with which Solomon made the bronze sea and the pillars and the bronze vessels. ⁹And Tou king of Hamath heard that David had struck down all the forces of Hadadezer king of Zobah. ¹⁰And he sent Hadoram his son to King David to ask after his well-being and to salute him for having done battle with Hadadezer and for having struck him down, as Hadadezer was Tou’s adversary. [And in Hadoram’s hand were] all vessels of gold and silver and bronze. ¹¹These, too, did King David consecrate to the LORD, together with the silver and the gold that he had borne off from all the nations, from Edom and from Moab and from the Ammonites and from the Philistines and from the Amalekites. ¹²And Abishai son of Zeruiah struck down eighteen thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt. ¹³And he placed prefects in Edom, and all Edom became vassals to David, and the LORD made David victorious wherever he went. ¹⁴And David was king over all Israel, and it was David’s practice to mete out true justice to all his people. ¹⁵And Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder. ¹⁶And Zadok son of Ahitub and Abimelech son of Abiathar were priests and Shavsha was scribe. ¹⁷And Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherithites and the Pelethites, and David’s sons were the first ones alongside the king.