2 Samuel 8 — Legacy Standard Bible

David Strikes Down Nations

8^aNow it happened afterwards, that David struck the Philistines and subdued them; and David took ¹control of the chief city from the hand of the Philistines.

²^aHe also struck ^bMoab, and measured them with the line, making them lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death and one full line to keep alive. And ^cthe Moabites became servants to David, ^dbringing tribute.

³Then David struck ^aHadadezer, the son of Rehob king of Zobah, as ^bhe went to restore his ¹power at the ²River. ⁴And David captured from him 1,700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers; and David ^ahamstrung all the chariot horses, but left enough of them for 100 chariots. ⁵Then ^athe Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer, king of Zobah. And David struck down 22,000 Arameans. ⁶Then David placed garrisons among the Arameans of Damascus; and ^athe Arameans became servants to David, bringing tribute. And ^bYahweh granted salvation to David wherever he went. ⁷And David took the small shields of gold which were ¹carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸Also from ¹Betah and from ^aBerothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took a very large amount of bronze.

⁹Then Toi king of ^aHamath heard that David had struck down all the military force of Hadadezer, ¹⁰so Toi sent ¹Joram his son to King David to ²greet him and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and struck him down; for Hadadezer ³had been at war with Toi. And in ⁴Joram’s hand were articles of silver, of gold, and of bronze. ¹¹King David also ^aset these apart as holy to Yahweh, with the silver and the gold that he had set apart as holy from all the nations which he had subdued: ¹²from ¹Aram, ^aMoab, ^bthe sons of Ammon, ^cthe Philistines, ^dAmalek, and from the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

¹³So ^aDavid made a name for himself when he returned from striking down 18,000 ¹Arameans in ^bthe Valley of Salt. ¹⁴Then he placed garrisons in Edom. In all Edom he placed garrisons, and ^aall the Edomites became servants to David. And ^bYahweh granted salvation to David wherever he went.

¹⁵So David reigned over all Israel; and David was doing justice and righteousness for all his people. ¹⁶^aNow Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, and ^bJehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was ^crecorder; ¹⁷^aand Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were ^bpriests, and Seraiah was ^cscribe; ¹⁸^aand Benaiah the son of Jehoiada ¹was over the ^bCherethites and the Pelethites; and the sons of David were ²^,^cpriests.