David’s Kingdom Strengthened

18 Now after this ^(A)it came about that David ^[a]defeated the Philistines and subdued them and took Gath and its towns from the hand of the Philistines. ² And he defeated Moab, and the Moabites became servants to David, bringing tribute.

³ David also defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah as far as Hamath, as he went to establish his ^[b]rule to the river Euphrates. ⁴ David took from him a thousand chariots and seven thousand horsemen and twenty thousand foot soldiers, and David hamstrung almost all the chariot horses, but left enough of them for a hundred chariots.

⁵ When the Arameans of ^[c]Damascus came to help Hadadezer king ^(B)of Zobah, David ^[d]killed twenty-two thousand men of the Arameans. ⁶ Then David put garrisons among the Arameans of ^[e]Damascus; and the Arameans became servants to David, bringing tribute. And the Lord helped David wherever he went. ⁷ And David took the shields of gold which were ^[f]carried by the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ Also from ^[g]Tibhath and Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took a very large amount of bronze, with which ^(C)Solomon made the bronze ^[h]Sea and the pillars and the bronze utensils.

⁹ Now when ^[i]Tou king of Hamath heard that David had ^[j]defeated all the army of Hadadezer king of Zobah, ¹⁰ he sent ^[k]Hadoram his son to King David to ^[l]greet him and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and had ^[m]defeated him; for Hadadezer had been at war with Tou. And Hadoram brought all kinds of articles of gold and silver and bronze. ¹¹ King David also dedicated these to the Lord, with the silver and the gold which he had carried away from all the nations: from Edom, Moab, the sons of Ammon, the Philistines, and from Amalek.

¹² Moreover, Abishai the son of Zeruiah ^[n]defeated eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. ¹³ Then he put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became servants to David. And the Lord helped David wherever he went.

¹⁴ So David reigned over all Israel; and he ^[o]administered justice and righteousness for all his people. ^15 (D)Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was secretary; ¹⁶ and Zadok the son of Ahitub and Abimelech the son of Abiathar were priests, and Shavsha was secretary; ¹⁷ and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and the sons of David were chiefs at the king’s side.