< 1 Chronicles 20 >
1 [In that region], kings usually went [with their armies] to fight [their enemies] (in the springtime/when the cold season ended). But that year, David [did not do that. Instead, he] stayed in Jerusalem, and he sent [his commander] Joab [to lead the army]. Joab took his troops. They [crossed the Jordan River and] ruined the land of the Ammon people-group. Then they went to Rabbah, [the capital city, ] and surrounded it. David stayed in Jerusalem [for a while. But later he took more troops and went to help] Joab. Their armies attacked Rabbah and destroyed it.
And it came to pass at the return of the year, at the [time of the] going forth of kings [to war], that Joab gathered the whole force of the army, and they ravaged the land of the children of Ammon; and he came and besieged Rabba. But David abode in Jerusalem. And Joab struck Rabba and destroyed it.
2 Then David took the crown from the head of the king of Rabbah (OR, from the head of their god Milcom) and put it on his own head. It [was very heavy; it] weighed (75 pounds/34 kg.), and it had many very valuable stones [fastened to it]. They also took many other valuable things from the city.
And David took the crown of Molchom their king off his head, and the weight of it was found [to be] a talent of gold, and on it were precious stones; and it was [placed] on the head of David: and he brought out the spoils of the city [which were] very great.
3 Then they brought the people out of the city and forced them to [work for their army, ] using saws and iron picks and axes. David’s soldiers did this in all the cities of the Ammon people-group. Then David and all of his army returned to Jerusalem.
And he brought out the people that were in it, and sawed them asunder with saws, and [cut them] with iron axes, and with harrows: and thus David did to all the children of Ammon. And David and all his people returned to Jerusalem.
4 Later, [David’s army] fought a battle with the army of Philistia, at Gezer [city]. During the battle Sibbecai, from Hushah [clan], killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the Rapha [giants]. So the armies of Philistia were defeated.
And it came to pass afterward that there was again war with the Philistines in Gazer: then Sobochai the Sosathite struck Saphut of the sons of the giants, and laid him low.
5 In another battle against the soldiers of Philistia, Elhanan, the son of Jair, killed Lahmi, the [younger] brother of [the giant] Goliath from Gath [town], who had a spear which was as thick as a weaver’s rod.
And there [was] war again with the Philistines; and Eleanan the son of Jair struck Lachmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, and the wood of his spear [was] as a weavers' beam.
6 There was another battle near Gath. A (huge man/giant) was there who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. He was descended from [the] Rapha [giants].
And there was again war in Geth, and there was a man of extraordinary size, and his fingers [and toes were] six on each hand and foot, four and twenty; and he was descended from the giants.
7 When he made fun of the soldiers of Israel, Jonathan, the son of David’s [older] brother Shimea, killed him.
And he defied Israel, and Jonathan the son of Samaa the brother of David killed him.
8 Those were some of the descendants of [the] Rapha [giants] who had lived in Gath, who were killed [MTY] by David and his soldiers.
These were born to Rapha in Geth; all four were giants, and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.