< 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 time of the turn of the year, at the time of the going forth of kings, that Joab led forth the force of the army, and laid waste the land of the sons of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah, but, David, was tarrying in Jerusalem, —and Joab smote Rabbah, and overthrew 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 their king from off his head, and found it weighed a talent of gold, and, therein, were precious stones, and it was [set] on the head of David, —and, the spoil of the city, brought he forth, in great abundance;
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, the people that were therein, brought he forth, and cut with the saw and with threshing sledges of iron and with axes, thus also, used David to do unto all the cities of the son of Ammon, —and David and all the 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, after this, that there was yet again a battle in Gezer, with the Philistines, —then, Sibbecai the Hushathite smote Sippai of the children of the giants, and they were subdued.
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 again came to be a battle with the Philistines, —and Elhanan son of Jair smote Lahmi, brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear, was like a weaver’s 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 again came to be war with Gath, —where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes, six on each hand and foot, were four and twenty, and, he also, had been born unto the giant.
7 When he made fun of the soldiers of Israel, Jonathan, the son of David’s [older] brother Shimea, killed him.
But, when he reproached Israel, Jonathan, son of Shimea brother of David, smote 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 unto the giant in Gath, —but they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.