1 Chronicles 19

¹Now it came about after this that death came to Nahash, the king of the children of Ammon, and his son became king in his place.

²And David said, I will be a friend to Hanun, the son of Nahash, because his father was a friend to me. So David sent men to him, to give him words of comfort on account of his father. And the servants of David came to Hanun, to the land of the children of Ammon, offering him comfort.

³But the chiefs of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, Does it seem to you that David is honouring your father, by sending comforters to you? is it not clear that these men have only come to go through the land and to make secret observation of it so that they may overcome it?

⁴So Hanun took David's servants, and cutting off their hair and the skirts of their robes up to the middle, sent them away.

⁵Then certain men went and gave David word of what had been done to them. And he sent out with the purpose of meeting them; for the men were greatly shamed. And the king said, Keep where you are at Jericho till your hair is long again, and then come back.

⁶And when the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves hated by David, Hanun and the children of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver as payment for war-carriages and horsemen from Mesopotamia and Aram-maacah and Zobah.

⁷So with this money they got thirty-two thousand war-carriages, and the help of the king of Maacah and his people, who came and took up their position in front of Medeba. And the children of Ammon came together from their towns for the fight.

⁸And David, hearing of it, sent Joab with all the army of fighting-men.

So the children of Ammon came out and put their forces in position on the way into the town; and the kings who had come were stationed by themselves in the field.