1 *Chronicles 18

₁Later David attacked the Philistines and he defeated all of them. He took the town of Gath for the Israelites, and all the villages near the town that belonged to the Philistines. ₂David also defeated the Moabites and then they had to work for David and pay him taxes.

₃David went to the Euphrates River to put up a monument for himself. King Hadadezer from the land of Zobah wanted to make his kingdom bigger, but David defeated him all the way to the town of Hamath. ₄David took 1 000 war-chariots, 7 000 men on horses and 20 000 soldiers from Hadadezer. David hamstrung the horses, and he kept only 100 horses to pull the war-chariots. ₅The Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer from Zoba, but David defeated them and killed 20 000 of their men. ₆David told some of his men to stay with the Arameans in Damascus to guard them. The Arameans had to work for David and they had to pay him taxes. The Lord helped David wherever he went. ₇The officers of Hadadezer had golden shields. David said they must get all the shields and he took them to Jerusalem. ₈David also took a lot of bronze from the towns of Tebah and Kun, towns of Hadadezer. Later Solomon took that bronze and he used it to make the water-tank, the pillars and bronze tools for the temple.

₉They told King Tou of Hamath that David had defeated King Hadadezer of Zobah. ₁₀Then King Tou sent his son Hadoram to King David to greet him and congratulate him because he had made war_against Hadadezer and defeated him. King Tou of Hamath and King Hadadezer had been enemies for many years. Hadoram also gave David lots of gifts of gold, silver and bronze. ₁₁King David took these gifts and he consecrated them all to the Lord. David also consecrated the silver and gold that he got from the other nations and he took it to his land. He got it from the people of Edom, from the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Philistines and the Amalekites. ₁₂Abishai, son of Zeruiah, defeated 18 000 Edomite soldiers in the Salt Valley. ₁₃He told his men to stay with the Arameans to guard them. All the Edomites had to work for David. The Lord helped David wherever he went.

₁₄David was king of all Israel. He did what was good and right for all of his people. ₁₅Joab, son of Zeruiah, was the chief of the army, Jehoshaphat, son of Ahilud, was the chief of all the officials, ₁₆Zadok, son of Ahitub, and Abimelek, son of Abiathar, were the priests and Shavsha was the secretary. ₁₇Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, was the leader of the men who guarded the king. The sons of David were chief_officials who served the king.