1 Some time later, King Nahash of Ammon died, and his son Hanun became king.
2 David said, “Nahash was kind to me, and I will be kind to his son.” So he sent some officials to the country of Ammon to tell Hanun how sorry he was that his father had died.
3 But Hanun's officials told him, “Do you really believe David is honouring your father by sending these people to comfort you? He probably sent them to spy on our city, so he can destroy it.”
4 Hanun arrested David's officials and had their beards shaved off on one side of their faces. He had their robes cut off just below the waist, and then he sent them away.
5 They were terribly ashamed.When David found out what had happened to his officials, he sent a message and told them, “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow back. Then you can come home.”
6 The Ammonites realized that they had made David very angry, so they hired more foreign soldiers. Twenty thousand of them were foot soldiers from the Aramean cities of Beth-Rehob and Zobah, one thousand were from the king of Maacah, and twelve thousand were from the region of Tob.
7 David heard what they had done, and he sent out Joab with all his well-trained soldiers.