1 Chronicles 20

20:1 In the spring, at the time when kings march off to war,1 Joab led the army into battle and devastated the land of the Ammonites. He went and besieged Rabbah, while David stayed in Jerusalem. Joab defeated Rabbah and tore it down. 20:2 David took the crown from the head of their king2 (its weight was a unit3 of gold and it was set with precious stones) and wore it.4 He took a large amount of plunder from the city. 20:3 He took the city’s residents and made them work with saws, iron picks, and axes.5 David did this to all the cities of the Ammonites; then David and all the army returned to Jerusalem.

Battles with the Philistines

20:4 Later there was a battle6 with the Philistines in Gezer. At that time Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the Rephaim, and the Philistines7 were subdued.

20:5 There was another battle with the Philistines in which Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite,8 whose spear had a shaft as big as the crossbeam of a weaver’s loom.

20:6 In a battle in Gath9 there was a very large man who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all! He too was a descendant of Rapha. 20:7 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him.

20:8 These were the descendants of Rapha who lived in Gath; they fell by the hand of David and his soldiers.10

The Lord Sends a Plague Against Israel

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