Discovery Box1 Chronicles 19:17--20:3 
Context19:17 When David was informed, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan River, 1 and marched against them. 2 David deployed his army against the Arameans for battle and they fought against him. 3 19:18 The Arameans fled before Israel. David killed 7,000 4 Aramean charioteers and 40,000 infantrymen; he also killed Shophach 5 the commanding general. 19:19 When Hadadezer’s subjects saw they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became his subjects. The Arameans were no longer willing to help the Ammonites.
20:1 In the spring, at the time when kings normally conduct wars, 6 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 king 7 and wore it 8 (its weight was a talent 9 of gold and it was set with precious stones). He took a large amount of plunder from the city. 20:3 He removed the city’s residents and made them do hard labor with saws, iron picks, and axes. 10 This was his policy 11 with all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all the army returned to Jerusalem.
1 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
2 tc The parallel text of 2 Sam 10:17 “he came to Helam.”
tn Heb “and he came to them and was deployed against them.”
3 tn Heb “and David was deployed to meet Aram [for] battle and they fought with him.”
4 tc The parallel text of 2 Sam 10:18 has “seven hundred.”
5 tn The parallel text of 2 Sam 10:18 has the variant spelling “Shobach.”
6 tn Heb “and it was at the time of the turning of the year, at the time of the going out of kings.”
7 tc The translation follows the MT, which reads “of their king”; the LXX and Vulgate read “of Milcom” (cf. 1 Kgs 11:5). Milcom, also known as Molech, was the god of the Ammonites.
8 tn Heb “and it was on the head of David.”
9 sn See the note on the word “talents” in 19:6.
10 tc The Hebrew text reads “saws,” but since saws were just mentioned, it is preferable to emend מְגֵרוֹת (mÿgerot, “saws”) to מַגְזְרוֹת (magzÿrot, “axes”).
11 tn Heb “and so he would do.”
