The king of the Ammonites died. Hanun, his son, became king. And David sent messengers to him in friendship and asked to live in peace together. But the princes of the Ammonites did not trust the messengers and Hanun had half their beards cut off and he also cut off their clothing from the waist down.
When they told this to David, he sent messengers to the men who had been put to shame and told them to stay in Jericho until their beards had grown. When the Ammonites saw they had fallen into disrepute with David, they hired 20,000 men from the Arameans, 1,000 men from King Maacah and 12,000 men from Tob. And David heard of it and sent Joab and all the army of the men of war. When Joab saw that the attack in the open field was directed at him, he chose some of the best of all his troops and put them against the Ammonites. Abishai was in put in charge of the rest of the troops and they agreed on how they could help one another depending on their situation. So Joab moved forward, but the Arameans fled before him. When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans fled before him, they also fled before Abishai. But the fleeing Arameans assembled together and came to Helam with Shobach, the captain the army of Hadadezer at their head. But David passed over the Jordan to Helam. The Arameans lined up against David. But they fled and David destroyed 700 chariots and forty thousand men and he slew Shobach. Soon after, the Ammonites and Arameans made peace and served Israel. From then on, the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites.