1 A nd it cometh to pass afterwards that David smiteth the Philistines, and humbleth them, and David taketh the bridle of the metropolis out of the hand of the Philistines.

After this David won the battle against the Philistines. And he took the most important city from the Philistines.

2 A nd he smiteth Moab, and measureth them with a line, causing them to lie down on the earth, and he measureth two lines to put to death, and the fulness of the line to keep alive, and the Moabites are to David for servants, bearers of a present.

He won the battle against Moab, and had them lie down on the ground in straight groups. Two groups were put to death, and one group was kept alive. The Moabites became servants to David and paid taxes to him.

3 A nd David smiteth Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, in his going to bring back his power by the River

Then David won the battle against Hadadezer the son of Rehob king of Zobah, as he went to get his power again at the Euphrates River.

4 a nd David captureth from him a thousand and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen, and David destroyeth utterly the whole of the charioteers, only he leaveth of them a hundred charioteers.

David took 1, 700 horsemen and 20, 000 foot soldiers from him. He cut the legs of some of the war-wagon horses, but saved enough of them for 100 war-wagons.

5 A nd Aram of Damascus cometh to give help to Hadadezer king of Zobah, and David smiteth of Aram twenty and two thousand men;

When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David killed 22, 000 of them.

6 a nd David putteth garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and Aram is to David for a servant, bearing a present; and Jehovah saveth David whithersoever he hath gone;

Then he put groups of soldiers in Damascus of Syria. The Syrians became servants to David and were made to pay taxes to him. The Lord helped David every place he went.

7 a nd David taketh the shields of gold which were on the servants of Hadadezer, and bringeth them to Jerusalem;

David took the coverings of gold which were carried by Hadadezer’s army, and brought them to Jerusalem.

8 a nd from Betah, and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, hath king David taken very much brass.

And he took a very large amount of brass from Hadadezer’s cities, Betah and Berothai.

9 A nd Toi king of Hamath heareth that David hath smitten all the force of Hadadezer,

Now Toi king of Hamath heard that David had won the battle against the whole army of Hadadezer.

10 a nd Toi sendeth Joram his son unto king David to ask of him of welfare, and to bless him, (because that he hath fought against Hadadezer, and smiteth him, for a man of wars Toi had Hadadezer been), and in his hand have been vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass,

So Toi sent his son Joram to King David, to greet him and pray that good would come to him, because David had fought against Hadadezer and had won. Hadadezer had been at war with Toi. Joram brought with him objects of silver, gold and brass.

11 a lso them did king David sanctify to Jehovah, with the silver and the gold which he sanctified of all the nations which he subdued:

David set these apart to the Lord, together with the silver and gold he had set apart from all the nations he had taken in battle.

12 o f Aram, and of Moab, and of the Bene-Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer son of Rehob king of Zobah.

He had taken silver and gold from Syria, Moab, the sons of Ammon, the Philistines, Amalek, and from the things taken from Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

13 A nd David maketh a name in his turning back from his smiting Aram in the valley of Salt -- eighteen thousand;

So David’s name was very respected when he returned from killing 18, 000 Syrians in the Valley of Salt.

14 a nd he putteth in Edom garrisons -- in all Edom he hath put garrisons, and all Edom are servants to David; and Jehovah saveth David whithersoever he hath gone.

And he put groups of soldiers in Edom. In all Edom he put soldiers, and all the Edomites became servants to David. The Lord helped David every place he went.

15 A nd David reigneth over all Israel, and David is doing judgment and righteousness to all his people,

So David ruled all of Israel. He did what was right and good and fair for all his people.

16 a nd Joab son of Zeruiah over the host, and Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud remembrancer,

Joab the son of Zeruiah was the head of the army. Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud wrote down the important things of the nation.

17 a nd Zadok son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech son of Abiathar, priests, and Seraiah scribe,

Ahitub’s son Zadok and Abiathar’s son Ahimelech were religious leaders. Seraiah was the writer.

18 a nd Benaiah son of Jehoiada both the Cherethite and the Pelethite, and the sons of David have been ministers.

Benaiah the son of Jehoiada ruled the Cherethites and the Pelethites. And David’s sons were the king’s helpers.