18: 1 And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them, and took Gath and its towns out of the hand of the Philistines.
18: 2 And he smote Moab; and the Moabites became servants to David, and brought tribute.
18: 3 And David smote ¹⁷⁹Hadarezer king of Zobah ¹⁸⁰unto Hamath, as he went to establish his dominion by the river Euphrates.
¹⁷⁹Some mss. read Hadadezer as also in 2Sa 8:3-12. The Hebrew letters d (ד) and r (ר) look, and can sound, similar. See also vss. 5-10
¹⁸⁰Or, by

18: 4 And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen; and David hocked all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for a hundred chariots.
18: 5 And when the ¹⁸¹Syrians of ¹⁸²Damascus came to succor Hadarezer king of Zobah, David smote of the Syrians twenty-two thousand men.
¹⁸¹Hb. Aram (both times) And so everywhere.
¹⁸²Hb. Darmesek And in vs. 6.

18: 6 Then David put garrisons in ¹⁸³Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought tribute. And Jehovah ¹⁸⁴gave victory to David whithersoever he went.
¹⁸³Hb. Aram And so everywhere.
¹⁸⁴Or, saved David whithersoever he went. Also in vs. 13.

18: 7 And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadarezer, and brought them to Jerusalem.
18: 8 And from Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadarezer, David took very much copper, wherewith Solomon made the copper sea, and the pillars, and the vessels of copper.
18: 9 And when Tou king of Hamath heard that David had smitten all the host of Hadarezer king of Zobah,
18: 10 he sent Hadoram his son to king David, to salute him, and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadarezer and smitten him; (for Hadarezer had wars with Tou;) and he had with him all manner of vessels of gold and silver and copper.
18: 11 These also did king David sanctify unto Jehovah, with the silver and the gold that he carried away from all the nations; from Edom and from Moab, and from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines, and from Amalek.
18: 12 Moreover ¹⁸⁵Abishai the son of Zeruiah smote of the Edomites in the Valley of Salt eighteen thousand.
¹⁸⁵Hb. Abshai And so elsewhere.

18: 13 And he put garrisons in Edom; and all the Edomites became servants to David. And Jehovah gave victory to David whithersoever he went.
18: 14 And David reigned over all Israel; and he executed justice and righteousness unto all his people.
18: 15 And Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the host; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was ¹⁸⁶recorder;
¹⁸⁶Or, chronicler;

18: 16 and Zadok the son of Ahitub, and ¹⁸⁷Abimelech the son of Abiathar, were priests; and Shavsha was ¹⁸⁸scribe;
¹⁸⁷The versions read Ahimelech
¹⁸⁸Or, secretary;

18: 17 and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over ¹⁸⁹the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and the sons of David were chiefs about the king.
¹⁸⁹Likely, the elite palace guard and the couriers; And so elsewhere. Compare ch. 11:25; 2Sa 20:7, 23.