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2 Samuel 10:6

Made Simple — Modern English Translation

Translated by Verse Made Simple Editorial
KJV ORIGINAL
And when the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Bethrehob, and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen, and of king Maacah a thousand men, and of Ishtob twelve thousand men.
Close to the original. Clear modern English.
✦ MADE SIMPLE

When the Ammonites realized they had made themselves disgusting and offensive to David, they hired foreign soldiers to help them fight. They paid the Syrians from Beth-rehob and Zoba for twenty thousand foot soldiers, got a thousand men from King Maacah, and twelve thousand men from Ish-tob.

⚡ THE BOTTOM LINE

The Ammonites knew they had deeply offended David, so they hired foreign armies as mercenaries to help them prepare for the war they knew was coming.

📚 Historical Context

This follows the incident where the Ammonites humiliated David's ambassadors by shaving half their beards and cutting their clothes, turning a gesture of kindness into a national insult. Realizing they had crossed a line with Israel's powerful king, the Ammonites began preparing for inevitable retaliation by hiring mercenary armies from surrounding Syrian kingdoms.

Explore Similar Verses

1 Kings 11:7
Then Solomon built a high place of worship for Chemosh, the disgusting idol of the Moabites, on the hill in front of Jerusalem, and also for Molech, the disgusting idol of the Ammonites.
2 Kings 23:13
The king also destroyed the worship sites that were east of Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives (which had become known as the Mount of Corruption). These were the places that King Solomon had built long ago for worshiping foreign gods: Ashtoreth (the disgusting god of the Sidonians), Chemosh (the disgusting god of the Moabites), and Milcom (the disgusting god of the Ammonites). The king made all these places unfit for worship.
Ezra 9:1
After these things were finished, the leaders came to me and said, 'The people of Israel, including the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the surrounding nations. They are following the disgusting practices of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.'

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Translation & Methodology Sources

The original manuscript text provided is based on the King James Version (KJV), which is in the public domain. Our modern English simplifications are generated via proprietary philological synthesis, cross-referenced against Strong's Exhaustive Concordance and the Textus Receptus to ensure unwavering theological and etymological precision.

Read our full translation methodology →