Bible Strands
2 Samuel 10:6
When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench to David, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth-rehob and Zoba, as well as a thousand men from the king of Maacah and twelve thousand men from Tob.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Ammonites, recognizing their hostile standing before David, respond to the political shift by contracting foreign mercenaries.
The words — נִבְאֲשׁוּ (niv.'a.Shu) records they made themselves odious, while בְּ/דָוִד (be./da.Vid) anchors that hostility specifically to the king of Israel.
The thread — The recruitment of Aramean forces from Zoba and Beth-rehob directly counters David’s earlier campaigns against Hadadezer in 2 Samuel 8:3 and 2 Samuel 8:5, and the phrase "become a stench" mirrors the diplomatic fallout described in Genesis 34:30.
Why it lands — The passage documents a defensive military coalition assembled in reaction to perceived enmity, requiring the reader to observe how political misreading triggers armed escalation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And when the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth–rehob, and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen, and of king Maacah a thousand men, and of Ish–tob twelve thousand men.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 8:3 David also defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, who had marched out to restore his dominion along the Euphrates River.
- 2 Samuel 8:5 When the Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand of their men.
- Genesis 34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”
- Judges 11:3 So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where worthless men gathered around him and traveled with him.
- Judges 11:5 and made war with them, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.
- Judges 18:28 There was no one to deliver them, because the city was far from Sidon and had no alliance with anyone; it was in a valley near Beth-rehob. And the Danites rebuilt the city and lived there.
- 1 Samuel 27:12 So Achish trusted David, thinking, “Since he has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel, he will be my servant forever.”
- Exodus 5:21 “May the LORD look upon you and judge you,” the foremen said, “for you have made us a stench before Pharaoh and his officials; you have placed in their hand a sword to kill us!”
- Deuteronomy 3:14 Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites. He renamed Bashan after himself, Havvoth-jair, by which it is called to this day.
- Joshua 13:11 also Gilead and the territory of the Geshurites and Maacathites, all of Mount Hermon, and all Bashan as far as Salecah—