Genesis 19:38

¹⁹When you come near the border of the children of Ammon, don’t bother them, nor contend with them; for I will not give you any of the land of the children of Ammon for a possession, because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession.”

²³In those days I also saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab; ²⁴and their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews’ language, but according to the language of each people. ²⁵I contended with them, cursed them, struck certain of them, plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves. ²⁶Didn’t Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless foreign women caused even him to sin. ²⁷Shall we then listen to you to do all this great evil, to trespass against our God in marrying foreign women?”

²⁸One of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite; therefore I chased him from me.

⁴“Come,” they say, “let’s destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” ⁵For they have conspired together with one mind. They form an alliance against you. ⁶The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab, and the Hagrites; ⁷Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; ⁸Assyria also is joined with them. They have helped the children of Lot. Selah.

⁶The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and served the Baals, the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. They abandoned the LORD, and didn’t serve him. ⁷The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the children of Ammon. ⁸They troubled and oppressed the children of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the children of Israel that were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. ⁹The children of Ammon passed over the Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was very distressed. ¹⁰The children of Israel cried to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against you, even because we have forsaken our God, and have served the Baals.”

¹¹The LORD said to the children of Israel, “Didn’t I save you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? ¹²The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, oppressed you; and you cried to me, and I saved you out of their hand. ¹³Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods. Therefore I will save you no more. ¹⁴Go and cry to the gods which you have chosen. Let them save you in the time of your distress!”

¹⁵The children of Israel said to the LORD, “We have sinned! Do to us whatever seems good to you; only deliver us, please, today.” ¹⁶They put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.

¹⁷Then the children of Ammon were gathered together and encamped in Gilead. The children of Israel assembled themselves together and encamped in Mizpah. ¹⁸The people, the princes of Gilead, said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

¹After this, the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his place. ²David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent by his servants to comfort him concerning his father. David’s servants came into the land of the children of Ammon.

³But the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think that David honors your father, in that he has sent comforters to you? Hasn’t David sent his servants to you to search the city, to spy it out, and to overthrow it?”

⁴So Hanun took David’s servants, shaved off one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. ⁵When they told David this, he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. The king said, “Wait at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return.”

⁶When the children of Ammon saw that they had become odious to David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth Rehob and the Syrians of Zobah, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah with one thousand men, and the men of Tob twelve thousand men. ⁷When David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the army of the mighty men. ⁸The children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entrance of the gate. The Syrians of Zobah and of Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the field. ⁹Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel and put them in array against the Syrians. ¹⁰The rest of the people he committed into the hand of Abishai his brother; and he put them in array against the children of Ammon. ¹¹He said, “If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the children of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come and help you. ¹²Be courageous, and let’s be strong for our people and for the cities of our God; and may the LORD do what seems good to him.” ¹³So Joab and the people who were with him came near to the battle against the Syrians, and they fled before him. ¹⁴When the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians had fled, they likewise fled before Abishai, and entered into the city. Then Joab returned from the children of Ammon and came to Jerusalem.

¹⁵When the Syrians saw that they were defeated by Israel, they gathered themselves together. ¹⁶Hadadezer sent and brought out the Syrians who were beyond the River; and they came to Helam, with Shobach the captain of the army of Hadadezer at their head. ¹⁷David was told that; and he gathered all Israel together, passed over the Jordan, and came to Helam. The Syrians set themselves in array against David and fought with him. ¹⁸The Syrians fled before Israel; and David killed seven hundred charioteers of the Syrians and forty thousand horsemen, and struck Shobach the captain of their army, so that he died there. ¹⁹When all the kings who were servants to Hadadezer saw that they were defeated before Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Syrians were afraid to help the children of Ammon any more.

⁹Therefore, as I live, says the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, surely Moab will be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, a possession of nettles and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation. The remnant of my people will plunder them, and the survivors of my nation will inherit them.

¹On that day they read in the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and it was found written in it that an Ammonite and a Moabite should not enter into the assembly of God forever, ²because they didn’t meet the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them; however, our God turned the curse into a blessing. ³It came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel.

⁹The LORD said to me, “Don’t bother Moab, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give you any of his land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession.”

¹⁴They will fly down on the shoulders of the Philistines on the west. Together they will plunder the children of the east. They will extend their power over Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon will obey them.

³An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the LORD’s assembly; even to the tenth generation shall no one belonging to them enter into the LORD’s assembly forever,