2 Samuel 10:3-5

10:3 the Ammonite officials said to their lord Hanun, “Do you really think David is trying to honor your father by sending these messengers to express his sympathy? ¹  No, David has sent his servants to you to get information about the city and spy on it so they can overthrow it!” ² 

10:4 So Hanun seized David’s servants and shaved off half of each one’s beard. He cut the lower part of their robes off so that their buttocks were exposed, ³  and then sent them away. 10:5 Messengers ⁴  told David what had happened, ⁵  so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho ⁶  until your beards have grown again; then you may come back.”

¹ tn Heb “Is David honoring your father in your eyes when he sends to you ones consoling?”

² tn Heb “Is it not to explore the city and to spy on it and to overthrow it [that] David has sent his servants to you?”

³ tn Heb “and he cut their robes in the middle unto their buttocks.”

⁵ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the messengers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn The words “what had happened” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁷ map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.