David took the gold shields carried by Hadadezer’s officers and brought them to Jerusalem.

When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they likewise fled before Joab’s brother Abishai and entered the city. Then Joab went to Jerusalem.

In the spring when kings march out to war, Joab led the army and destroyed the Ammonites’ land. He came to Rabbah and besieged it, but David remained in Jerusalem. Joab attacked Rabbah and demolished it.

He brought out the people who were in it and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes. David did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then he and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.

Yet the king’s order prevailed over Joab. So Joab left and traveled throughout Israel and then returned to Jerusalem.

Then God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but when the angel was about to destroy the city, the Lord looked, relented concerning the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough, withdraw your hand now!” The angel of the Lord was then standing at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

When David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell down with their faces to the ground.

For David said, “The Lord God of Israel has given rest to His people, and He has come to stay in Jerusalem forever.

David assembled all the leaders of Israel in Jerusalem: the leaders of the tribes, the leaders of the divisions in the king’s service, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of all the property and cattle of the king and his sons, along with the court officials, the fighting men, and all the brave warriors.

The length of his reign over Israel was 40 years; he reigned in Hebron for seven years and in Jerusalem for 33.