1 Chronicles 19:3

But the princes of the children of Ammon, the king's chief advisers, said to Hanun, Thinkest thou that David doth honor thy father, the emphasis being upon this honoring, the sincerity of which the courtiers questioned, that he hath sent comforters unto thee? Are not his servants come unto thee for to search and to overthrow and to spy out the land? They falsely ascribed such base motives to David and to his ambassadors, as though they were making this visit merely a pretext, their real object being a careful examination of the city and its fortifications, for the purpose of taking it.