2 Samuel 9-11

International Standard Version

David Shows Kindness to Mephibosheth

9 Later on, David asked, “Is there anyone left alive from Saul’s household to whom I can show gracious love in memory^[a] of Jonathan?”

² A household servant of Saul named Ziba was called to appear before David, and the king asked him, “Are you Ziba?”

“I am your servant,” Ziba replied.

³ At this the king asked, “Isn’t there still someone left from Saul’s household to whom I may show God’s gracious love?”

“There’s Jonathan’s son. He has maimed feet,” Ziba answered.

⁴ So David asked, “Where is he?”

Ziba responded, “He’s in Lo-debar at the home of Ammiel’s son Makir.”

⁵ At this, King David sent for him and brought him from the home of Ammiel’s son Makir in Lo-debar. ⁶ When Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son and a grandson of Saul, approached David, he threw himself on his face out of respect.

“Mephibosheth!” David said as he greeted him.

“Hello! I am your servant,” he replied.

⁷ “Don’t be afraid,” David reassured him, “because I’m going to show gracious love to you in memory^[b] of your father Jonathan. I’m going to restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you’ll always have a place^[c] at my table!”

⁸ Mephibosheth^[d] bowed low again and asked, “Who am I, your servant, that you would pay attention to a dead dog like me?”

⁹ At this, the king called for Saul’s servant Ziba and told him, “I’m restoring to your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. ¹⁰ You and your servants are to farm the land on his behalf and bring in the crops in order to provide for your master’s grandson. Meanwhile, Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, will always have a place^[e] at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and 20 servants.)

¹¹ Later, Ziba told the king, “Your servant will do everything that your majesty the king commands him.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons. ¹² Mephibosheth fathered a son named Mica, and everyone who lived in Ziba’s house became Mephibosheth’s servants. ¹³ Mephibosheth continued to live in Jerusalem, always eating at the king’s table, since he was maimed in both feet.

Subjugation of Ammon and Aram^(A)

10 Sometime later, the Ammonite king died and his son Hanun succeeded him as king, ² so David told himself, “I will be loyal to Nahash’s son Hanun, since in his loyalty his father showed gracious love to me.” So David sent a delegation^[f] to Hanun to console him about his loss of^[g] his father.

But when David’s delegation arrived in Ammonite territory, ³ the Ammonite officials asked their lord Hanun, “Do you think that because David has sent a delegation of consolers to you that he is honoring your father? His delegation has arrived intending to search, scout the land, and then overthrow it, hasn’t it?” ⁴ So Hanun arrested David’s delegation, shaved off half of their beards, cut off their clothes at the waist line, and sent them away in disgrace.^[h]

⁵ When David had been informed about the incident,^[i] he sent word^[j] to them, since the men had been deeply humiliated. The king told them, “Stay at Jericho until your beards have grown back, and then return.”

⁶ When the Ammonites realized that they had created quite a stink with^[k] David, they hired 20,000 Aramean mercenaries from Beth-rehob and Zobah, along with the king of Maacah and 1,000 men, and 12,000 men from Tob. ⁷ In response, David sent out Joab and his entire army of elite soldiers. ⁸ The Ammonites went out in battle formation at the entrance to the city^[l] gate, while the Arameans from Zobah and Rehob, along with the army^[m] from Tob and Maacah, were out by themselves in the open fields.

⁹ When Joab observed that the battle lines were set up to oppose him both in front and behind, he appointed the best troops in Israel and arrayed them to oppose the Arameans, ¹⁰ putting the rest of his forces under the command of his brother Abishai, who arrayed them to oppose the Ammonites. ¹¹ He said, “If the Arameans prove too strong for me, then you are to help me. If the Ammonites prove too strong for you, then I will come help you. ¹² Be strong, be courageous on behalf of our people and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what he thinks is best.”

¹³ So Joab and the soldiers who were with him attacked the Arameans in battle formation, and the Arameans retreated in front of him. ¹⁴ When the Ammonites saw the Arameans retreating, they also retreated from Abishai back to the city. Then Joab broke off his attack against the Ammonites and went back to Jerusalem. ¹⁵ After the Arameans realized that they had been defeated by Israel, they regrouped. ¹⁶ Hadadezer sent for the Arameans who lived beyond the Euphrates River,^[n] and they set out for Helam, with Shobach^[o] leading them as commander of Hadadezer’s army.

¹⁷ When David learned this, he mustered all of Israel, crossed the Jordan River, and approached Helam. The Arameans assembled in battle array to attack David, and started their assault. ¹⁸ But the Arameans retreated from Israel, and David’s forces^[p] killed 700 of their charioteers, 40,000 soldiers, and mortally wounded Shobach, the commander of their army. As a result, Shobach^[q] died there. ¹⁹ When all the kings who were allied with^[r] Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they sought terms of peace with the Israelis and became subservient to them. Furthermore, the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.

David’s Adultery

11 One spring day, during the time of year when kings go off to war, David sent out Joab, along with his personal staff^[s] and all of Israel’s army. They utterly destroyed the Ammonites and then attacked Rabbah while David remained in Jerusalem. ² Late one afternoon about dusk,^[t] David got up from his couch and was walking around on the roof of the royal palace. From there^[u] he watched a woman taking a bath, and she^[v] was very beautiful to look at.

³ David sent word^[w] to inquire about her,^[x] and someone told him, “This is Eliam’s daughter Bathsheba,^[y] the wife of Uriah the Hittite, isn’t it?” ⁴ So David sent some messengers, took her from her home,^[z] and she went to him, and he had sex with her. (She had been consecrating herself following her menstrual separation.)^[aa] Then she returned to her home.

⁵ The woman conceived, and she sent this message^[ab] to David: “I’m pregnant.”

⁶ So David summoned Joab, and told him,^[ac] “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷ When Uriah arrived, David inquired about how Joab was doing, how the army was^[ad] doing, and how the war was progressing.

⁸ Then David told Uriah, “Go on down to your house and relax a while.”^[ae] So Uriah left the king’s palace, and the king sent a gift along after him. ⁹ But Uriah spent the night sleeping in the alcove of the king’s palace in the company of all his master’s staff members. He refused to go down to his own home.

¹⁰ When David was told that Uriah hadn’t gone home the previous night,^[af] he quizzed him,^[ag] “You just arrived from a long journey, so why didn’t you go down to your own house?”

¹¹ Uriah replied, “The ark, along with Israel and Judah, are encamped in tents, while my commanding officer Joab and my master’s staff members are camping out in the open fields. Should I go home, eat, drink, and have sex with my wife? Not on your life!^[ah] I won’t do something like this, will I?”

¹² Then David invited Uriah, “Stay here today, and tomorrow I’ll send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem all that day and the next. ¹³ Then at David’s invitation, he and Uriah dined and drank wine together, and David got him drunk. Later that evening, Uriah went out to lie on a couch in the company of his lord’s servants, and he did not go down to his house.

David Orders Uriah Killed

¹⁴ The next morning, David sent a message to Joab that Uriah took with him in his hand. ¹⁵ In the message, he wrote: “Assign Uriah to the most difficult fighting at the battle front, and then withdraw from him so that he will be struck down and killed.” ¹⁶ So as Joab began to attack the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew valiant men would be stationed.^{[ai] 17} When the men of the city came out to fight Joab, some of David’s army staff members fell, and Uriah the Hittite died, too.

¹⁸ Then Joab sent word to David about everything that had happened at the battle. ¹⁹ He instructed the courier, “When you have finished conveying all the news about the battle to the king, ²⁰ if the king starts to get angry and asks you, ‘Why did you get so near the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot from the wall? ²¹ Who killed Jerubbesheth’s^[aj] son Abimelech? Didn’t a woman kill him by throwing an upper millstone on him from the wall at Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ then tell him, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.’”

²² So the messenger left Joab, set out for Jerusalem,^[ak] and disclosed to David everything that Joab had sent him to say. ²³ The messenger told David, “The men surprised us and attacked us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. ²⁴ Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king’s staff members are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite has died as well.”

²⁵ David responded to the messenger, “Here’s what you’re to tell Joab: ‘Don’t be troubled by this incident, because the battle sword consumes one or another from time to time. Consolidate your attack against the city and conquer it.’ Be sure to encourage him.”

²⁶ When Uriah’s wife heard about the death of her husband^[al] Uriah, she went into mourning for the head of her household.^{[am] 27} When her mourning period was completed, David sent for her, brought her to his palace, and she became his wife. Later on, she bore him a son.

Meanwhile, what David had done grieved the Lord,^[an]