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2 Samuel 9-11
New English Translation

David Finds Mephibosheth

9 [a] Then David asked, “Is anyone still left from the family[b] of Saul, so that I may extend kindness to him for the sake of Jonathan?”

2 Now there was a servant from Saul’s house named Ziba, so he was summoned to David. The king asked him, “Are you Ziba?” He replied, “At your service.”[c] 3 The king asked, “Is there not someone left from Saul’s family[d] that I may extend God’s kindness to him?” Ziba said to the king, “One of Jonathan’s sons is left; both of his feet are crippled.” 4 The king asked him, “Where is he?” Ziba told the king, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”

5 So King David had him brought[e] from the house of Makir son of Ammiel in[f] Lo Debar. 6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed low with his face toward the ground.[g] David said, “Mephibosheth?” He replied, “Yes, at your service.”[h]

7 David said to him, “Don’t be afraid, because I will certainly extend kindness to you for the sake of Jonathan your father. I will give back to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will be a regular guest at my table.”[i] 8 Then Mephibosheth[j] bowed and said, “Of what importance am I, your servant, that you show regard for a dead dog like me?”[k]

9 Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s attendant, and said to him, “Everything that belonged to Saul and to his entire house I hereby give to your master’s grandson. 10 You will cultivate[l] the land for him—you and your sons and your servants. You will bring its produce[m] and it will be[n] food for your master’s grandson to eat.[o] But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, will be a regular guest at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

11 Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do everything that my lord the king has instructed his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth was a regular guest[p] at David’s table,[q] just as though he were one of the king’s sons.

12 Now Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. All the members of Ziba’s household were Mephibosheth’s servants. 13 Mephibosheth was living in Jerusalem, for he was a regular guest at the king’s table. But both his feet were crippled.

David and the Ammonites

10 Later the king of the Ammonites died and his son Hanun succeeded him.[r] 2 David said, “I will express my loyalty[s] to Hanun son of Nahash just as his father was loyal[t] to me.” So David sent his servants with a message expressing sympathy over his father’s death.[u] When David’s servants entered the land of the Ammonites, 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?[v] No, David has sent his servants to you to get information about the city and spy on it so they can overthrow it!”[w]

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,[x] and then sent them away. 5 Messengers[y] told David what had happened,[z] so he sent them to the men who were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown again; then you may come back.”

6 When the Ammonites realized that David was disgusted with them,[aa] they[ab] sent and hired 20,000 foot soldiers from Aram Beth Rehob and Aram Zobah,[ac] in addition to 1,000 men from the king of Maacah and 12,000 men from Ish Tob.[ad]

7 When David heard the news, he sent Joab and the entire army to meet them.[ae] 8 The Ammonites marched out and were deployed for battle at the entrance of the city gate, while the men from Aram Zobah, Rehob, Ish Tob, and Maacah were by themselves in the field.

9 When Joab saw that the battle would be fought on two fronts, he chose some of Israel’s best men and deployed them against the Arameans.[af] 10 He put his brother Abishai in charge of the rest of the army[ag] and they were deployed[ah] against the Ammonites. 11 Joab[ai] said, “If the Arameans start to overpower me,[aj] you come to my rescue. If the Ammonites start to overpower you,[ak] I will come to your rescue. 12 Be strong! Let’s fight bravely for the sake of our people and the cities of our God! The Lord will do what he decides is best!”[al]

13 So Joab and his men[am] marched out to do battle with the Arameans, and they fled before him. 14 When the Ammonites saw the Arameans flee, they fled before his brother Abishai and went into the city. Joab withdrew from fighting the Ammonites and returned to[an] Jerusalem.

15 When the Arameans realized that they had been defeated by Israel, they consolidated their forces.[ao] 16 Then Hadadezer sent for Arameans from[ap] beyond the Euphrates River,[aq] and they came to Helam. Shobach, the general in command of Hadadezer’s army, led them.[ar]

17 When David was informed, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan River,[as] and came to Helam. The Arameans deployed their forces against David and fought with him. 18 The Arameans fled before Israel. David killed 700 Aramean charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers.[at] He also struck down Shobach, the general in command of the army, who died there. 19 When all the kings who were subject to Hadadezer[au] saw they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subjects of Israel.[av] The Arameans were no longer willing to help the Ammonites.

David Commits Adultery with Bathsheba

11 In the spring of the year, at the time when kings[aw] normally conduct wars,[ax] David sent out Joab with his officers[ay] and the entire Israelite army.[az] They defeated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed behind in Jerusalem.[ba] 2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace.[bb] From the roof he saw a woman bathing. Now this woman was very attractive.[bc] 3 So David sent someone to inquire about the woman. The messenger[bd] said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

4 David sent some messengers to get her.[be] She came to[bf] him and he went to bed with her.[bg] (Now at that time she was in the process of purifying herself from her menstrual uncleanness.)[bh] Then she returned to her home. 5 The woman conceived and then sent word to David saying, “I’m pregnant.”

6 So David sent a message to Joab that said, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked about how Joab and the army were doing and how the campaign was going.[bi] 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your home and relax.”[bj] When Uriah left the palace, the king sent a gift to him.[bk] 9 But Uriah stayed at the door of the palace with all[bl] the servants of his lord. He did not go down to his house.

10 So they informed David, “Uriah has not gone down to his house.” So David said to Uriah, “Haven’t you just arrived from a journey? Why haven’t you gone down to your house?” 11 Uriah replied to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah reside in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and my lord’s soldiers are camping in the open field. Should I go to my house to eat and drink and go to bed with[bm] my wife? As surely as you are alive,[bn] I will not do this thing!” 12 So David said to Uriah, “Stay here another day. Tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem both that day and the following one.[bo] 13 Then David summoned him. He ate and drank with him, and got him drunk. But in the evening he went out to sleep on his bed with the servants of his lord; he did not go down to his own house.

14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In the letter he wrote: “Station Uriah at the front in the thick of the battle and then withdraw from him so he will be cut down and killed.”

16 So as Joab kept watch on the city, he stationed Uriah at the place where he knew the best enemy soldiers[bp] were. 17 When the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, some of David’s soldiers[bq] fell in battle. Uriah the Hittite also died.

18 Then Joab sent a full battle report to David.[br] 19 He instructed the messenger as follows: “When you finish giving the battle report to the king, 20 if the king becomes angry and asks you, ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you realize they would shoot from the wall? 21 Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone[bs] down on him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ just say to him, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.’”

22 So the messenger departed. When he arrived, he informed David of all the news that Joab had sent with him. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and attacked us[bt] in the field. But we forced them to retreat[bu] all the way to the door of the city gate. 24 Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall and some of the king’s soldiers[bv] died. Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.” 25 David said to the messenger, “Tell Joab, ‘Don’t let this thing upset you.[bw] There is no way to anticipate whom the sword will cut down.[bx] Press the battle against the city and conquer[by] it.’ Encourage him with these words.”[bz]

26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for him.[ca] 27 When the time of mourning passed, David had her brought to his palace.[cb] She became his wife and she bore him a son. But what David had done upset the Lord.[cc]

Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 9:1 sn 2 Samuel 9-20 is known as the Succession Narrative. It is a literary unit that describes David’s efforts at consolidating his own kingdom following the demise of King Saul; it also provides the transition to subsequent leadership on the part of David’s successor Solomon.
  2. 2 Samuel 9:1 tn Heb “house.”
  3. 2 Samuel 9:2 tn Heb “your servant.”
  4. 2 Samuel 9:3 tn Heb “house.”
  5. 2 Samuel 9:5 tn Heb “sent and took him.”
  6. 2 Samuel 9:5 tn Heb “from.”
  7. 2 Samuel 9:6 tn Heb “he fell on his face and bowed down.”
  8. 2 Samuel 9:6 tn Heb “Look, your servant.”
  9. 2 Samuel 9:7 tn Heb “and you will eat food at my table continually.”
  10. 2 Samuel 9:8 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Mephibosheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  11. 2 Samuel 9:8 tn Heb “What is your servant, that you turn to a dead dog which is like me?”
  12. 2 Samuel 9:10 tn Heb “work.”
  13. 2 Samuel 9:10 tn The Hebrew text implies, but does not actually contain, the words “its produce” here.
  14. 2 Samuel 9:10 tc The words “it will be,” though present in the MT, are absent from the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate.
  15. 2 Samuel 9:10 tn Heb “and he will eat it.”
  16. 2 Samuel 9:11 tn Heb “eating.”
  17. 2 Samuel 9:11 tc Heb “my table.” But the first person reference to David is awkward here since the quotation of David’s words has already been concluded in v. 10; nor does the “my” refer to Ziba, since the latter part of v. 11 does not seem to be part of Ziba’s response to the king. The ancient versions are not unanimous in the way that they render the phrase. The LXX has “the table of David” (τῆς τραπέζης Δαυιδ, tēs trapezēs Dauid); the Syriac Peshitta has “the table of the king” (patureh demalkaʾ); the Vulgate has “your table” (mensam tuam). The present translation follows the LXX.
  18. 2 Samuel 10:1 tn Heb “reigned in his place.”
  19. 2 Samuel 10:2 tn Heb “do loyalty.”
  20. 2 Samuel 10:2 tn Heb “did loyalty.”
  21. 2 Samuel 10:2 tn Heb “and David sent to console him by the hand of his servants concerning his father.”
  22. 2 Samuel 10:3 tn Heb “Is David honoring your father in your eyes when he sends to you ones consoling?”
  23. 2 Samuel 10:3 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?”
  24. 2 Samuel 10:4 tn Heb “and he cut their robes in the middle unto their buttocks.”
  25. 2 Samuel 10:5 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the messengers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  26. 2 Samuel 10:5 tn The words “what had happened” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  27. 2 Samuel 10:6 tn Heb “that they were a stench [i.e., disgusting] with David.”
  28. 2 Samuel 10:6 tn Heb “the Ammonites.”
  29. 2 Samuel 10:6 tn Or “Arameans of Beth Rehob and Arameans of Zobah.”
  30. 2 Samuel 10:6 tn Or perhaps “the men of Tob.” The ancient versions (the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate) understand the name to be “Ish Tob.” It is possible that “Ish” is dittographic and that we should read simply “Tob,” a reading adopted by a number of recent English versions.
  31. 2 Samuel 10:7 tn The words “the news” and “to meet them” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.
  32. 2 Samuel 10:9 tn Heb “and Joab saw that the face of the battle was to him before and behind and he chose from all the best in Israel and arranged to meet Aram.”
  33. 2 Samuel 10:10 tn Heb “people.”
  34. 2 Samuel 10:10 tn Heb “he arranged.”
  35. 2 Samuel 10:11 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  36. 2 Samuel 10:11 tn Heb “if Aram is stronger than me.”
  37. 2 Samuel 10:11 tn Heb “if the sons of Ammon are stronger than you.”
  38. 2 Samuel 10:12 tn Heb “and the Lord will do what is good in his eyes.”
  39. 2 Samuel 10:13 tn Heb “and the army which was with him.”
  40. 2 Samuel 10:14 tn Heb “and Joab returned from against the sons of Ammon and entered.”
  41. 2 Samuel 10:15 tn Heb “were gathered together.”
  42. 2 Samuel 10:16 tn Heb “and Hadadezer sent and brought out Aram which is.”
  43. 2 Samuel 10:16 tn Heb “from beyond the River.” The name “Euphrates” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
  44. 2 Samuel 10:16 tn Heb “was before them.”
  45. 2 Samuel 10:17 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
  46. 2 Samuel 10:18 tn Heb “horsemen” (so KJV, NASB, NCV, NRSV, NLT) but the Lucianic recension of the LXX reads “foot soldiers,” as does the parallel text in 1 Chr 19:18. Cf. NAB, NIV.
  47. 2 Samuel 10:19 tn Heb “the servants of Hadadezer.”
  48. 2 Samuel 10:19 tn Heb “and they served them.”
  49. 2 Samuel 11:1 tc Codex Leningrad (B19A), on which BHS is based, has here “messengers” (הַמַּלְאָכִים, hammalʾakhim), probably as the result of contamination from the occurrence of that word in v. 4. The present translation follows most Hebrew mss and the ancient versions, which read “kings” (הַמֶּלָאכִים, hammelakhim).
  50. 2 Samuel 11:1 tn Heb “go out.”
  51. 2 Samuel 11:1 tn Heb “and his servants with him.”
  52. 2 Samuel 11:1 tn Heb “all Israel.”
  53. 2 Samuel 11:1 tn The disjunctive clause contrasts David’s inactivity with the army’s activity.
  54. 2 Samuel 11:2 tn Heb “on the roof of the house of the king.” So also in vv. 8, 9.
  55. 2 Samuel 11:2 tn The disjunctive clause highlights this observation and builds the tension of the story.
  56. 2 Samuel 11:3 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the messenger) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  57. 2 Samuel 11:4 tn Heb “and David sent messengers and he took her.”
  58. 2 Samuel 11:4 tn The expression בּוֹא אֶל (boʾ ʾel) means “come to” or “approach,” but is also used as a euphemism for sexual relations, the implied purpose for approaching someone. Here it refers only to the stage of approaching while the next verb describes the result. That she is the subject of this verb (while David is the subject of the next verb) probably indicates that the act was consensual.
  59. 2 Samuel 11:4 tn Heb “he lay down with her.” The verb שָׁכַב (shakav) “to lie down” can be a euphemism for going to bed for sexual relations.
  60. 2 Samuel 11:4 tn The parenthetical disjunctive clause further heightens the tension by letting the reader know that Bathsheba, having just completed her menstrual cycle, is ripe for conception. See P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 286. Since she just had her period, it will also be obvious to those close to the scene that Uriah, who has been away fighting, cannot be the father of the child.
  61. 2 Samuel 11:7 tn Heb “concerning the peace of Joab and concerning the peace of the people and concerning the peace of the battle.”
  62. 2 Samuel 11:8 tn Heb “and wash your feet.”
  63. 2 Samuel 11:8 tn Heb “and there went out after him the gift of the king.”
  64. 2 Samuel 11:9 tc The Lucianic recension of the Old Greek translation lacks the word “all.”
  65. 2 Samuel 11:11 tn Heb “lie with.” The verb שָׁכַב (shakav) “to lie down” can be a euphemism for going to bed for sexual relations.
  66. 2 Samuel 11:11 tn Heb “as you live and as your soul lives.”
  67. 2 Samuel 11:12 tn On the chronology involved here see P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 287.
  68. 2 Samuel 11:16 tn Heb “the valiant men.” This refers in context to the strongest or most valiant defenders of the city Joab and the Israelite army were besieging, so the present translation uses “the best enemy soldiers” for clarity.
  69. 2 Samuel 11:17 tn Heb “some of the people from the servants of David.”
  70. 2 Samuel 11:18 tn Heb “Joab sent and related to David all the matters of the battle.”
  71. 2 Samuel 11:21 sn The upper millstone (Heb “millstone of riding”) refers to the heavy circular stone that was commonly rolled over a circular base in order to crush and grind such things as olives.
  72. 2 Samuel 11:23 tn Heb “and came out to us.”
  73. 2 Samuel 11:23 tn Heb “but we were on them.”
  74. 2 Samuel 11:24 tc The translation follows the Qere (“your servants”) rather than the Kethib (“your servant”).
  75. 2 Samuel 11:25 tn Heb “let not this matter be evil in your eyes.”
  76. 2 Samuel 11:25 tn Heb “according to this and according to this the sword devours.”
  77. 2 Samuel 11:25 tn Heb “overthrow.”
  78. 2 Samuel 11:25 tn The Hebrew text does not have “with these words.” They are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
  79. 2 Samuel 11:26 tn Heb “for her lord.”
  80. 2 Samuel 11:27 tn Heb “David sent and gathered her to his house.”
  81. 2 Samuel 11:27 tn Heb “and the thing which David had done was evil in the eyes of the Lord.” Note the verbal connection with v. 25. Though David did not regard the matter as evil, the Lord certainly did.
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