The Daily Audio Bible
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9 And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan's sake?
2 And there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba; and they called him to David. And the king said to him, Art thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant!
3 And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may shew the kindness of God to him? And Ziba said to the king, Jonathan has yet a son, who is lame on [his] feet.
4 And the king said to him, Where is he? And Ziba said to the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lodebar.
5 And king David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lodebar.
6 And Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, and fell on his face and did obeisance. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he said, Behold thy servant!
7 And David said to him, Fear not; for I will certainly shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.
8 And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?
9 Then the king called Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, I have given to thy master's son all that belonged to Saul and to all his house.
10 And thou, and thy sons, and thy servants, shall till the land for him, and thou shalt bring in [the fruits], that thy master's son may have food to eat. And Mephibosheth thy master's son shall eat bread at my table continually. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
11 And Ziba said to the king, According to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will thy servant do. And Mephibosheth [said David] shall eat at my table, as one of the king's sons.
12 And Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Mica. And all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants to Mephibosheth.
13 So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem; for he did eat continually at the king's table. And he was lame on both his feet.
10 And it came to pass after this that the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his stead.
2 And David said, I will shew kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father shewed kindness to me. And David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon.
3 And the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, Is it, in thine eyes, to honour thy father that David has sent comforters to thee? Is it not to search the city and to spy it out, and to overthrow it, that David has sent his servants to thee?
4 And Hanun took David's servants, and had the one half of their beards shaved off, and their raiment cut off in the midst, as far as their buttocks, and sent them away.
5 And they told [it] to David; and he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Abide at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return.
6 And the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David; and the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-Rehob, and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah [with] a thousand men, and the men of Tob twelve thousand men.
7 And David heard [of it], and he sent Joab, and all the host, the mighty men.
8 And the children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entrance of the gate; and the Syrians of Zoba and of Rehob, and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the field.
9 And Joab saw that the front of the battle was against him before and behind; and he chose out of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians;
10 and the rest of the people he gave into the hand of Abishai his brother that he might array them against the children of Ammon.
11 And he said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me; and if the children of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will come and help thee.
12 Be strong, and let us shew ourselves valiant for our people and for the cities of our God; and Jehovah do what is good in his sight.
13 And Joab drew near, and the people that were with him, unto the battle against the Syrians; and they fled before him.
14 And when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians fled, they fled before Abishai, and entered into the city. And Joab returned from the children of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem.
15 And when the Syrians saw that they were routed before Israel, they gathered themselves together.
16 And Hadarezer sent, and drew forth the Syrians that were beyond the river; and they came to Helam; and Shobach the captain of the host of Hadarezer [went] before them.
17 And it was told David; and he gathered all Israel, and passed over the Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Syrians set themselves in array against David, and fought with him.
18 And the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew of the Syrians seven hundred [in] chariots, and forty thousand horsemen, and smote Shobach the captain of their host, who died there.
19 And all the kings that were servants to Hadarezer saw that they were routed before Israel, and they made peace with Israel, and served them. And the Syrians feared to help the children of Ammon any more.
11 And it came to pass, at the return of the year, at the time when kings go forth, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they laid waste the [land of the] children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David abode at Jerusalem.
2 And it came to pass at evening time that David arose from off his couch, and walked upon the roof of the king's house; and from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful;
3 and David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Urijah the Hittite?
4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in to him, and he lay with her; and she had purified herself from her uncleanness; and she returned to her house.
5 And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
6 And David sent to Joab [saying], Send me Urijah the Hittite. And Joab sent Urijah to David.
7 And when Urijah had come to him, David asked how Joab prospered, and how the people prospered, and how the war prospered.
8 And David said to Urijah, Go down to thy house and wash thy feet. And Urijah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him presents from the king.
9 And Urijah slept at the entrance of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.
10 And they had told David saying, Urijah did not go down to his house; and David said to Urijah, Art thou not come from a journey? why didst thou not go down to thy house?
11 And Urijah said to David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah abide in booths; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields: shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? [As] thou livest, and [as] thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.
12 And David said to Urijah, Abide here to-day also, and to-morrow I will let thee depart. And Urijah abode in Jerusalem that day and the morrow.
13 And David invited him, and he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. And in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but did not go down to his house.
14 And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by Urijah.
15 And he wrote in the letter saying, Set Urijah in the front of the thickest fight, and withdraw from him, that he may be smitten and die.
16 And it came to pass as Joab watched the city, that he assigned Urijah to a place where he knew that the valiant men were.
17 And the men of the city went out and fought with Joab; and there fell some of the people, of the servants of David; and Urijah the Hittite died also.
18 Then Joab sent and told David all the matters of the war;
19 and charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast ended telling the matters of the war to the king,
20 and if so be that the king's wrath arise, and he say to thee, Why did ye go so near to the city to fight? did ye not know that they would shoot from the wall?
21 Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast the upper stone of a handmill from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why did ye go near the wall?—then say thou, Thy servant Urijah the Hittite is dead also.
22 And the messenger went; and he came and told David all that Joab had sent him for.
23 And the messenger said to David, The men prevailed against us, and came out against us into the field, and we were upon them as far as the entrance of the gate.
24 And the shooters shot from upon the wall against thy servants; and some of the king's servants are dead, and thy servant Urijah the Hittite is dead also.
25 Then David said to the messenger, Thus shalt thou say to Joab: Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devours one as well as another: make thy battle strong against the city, and overthrow it;—and encourage him.
26 And the wife of Urijah heard that Urijah her husband was dead, and she mourned for her husband.
27 And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of Jehovah.
15 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 [As to] every branch in me not bearing fruit, he takes it away; and [as to] every one bearing fruit, he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Ye are already clean by reason of the word which I have spoken to you.
4 Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abide in the vine, thus neither [can] ye unless ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye [are] the branches. He that abides in me and I in him, *he* bears much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing.
6 Unless any one abide in me he is cast out as the branch, and is dried up; and they gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall come to pass to you.
8 In this is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, and ye shall become disciples of mine.
9 As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you: abide in my love.
10 If ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
11 I have spoken these things to you that my joy may be in you, and your joy be full.
12 This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13 No one has greater love than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends.
14 Ye are my friends if ye practise whatever I command you.
15 I call you no longer bondmen, for the bondman does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things which I have heard of my Father I have made known to you.
16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and have set you that ye should go and [that] ye should bear fruit, and [that] your fruit should abide, that whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he may give you.
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
18 If the world hate you, know that it has hated me before you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, on account of this the world hates you.
20 Remember the word which I said unto you, The bondman is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my word, they will keep also yours.
21 But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they have not known him that sent me.
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23 He that hates me hates also my Father.
24 If I had not done among them the works which no other one has done, they had not had sin; but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father.
25 But that the word written in their law might be fulfilled, They hated me without a cause.
26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes forth from with the Father, *he* shall bear witness concerning me;
27 and ye too bear witness, because ye are with me from [the] beginning.
49 ZAIN. Remember the word for thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.
50 This is my comfort in mine affliction; for thy word hath quickened me.
51 The proud have derided me beyond measure: I have not declined from thy law.
52 I remembered thy judgments of old, O Jehovah, and have comforted myself.
53 Burning indignation hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked who forsake thy law.
54 Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.
55 I have remembered thy name, O Jehovah, in the night, and have kept thy law.
56 This I have had, because I have observed thy precepts.
57 CHETH. My portion, O Jehovah, I have said, is to keep thy words.
58 I have sought thy favour with [my] whole heart: be gracious unto me according to thy word.
59 I have thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.
60 I have made haste, and not delayed, to keep thy commandments.
61 The bands of the wicked have wrapped me round: I have not forgotten thy law.
62 At midnight I rise up to give thanks unto thee, because of thy righteous judgments.
63 I am the companion of all that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.
64 The earth, O Jehovah, is full of thy loving-kindness: teach me thy statutes.
16 The purposes of the heart are of man, but the answer of the tongue is from Jehovah.
2 All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but Jehovah weigheth the spirits.
3 Commit thy works unto Jehovah, and thy thoughts shall be established.
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