Covenant Loyalty to Mephibosheth

9 Then David inquired, “Is there anyone still left from the house of Saul, so that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” ² Now there was a servant from Saul’s house whose name was Ziba, so they summoned him to David. The king asked him, “Are you Ziba?”

“Your servant,” he said.

³ The king asked him, “Is there still anyone from the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?”

“There is still a son of Jonathan,” Ziba said to the king, “with crippled legs.”

⁴ “Where is he?” the king said to him.

Ziba said to the king, “He’s there, in the house of Machir son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar.” ⁵ So King David sent word and brought him from the house of Machir son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar.

⁶ Then Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan son of Saul, came to David, fell on his face and prostrated himself. “Mephibosheth!” David said.

“Behold your servant!” he answered.

“Don’t be afraid,” ⁷ David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat bread at my table.”

⁸ Then he bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should turn to look at such a dead dog like me?”

⁹ Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “All that belonged to Saul and to all his household I have given to your master’s son. ¹⁰ So you, you and your sons and your servants will till the land for him, and you will bring in the yield so that your master’s son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth your master’s son will always eat bread at my table.” Now Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants. ¹¹ Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king commands his servant, so will your servant do.” Thus Mephibosheth used to eat at the table just like one of the king’s sons. ¹² Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Mica. All the members of Ziba’s household were servants to Mephibosheth. ¹³ But Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate at the king’s table regularly, though he was crippled in both his legs.

Aram Vanquished

10 It came about after this that the king of the children of Ammon died, and his son Hanun reigned in his place. ² Then David thought, “Let me show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent word by the hand of his servants to comfort him concerning his father. But when David’s servants arrived at the land of the children of Ammon, ³ the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think that David is really honoring your father because he has sent consolers to you? Has not David sent his servants to you in order to explore the city, to spy it out, and to overthrow it?” ⁴ So Hanun seized David’s servants, shaved off one side of their beards, cut off their garments in the middle at their buttocks, and sent them away.

⁵ When they informed David, he sent word to meet them, for the men were greatly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow, then return.” ⁶ Now when the children of Ammon saw that they had become a stench to David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Arameans of Beth-Rehob and the Arameans of Zobah, 20,000 foot soldiers, and the king of Maacah with 1,000 men, plus 12,000 men from Tob.

⁷ When David heard about it, he sent Joab and the whole army—the mighty warriors. ⁸ The children of Ammon came out and lined up in battle array at the entrance of the gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the field. ⁹ When Joab saw that there was a battle line against him front and rear, he chose of all the best troops of Israel and arrayed them against the Arameans, ¹⁰ but the rest of the troops he committed to the command of his brother Abishai, and he arrayed them against the children of Ammon. ¹¹ Then he said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you will help me, but if the children of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come to help you. ¹² Chazak! And let us take courage for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God, and may Adonai do what is good in His eyes.”

¹³ So Joab and the troops with him advanced to battle against the Arameans—and they fled before him. ¹⁴ When the children of Ammon saw that the Arameans had fled, they likewise fled before Abishai and withdrew into the city. Then Joab returned from assaulting the children of Ammon, and went to Jerusalem.

¹⁵ When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they regrouped. ¹⁶ Hadadezer sent word and brought out the Arameans from across the River^[a], and they came to Helam, with Hadadezer’s army commander Shobach before them. ¹⁷ When David was told, he gathered all Israel together, crossed the Jordan and went to Helam. The Arameans arrayed their lines against David and fought him. ¹⁸ But the Arameans fled before Israel—David killed 700 charioteers of the Arameans and 40,000 horsemen, and struck down Shobach the commander of their army, so he died there.

¹⁹ When the vassal kings of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became servants to them. Then the Arameans were afraid to help the children of Ammon anymore.

David Commits Adultery and Murder

11 Now it came to pass at the turn of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his officials with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed in Jerusalem. ² One evening David rose from his bed and strolled on the roof of the royal palace. Then from the roof he saw a woman washing—a very beautiful woman. ³ So David sent someone to inquire about the woman, and he reported, “Isn’t this Bath-sheba, daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

⁴ Then David sent messengers and took her when she came to him, and he lay with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness). Then she returned to her house. ⁵ The woman conceived and sent word to David saying, “I’m pregnant.”

⁶ So David sent a message to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷ When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the troops fared, and how the war was going. ⁸ Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” When Uriah left the royal palace, a present from the king followed him. ⁹ But Uriah slept at the door of the royal palace with all his master’s servants, and did not go down to his house. ¹⁰ When they informed David saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Haven’t you come from a journey? Why didn’t you go down to your house?”

¹¹ But Uriah answered David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my lord Joab and the officers of my lord are camping in the open field. Should I then go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As you live and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.”

¹² Then David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will send you off.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day. The next day, ¹³ David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk. But in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with his master’s servants, but did not go down to his house.

¹⁴ So in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah’s hand. ¹⁵ In the letter he wrote, “Put Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle and withdraw from him so that he may be struck down and die.” ¹⁶ So it came to pass, when Joab was besieging the city, that he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew that valiant men were. ¹⁷ Then the men of the city came out and attacked Joab, and some of the troops of David’s officers fell; and Uriah the Hittite also died.

¹⁸ When Joab sent and reported to David all the events of the war, ¹⁹ he charged the messenger saying, “When you finish reporting all the events of the war to the king, ²⁰ if it happens that the king’s wrath flares up and he says to you, ‘Why did you come so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know that they would shoot from the wall? ²¹ Who killed Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you come so close to the wall?’ Then you will say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead, too.’”

²² So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to report. ²³ The messenger said to David, “The men prevailed against us and came out against us in the open field, but we drove them back as far as the entrance of the gate. ²⁴ Then the archers shot at your troops from the wall, and some of the king’s officers fell dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite died, too.”

²⁵ Then David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab, ‘Don’t let this matter upset you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Press your attack against the city and overthrow it!’ So tell him, chazak!”

²⁶ Now when the wife of Uriah heard that her husband Uriah had died, she mourned over her husband. ²⁷ When the time of mourning was over, David sent someone who brought her to his palace. So she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done was evil in Adonai’s eyes.

Abiding in the Vine

15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. ² Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He trims so that it may bear more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in Me, and I will abide in you. The branch cannot itself produce fruit, unless it abides on the vine. Likewise, you cannot produce fruit unless you abide in Me.

⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for apart from Me, you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away like a branch and is dried up. Such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned.

⁷ “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. ⁸ In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples.”

⁹ “Just as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you. Abide in My love! ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and your joy may be full.

¹² “This is My commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you. ^{[a] 13} No one has greater love than this: that he lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are My friends if you do what I command you.

¹⁵ “I am no longer calling you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. Now I have called you friends, because everything I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

¹⁶ “You did not choose Me, but I chose you. I selected you so that you would go and produce fruit, and your fruit would remain. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name.

¹⁷ “These things I command you, so that you may love one another.”

The World Hates God’s Own

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But you are not of the world, since I have chosen you out of the world; therefore the world hates you.

²⁰ “Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’^[b] If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.

²¹ “But all these things they will do to you for the sake of My name, because they do not know the One who sent Me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin.

²³ “He who hates Me also hates My Father. ²⁴ If I had not done works among them that no one else did, they would have no sin. But now they have seen and have hated both Me and My Father. ²⁵ So is fulfilled the word written in their Scripture,^[c] ‘They hated Me for no reason.’^[d]

²⁶ “When the Helper comes—whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—He will testify about Me. ²⁷ And you also testify, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”

ZAYIN ז

CHET ח

Commit Your Heart to Adonai