2 Samuel 9-10

GOD’S WORD Translation

David Keeps His Promise to Jonathan

9 David asked, “Is there anyone left in Saul’s family to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”

² Now, Saul’s family had a servant whose name was Ziba. He was summoned to ⌞come to⌟ David. “Are you Ziba?” the king asked him.

“⌞Yes,⌟ I am,” he answered.

³ David asked, “Is there someone left in Saul’s family to whom I can show God’s kindness?”

“Jonathan has a son who is disabled,” Ziba answered.

⁴ “Where is he?” the king asked.

Ziba replied, “He is at the home of Machir, Ammiel’s son, in Lo Debar.”

⁵ So King David sent men to get him from the home of Ammiel’s son Machir in Lo Debar. ⁶ When Mephibosheth (son of Jonathan and grandson of Saul) came to David, he quickly bowed down with his face touching the ground.

“Mephibosheth!” David said to him.

“Yes, sir,” he answered.

⁷ “Don’t be afraid,” David told him, “I will certainly show you kindness for your father Jonathan’s sake. I will give back to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”

⁸ Mephibosheth bowed down ⌞again⌟ and answered, “Who am I that you would look at a dead dog like me?”

⁹ Then the king called for Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. ¹⁰ You, your sons, and your servants should farm the land for him and harvest ⌞the crops⌟ so that your master’s family will have food to eat. However, your master’s grandson Mephibosheth will always eat at my table.” (Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants.)

¹¹ Ziba responded, “I will do everything you’ve commanded, Your Majesty.” From then on, Mephibosheth ate at David’s table as one of the king’s sons.

¹² Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. Everyone who lived at Ziba’s home became Mephibosheth’s servant. ¹³ However, Mephibosheth, who was disabled, lived in Jerusalem. He always ate at the king’s table.

David Defeats Ammon and Aram^(A)

10 Later the king of Ammon died, and his son Hanun became king in his place. ² David thought, “I will show kindness to Hanun as his father Nahash showed me kindness.” So David sent his servants to comfort Hanun after his father’s ⌞death⌟. But when David’s servants entered Ammonite territory, ³ the Ammonite princes asked their master Hanun, “Do you think David is honoring your father because he sent men to comfort you? Hasn’t David sent his men to explore the city, spy on it, and destroy it?” ⁴ So Hanun took David’s men, shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their clothes from the waist down, and sent them away.

⁵ After David was told ⌞what had happened⌟, he sent ⌞someone⌟ to meet them because they were deeply humiliated. The king said to them, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown back, and then return ⌞to Jerusalem⌟.”

⁶ The Ammonites realized that they had made themselves offensive to David. So they hired the Arameans from Beth Rehob and Zobah (20,000 foot soldiers), ⌞the army of⌟ the king of Maacah (1,000 men), and the men of Tob (12,000 men).

⁷ After David heard about this, he sent Joab and all the elite troops. ⁸ The Ammonites formed a battle line at the entrance of the ⌞city⌟ gate, while the Arameans from Zobah and Rehob and the men from Tob and Maacah remained by themselves in the open country.

⁹ When Joab saw he was under attack in front and behind, he took the select troops of Israel and organized them for combat against the Arameans. ¹⁰ He put his brother Abishai in charge of the rest of the troops. Abishai organized them for combat against the Ammonites.

¹¹ Joab said, “If the Arameans are too strong for my ⌞troops⌟, be ready to help me. And if the Ammonites are too strong for your ⌞troops⌟, I’ll come to help you. ¹² Be strong! Let’s prove ourselves strong for our people and for the cities of our God, and the Lord will do what he considers right.”

¹³ Then Joab and his troops advanced to fight the Arameans, and the Arameans fled. ¹⁴ When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, the Ammonites fled from Abishai and went into the city. So Joab stopped his campaign against the Ammonites and returned to Jerusalem.

¹⁵ Realizing that Israel had defeated them, the Arameans reassembled ⌞their troops⌟. ¹⁶ Hadadezer sent ⌞messengers⌟ to get Arameans from beyond the Euphrates River. The Arameans came to Helam with Shobach, the commander of Hadadezer’s army, leading them.

¹⁷ When David was told ⌞about this⌟, he assembled Israel’s army, crossed the Jordan River, and came to Helam. The Arameans formed a battle line against David’s ⌞troops⌟ and fought him. ¹⁸ The Arameans fled from Israel, and David killed 700 chariot drivers and 40,000 horsemen. David struck Shobach dead.

¹⁹ When all the kings who were subject to Hadadezer saw that Israel had defeated them, they made peace with Israel and became their subjects. And the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.