Beginning

Chapter 8

Summary of David’s Wars. ¹ A short time later, David attacked the Philistines and subdued them, and he also wrested Metheg-ammah from their control. ² In addition he defeated the Moabites, after which he ordered them to lie on the ground and then measured them off with a length of cord. He measured two lengths of cord for those who were to be put to death, and one length for those who were to be spared. The Moabites then became David’s subjects and brought him tribute.

³ David also defeated King Hadadezer of Zobah, the son of Rehob, as he led an expedition to restore his dominion along the Euphrates River. ⁴ David captured from him one thousand seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He also hamstrung all but one hundred of the chariot horses.

⁵ When the Arameans of Damascus came to the aid of King Hadadezer of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand men of the Arameans. ⁶ He then established garrisons among the Arameans of Damascus, and they became his subjects and brought him tribute.^[a] The Lord brought David victory wherever he went.

⁷ David also took the gold shields that were carried by the guards of Hadadezer, and he brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ In addition, from Bethah and Berothai, towns belonging to Hadadezer, David removed an immense quantity of bronze.

⁹ When Tor, the king of Hamath, heard that David had defeated Hadadezer’s entire army, ¹⁰ he sent his son Joram to King David to greet him and to congratulate him for having been victorious in his battle against Hadadezer, for Hadadezer had often been at war with Tor.

Joram brought with him objects of silver, gold, and bronze. ¹¹ These also King David consecrated to the Lord, as he had also done with the silver and gold he had taken from every nation he had conquered— ¹² from Edom and Moab, from the Ammonites and the Philistines, from Amalek, and from the spoil taken from King Hadadezer of Zoab, the son of Rehob.

¹³ David became even more greatly renowned when, on his return, he slew eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt, ¹⁴ after which he stationed garrisons throughout Edom. Thus all the Edomites became David’s subjects. And the Lord continued to give victory to David wherever he went.

¹⁵ David’s Officials. David reigned over all Israel, and he administered law and justice among all his people.^{[b] 16} Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was in command of the army. Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, was in charge of the records. ¹⁷ Zadok, the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar, were priests. Seraiah was secretary. ¹⁸ Bena-iah, the son of Jehoiada, was in command of the Cherethites and the Pelethites.^[c] David’s sons were priests.

Chapter 9

David and Meribbaal.^{[d] 1} David inquired: “Is there anyone belonging to the family of Saul who is still alive, to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” ² Now Saul’s family had a servant whose name was Ziba, and he was summoned to appear before David. The king asked him: “Are you Ziba?” He replied: “I am at your service.”

³ The king then asked: “Is there anyone from Saul’s family still alive to whom I may show God’s kindness?” “There is a son of Jonathan who still remains,” Ziba said to the king. “His feet are crippled.” ⁴ Then the king inquired: “Where is he?” Ziba answered: “He is living in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.”

⁵ Then King David sent for him and had him brought from the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar. ⁶ When Meribbaal, the son of Jonathan and the grandson of Saul, entered David’s presence, he fell on his face and did obeisance. David said: “Meribbaal!” He replied: “I am your servant.”

⁷ David then said to him: “Do not be afraid. I intend to show you great kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I shall restore to you all the lands that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you yourself shall always eat at my table.” ⁸ Meribbaal again prostrated himself and said: “Of what importance is your servant that you should look with kindness upon a dead dog like me?”

⁹ Then David summoned Saul’s servant Ziba and said to him: “I am turning over to your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and to his family. ¹⁰ You and your sons and your servants shall cultivate the land for him and bring in the harvest to provide for your master’s family to eat. However, Meribbaal, your master’s grandson, shall always eat at my table.”

Ziba, who had fifteen sons and twenty servants, ¹¹ said to the king: “Your servant shall do everything that my lord the king has commanded him.” Therefore, Meribbaal ate at the king’s table like one of the king’s sons.

¹² Meribbaal had a young son whose name was Mica. All the members of Ziba’s household became servants of Meribbaal. ¹³ However, Meribbaal lived in Jerusalem because he always ate at the king’s table, for he was crippled in both feet.

Chapter 10

Insult of the Ammonites. ¹ Sometime afterward the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun succeeded him as king. ² David thought: “I will show Hanun, the son of Nahash, the same loyalty that his father showed to me.” Then David sent a delegation to console him at the loss of his father.

When David’s envoys entered the country of the Ammonites, ³ the Ammonite princes said to their lord Hanun: “Do you truly believe that David means to honor your father just because he has sent envoys to express their condolences to you? Is it not far more likely that he has sent them to be spies so that they may explore and reconnoiter the city and thus be better prepared to overthrow it?”

⁴ Thereupon Hanun seized David’s envoys, shaved off half of their beards, cut away the lower half of their garments up to their hips, and then sent them away.^{[e] 5} When David was informed about how they had been treated, he sent messengers to meet them, for they were greatly humiliated, and to instruct them: “Remain in Jericho until your beards have grown again, and then return.”

Ammonites Defeated. ⁶ When the Ammonites realized that they had greatly offended David, they sent envoys to hire the Arameans of Beth-rehob and the Arameans of Zobah to come to their support, twenty thousand foot soldiers in number, as well as one thousand men from the king of Maacah, and twelve thousand men from Tob.

⁷ When David learned about this, he sent out Joab with his entire force of trained warriors. ⁸ The Ammonites then came forth and drew up in battle formation at the entrance of their city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah stayed some distance away in the open country.

⁹ When Joab perceived that he would be attacked both from the front and from the rear, he chose the best of the troops of Israel and arrayed them against the Arameans. ¹⁰ He put the rest of his forces in charge of his brother Abishai and arrayed them against the Ammonites.

¹¹ Then Joab said: “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you must come to my aid. However, if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to help you. ¹² Be brave! Let us fight courageously for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God. The Lord will do what he judges to be best.”

¹³ Then Joab and the soldiers with him moved forward into battle against the Arameans and put them to flight. ¹⁴ When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they likewise fled when they were confronted by Abishai and withdrew into the city. Then Joab ceased his attack against the Ammonites and withdrew to Jerusalem.

¹⁵ Arameans Defeated. When the Arameans realized that they had been defeated by Israel, they gathered their forces together. ¹⁶ Hadadezer sent messengers to summon other Arameans who lived beyond the Euphrates, and they came to Helam, with Shobach, the commander of the army of Hadadezer, at their head.

¹⁷ When David was informed of this, he assembled all of the forces of Israel, crossed the Jordan, and advanced to Helam. The Arameans then drew up in battle formation against David and fought with him. ¹⁸ However, they were compelled to flee from the Israelite forces. David’s men killed seven hundred Arameans in chariots and forty thousand foot soldiers. In addition, Sho-bach, the general of their army, was seriously wounded, and he died on the battlefield.

¹⁹ When all of the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer realized that they had been defeated by Israel, they sued for peace with the Israelites and became their subjects. As a result, the Arameans were afraid to give any further help to the Ammonites.

Chapter 11

David’s Son. ¹ With the onset of spring, the time of year when kings go off to war, David sent forth Joab along with his officers and the entire Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. However, David himself remained in Jerusalem. ² One evening, when David arose from his couch and walked about on the roof of his palace, he saw from the roof a woman bathing. She was very beautiful. ³ David made inquiries about the woman, and he was told: “That is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

⁴ David sent messengers to fetch her, and when she came to him, he had relations with her, just after she had purified herself from her uncleanness. Then she returned home. ⁵ The woman conceived, and she sent a message to David: “I am pregnant.”

⁶ Then David sent word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite,” and Joab did so. ⁷ When Uriah returned, David asked him how Joab and the troops were faring and how the war was going. ⁸ Then David said to Uriah: “Go down to your house and bathe your feet.” Uriah departed from the king’s palace, and a gift from the king was sent to his house.

⁹ However, Uriah did not return to his house, but rather he slept at the palace gate with all the king’s bodyguard. ¹⁰ Upon receiving the report that Uriah had not returned home, David said to him: “You have just arrived from a journey. Why didn’t you go down to your house?”

¹¹ Uriah replied: “The Ark and Israel and Judah are lodged in tents, and my master Joab and your majesty’s soldiers are encamped in the open fields. How then can I feel comfortable to go to my house, to eat and to drink and to sleep with my wife? As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I shall do no such thing.”

¹² Then David said to Uriah: “Remain here for one more day. Tomorrow I will send you back.” Therefore, Uriah remained that day in Jerusalem. ¹³ On the following day David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him and caused him to become drunk. In the evening he went outside to lie down and fall asleep with the king’s servants, but he did not go down to his house.

¹⁴ In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it to him in the care of Uriah. ¹⁵ In the letter he wrote: “Assign Uriah up front where the fighting is fierce, and then draw back from him so that he may be struck down and die.”

¹⁶ As Joab was besieging the city, he stationed Uriah where he knew the enemy had deployed its most valiant warriors. ¹⁷ When the men of the city came forth and fought against Joab, some of the soldiers of David fell. Uriah the Hittite was also slain.

¹⁸ Then Joab sent David a full account of the battle, ¹⁹ and he instructed the messenger: “When you have finished telling the king all the details about the fighting, ²⁰ his anger may be aroused and he may say to you: ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? Were you not aware that they would shoot from the wall? ²¹ Do you recall who killed Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal? Was it not a woman who dropped down a millstone on him from the wall, resulting in his death at Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ Then say to him: ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.’ ”

²² Therefore, the messenger set off, and on his arrival he relayed to David everything that Joab had instructed him to say. ²³ He told David: “Their men initially gained an advantage over us, and they came forth to fight against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. ²⁴ Then their archers shot down at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s servants died. Your servant Uriah the Hittite was also slain.”

²⁵ David then said to the messenger: “This is what you are to say to Joab: ‘Do not let this matter cause you any distress, for the sword devours now one and now another. Press your attack against the city and destroy it.’ That message should encourage him.”^[f]

²⁶ When the wife of Uriah was told that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. ²⁷ Then, when the period of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her to live in his palace. She became his wife and bore him a son. However, the Lord was greatly displeased at what David had done.

Chapter 12

Nathan’s Parable. ¹ The Lord sent the prophet Nathan to David, and when Nathan arrived, he said to him: “There were two men in a certain town. One was rich and the other was poor. ² The rich man had flocks and herds in great abundance, ³ but the poor man had nothing at all except for one little ewe lamb which he had bought. He cared for it, and the lamb grew up with him and with his children. It would share the little food he had and drink from his cup and sleep in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

⁴ “On one occasion the rich man welcomed a traveler into his house, but he had no wish to take one animal from his flock or herd to provide a meal for his guest. Instead he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared that for his visitor.”

⁵ On hearing this, David flew into a rage against that man, and he said to Nathan: “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die. ⁶ He must make fourfold restitution^[g] for the lamb, because he has done this without showing the least bit of pity.”

David’s Punishment. ⁷ Then Nathan said to David: “You are that man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king of Israel, and I rescued you from the clutches of Saul. ⁸ I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives as your own. I also gave you the house of Israel and the house of Judah. And if that had not been sufficient, I would have given you even more.

⁹ “ ‘Why have you shown your lack of gratitude to the Lord by doing what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and taken his wife to be your own after having killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰ Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, since you have shown contempt for me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’

¹¹ “Thus says the Lord: ‘I will bring misfortune upon you from within your own house. Before your very eyes I shall take your wives and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in broad daylight. ¹² You have done such deeds in secret, but I will do them in broad daylight for all Israel to see.’ ”

¹³ David’s Repentance. David said to Nathan: “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied to David: “The Lord has decided to forgive your sin. You shall not die. ¹⁴ However, since you have shown your utter contempt for the Lord by this deed, the child born to you will die.”

¹⁵ After Nathan returned home, the Lord struck the child that the wife of Uriah had borne to David, and it fell gravely ill. ¹⁶ David, therefore, pleaded with God for the child. He maintained a strict fast, and throughout the night he would lie on the ground. ¹⁷ The elders of his household stood around him, urging him to rise from the ground. However, he refused to do so, nor would he take food with them.

¹⁸ On the seventh day the child died, and the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said: “While the child was alive, we spoke to him, but he refused to listen to us. How then can we inform him that the child is dead? He may do something desperate.” ¹⁹ However, David saw that his servants were whispering among themselves, and he realized that the child had died. He asked the servants: “Is the child dead?” They replied: “Yes, the child is dead.”

²⁰ David, thereupon, rose from the ground, bathed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes. He then went into the house of the Lord and worshiped before he returned to his own house. When he requested food, they set it before him, and he ate. ²¹ His servants said to him: “Why are you acting in this way? You fasted and wept for the child while it was alive, but when the child died, you got up and ate food.”

²² David said: “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I thought: ‘Perhaps the Lord will be merciful to me and allow the child to live.’ ²³ But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”

^24 [h]David then proceeded to console his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and slept with her. As a result, she bore a son, whom they named Solomon. The Lord loved him, ²⁵ and he sent a message to the prophet Nathan instructing him to name the child Jedidiah according to the Lord’s wish.

²⁶ The Ammonite War Ends. Shortly thereafter, Joab attacked Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal city. ²⁷ Then Joab sent messengers to inform David: “I have assaulted Rabbah and gained control of the water supply. ²⁸ Therefore, assemble the rest of the soldiers, lay siege to the city, and capture it. Otherwise I myself will capture the city, and then it will be named after me.”

²⁹ Without delay, David assembled the rest of his soldiers and went to Rabbah, where he assaulted the city and captured it. ³⁰ He took the crown of Milcom from his head. Weighing a talent of gold and encrusted with precious stones, it was placed on David’s head. He also carried out a tremendous amount of spoil from the city.

³¹ Furthermore, David led away the city’s inhabitants and set them to work with saws and iron picks and iron axes or assigned them to toil at brickmaking. This was his regular procedure in regard to all the Ammonite towns. Then he and all of his soldiers returned to Jerusalem.