Historical

7 When King David dwelt in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies,

² The king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within curtains.

³ And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.

⁴ That night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying,

⁵ Go and tell My servant David, Thus says the Lord: Shall you build Me a house in which to dwell?

⁶ For I have not dwelt in a house since I brought the Israelites out of Egypt to this day, but have moved about with a tent for My dwelling.

⁷ In all the places where I have moved with all the Israelites, did I speak a word to any from the tribes of Israel whom I commanded to be shepherd of My people Israel, asking, Why do you not build Me a house of cedar?

⁸ So now say this to My servant David, Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince over My people Israel.

⁹ And I was with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like [that] of the great men of the earth.

¹⁰ And I will appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and be moved no more. And wicked men shall afflict them no more, as formerly

¹¹ And as from the time that I appointed judges over My people Israel; and I will cause you to rest from all your enemies. Also the Lord declares to you that He will make for you a house:

¹² And when your days are fulfilled and you sleep with your fathers, I will set up after you your offspring who shall be born to you, and I will establish his kingdom.

¹³ He shall build a house for My ^[a]Name [and My Presence], and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

¹⁴ I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. When he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the sons of men.

¹⁵ But My mercy and loving-kindness shall not depart from him, as I took [them] from Saul, whom I took away from before you.

¹⁶ And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before you; your throne shall be established forever.

¹⁷ In accordance with all these words and all this vision Nathan spoke to David.

¹⁸ Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?

¹⁹ Then as if this were a little thing in Your eyes, O Lord God, You have spoken also of Your servant’s house in the far distant future. And this is the law for man, O Lord God!

²⁰ What more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Lord God.

²¹ Because of Your promise and as Your own heart dictates, You have done all these astounding things to make Your servant know and understand.

²² Therefore You are great, O Lord God; for none is like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all [You have made] our ears to hear.

²³ What [other] one nation on earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be a people for Himself and to make for Himself a name? You have done great and terrible things for Yourself and for Your land, before Your people, whom You redeemed and delivered for Yourself from Egypt, from the nations and their gods.

²⁴ And You have established for Yourself Your people Israel to be Your people forever, and You, Lord, became their God.

²⁵ Now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word You have given as to Your servant and his house; and do as You have said,

²⁶ And Your name [and presence] shall be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is God over Israel; and the house of Your servant David will be made firm before You.

²⁷ For You, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed this to Your servant: I will build you a house. So Your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to You.

²⁸ And now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are truth, and You have promised this good thing to Your servant.

²⁹ Therefore now let it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You; for You, O Lord God, have spoken it, and with Your blessing let [his] house be blessed forever.

8 After this David smote the Philistines and subdued them, and he took Metheg-ammah out of the hands of the Philistines.

² He defeated Moab, and measured them with a line, making them lie down on the ground; two lines he measured to be put to death, and one full line to keep alive. And the Moabites became servants to David, bringing tribute.

³ David also defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to restore his power at the river [Euphrates].

⁴ David took from him 1,700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers; and David hamstrung all the chariot horses, except he reserved enough of them for 100 chariots.

⁵ And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David slew 22,000 of them.

⁶ David put garrisons in Syrian Damascus, and the Syrians became [his] servants and brought tribute. The Lord preserved and gave victory to David wherever he went.

⁷ And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem.

⁸ And from Betah and Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David exacted an immense amount of bronze.

⁹ When Toi king of Hamath heard about David’s defeat of all the forces of Hadadezer,

¹⁰ [He] sent Joram his son to King David to salute and congratulate him about his battle and defeat of Hadadezer. For Hadadezer had had wars with Toi. Joram brought vessels of silver, gold, and bronze.

¹¹ These King David dedicated to the Lord, with the silver and gold that he had dedicated from all the nations he subdued:

¹² From Syria, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, Amalek, and from the spoil of Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

¹³ David won renown. When he returned he slew 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

¹⁴ He put garrisons throughout all Edom, and all the Edomites became his servants. And the Lord preserved and gave victory to [him] wherever he went.

¹⁵ So David reigned over all Israel, and executed justice and righteousness for all his people.

¹⁶ Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder;

¹⁷ Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were the [chief] priests, and Seraiah was the scribe;

¹⁸ Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over both the Cherethites and Pelethites [the king’s bodyguards]; and David’s sons were chief [confidential] assistants to the king.

9 And David said, Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?

² And of the house of Saul there was a servant whose name was Ziba. When they had called him to David, he said to him, Are you Ziba? He said, I, your servant, am he.

³ The king said, Is there not still someone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the [unfailing, unsought, unlimited] mercy and kindness of God? Ziba replied, Jonathan has yet a son who is lame in his feet.^(A)

⁴ And the king said, Where is he? Ziba replied, He is in the house of Machir son of Ammiel in Lo-debar.

⁵ Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir son of Ammiel at Lo-debar.

⁶ And Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and did obeisance. David said, Mephibosheth! And he answered, Behold your servant!

⁷ David said to him, Fear not, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your father [grandfather], and you shall eat at my table always.

⁸ And [the cripple] bowed himself and said, What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I am?

⁹ Then the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, I have given your master’s son [grandson] all that belonged to Saul and to all his house.

¹⁰ And you shall till the land for him, you, your sons, and your servants, and you shall bring in the produce, that your master’s heir may have food to eat; but Mephibosheth, your master’s son [grandson], shall eat always at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.

¹¹ Then Ziba said to the king, Your servant will do according to all my lord the king commands. So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table as one of the king’s sons.

¹² Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micha. And all who dwelt in Ziba’s house were servants to Mephibosheth.

¹³ So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king’s table, [even though] he was lame in both feet.

10 Later, the king of the Ammonites died, and Hanun his son reigned in his stead.

² David said, I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, as his father did to me. So David sent his servants to console him for his father’s death; and they came into the land of the Ammonites,

³ But the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, Do you think that it is because David honors your father that he has sent comforters to you? Has he not rather sent his servants to you to search the city, spy it out, and overthrow it?

⁴ So Hanun took David’s servants and shaved off half their beards and cut off their garments in the middle at their hips and sent them away.

⁵ When it was told David, he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards are grown, and then return.

⁶ And when the Ammonites saw that they had made themselves obnoxious and disgusting to David, they sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob and of Zobah, 20,000 foot soldiers, and of the king of Maacah 1,000 men, and of Tob 12,000 men.

⁷ When David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the army of the mighty men.

⁸ And the Ammonites came out and put the battle in array at the entrance of the gate, but the Syrians of Zobah and of Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were stationed by themselves in the open country.

⁹ When Joab saw that the battlefront was against him before and behind, he picked some of all the choice men of Israel and put them in array against the Syrians.

¹⁰ The rest of the men Joab gave over to Abishai his brother, that he might put them in array against the Ammonites.

¹¹ Joab said, If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will come and help you.

¹² Be of good courage; let us play the man for our people and the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what seems good to Him.

¹³ And Joab and the people who were with him drew near to battle against the Syrians, and they fled before him.

¹⁴ And when the Ammonites saw that the Syrians had fled, they also fled before Abishai and entered the city. So Joab returned from battling against the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem.

¹⁵ When the Syrians saw that they were defeated by Israel, they gathered together.

¹⁶ Hadadezer sent and brought the Syrians who were beyond the river [Euphrates]; and they came to Helam, with Shobach commander of the army of Hadadezer leading them.

¹⁷ When David was told, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan, and came to Helam. Then the Syrians set themselves in array against David and fought with him.

¹⁸ The Syrians fled before Israel, and David slew of [them] the men of 700 chariots and 40,000 horsemen and smote Shobach captain of their army, who died there.

¹⁹ And when all the kings serving Hadadezer saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Syrians were afraid to help the Ammonites any more.