Old/New Testament
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.
11 In the spring, when kings go forth to battle, David sent Joab with his servants and all Israel, and they ravaged the Ammonites [country] and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
2 One evening David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, when from there he saw a woman bathing; and she was very lovely to behold.
3 David sent and inquired about the woman. One said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
4 And David sent messengers and took her. And she came in to him, and he lay with her—for she was purified from her uncleanness. Then she returned to her house.
5 And the woman became pregnant and sent and told David, I am with child.
6 David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. So Joab sent [him] Uriah.
7 When Uriah had come to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the people fared, and how the war progressed.
8 David said to Uriah, Go down to your house and wash your feet. Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a mess of food [a gift] from the king.
9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord and did not go down to his house.
10 When they told David, Uriah did not go down to his house, David said to Uriah, Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?
11 Uriah said to David, The ark and Israel and Judah live in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As you live and as my soul lives, I will not do this thing.
12 And David said to Uriah, Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart. So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.
13 David invited him, and he ate with him and drank, so that he made him drunk; but that night he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord and did not go down to his house.
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.
15 And he wrote in the letter, Put Uriah in the front line of the heaviest fighting and withdraw from him, that he may be struck down and die.
16 So when Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah opposite where he knew the enemy’s most valiant men were.
17 And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David fell. Uriah the Hittite died also.
18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war.
19 And he charged the messenger, When you have finished reporting matters of the war to the king,
20 Then if the king’s anger rises and he says to you, Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Did you not know they would shoot from the wall?
21 Who killed Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth (Gideon)? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone upon him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go near the wall? Then say, Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.(B)
22 So the messenger went and told David all for which Joab had sent him.
23 The messenger said to David, Surely the men prevailed against us and came out to us in to the field, but we were upon them even to the entrance of the gate.
24 Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
25 Then David said to the messenger, Say to Joab, Let not this thing disturb you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack upon the city and overthrow it. And encourage Joab.
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for Uriah.
27 And when the mourning was past, David sent and brought 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 the Lord.
11 And He said, There was a certain man who had two sons;
12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the part of the property that falls [to me]. And he divided the estate between them.(A)
13 And not many days after that, the younger son gathered up all that he had and journeyed into a distant country, and there he wasted his fortune in reckless and loose [from restraint] living.
14 And when he had spent all he had, a [a]mighty famine came upon that country, and he began to fall behind and be in want.
15 So he went and forced (glued) himself upon one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed hogs.
16 And he would gladly have fed on and [b]filled his belly with the [c]carob pods that the hogs were eating, but [they could not satisfy his hunger and] nobody gave him anything [better].(B)
17 Then when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father have enough food, and [even food] to spare, but I am perishing (dying) here of hunger!
18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.
19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; [just] make me like one of your hired servants.
20 So he got up and came to his [own] father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity and tenderness [for him]; and he ran and embraced him and kissed him [[d]fervently].
21 And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son [I no longer deserve to be recognized as a son of yours]!
22 But the father said to his bond servants, Bring quickly the best robe (the festive robe of honor) and put it on him; and give him a ring for his hand and sandals for his feet.(C)
23 And bring out [e]that [wheat-]fattened calf and kill it; and let us [f]revel and feast and be happy and make merry,
24 Because this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found! And they began to [g]revel and feast and make merry.
25 But his older son was in the field; and as he returned and came near the house, he heard music and dancing.
26 And having called one of the servant [boys] to him, he began to ask what this meant.
27 And he said to him, Your brother has come, and your father has killed [h]that [wheat-]fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and well.
28 But [the elder brother] was angry [with deep-seated wrath] and resolved not to go in. Then his father came out and began to plead with him,
29 But he answered his father, Look! These many years I have served you, and I have never disobeyed your command. Yet you never gave me [so much as] a [little] kid, that I might [i]revel and feast and be happy and make merry with my friends;
30 But when this son of yours arrived, who has devoured your estate with immoral women, you have killed for him [j]that [wheat-] fattened calf!
31 And the father said to him, Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.
32 But it was fitting to make merry, to [k]revel and feast and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found!
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation