2 Samuel 9; 2 Samuel 10; 2 Samuel 11; Luke 15:11-32

1 David asked, "Is there anyone from Saul's family still alive that I could show faithful love for Jonathan's sake?" "Are you Ziba?" the king asked him. "At your service!" he answered.

2 There was a servant from Saul's household named Ziba, and he was summoned before David.

3 The king asked, "Is there anyone left from Saul's family that I could show God's kindness to?" "Yes," Ziba said to the king, "one of Jonathan's sons, whose feet are crippled."

4 "Where is he?" the king asked. "He is at the house of Ammiel's son Machir at Lo-debar," Ziba told the king.

5 So King David had him brought from the house of Ammiel's son Machir at Lo-debar.

6 Mephibosheth, Jonathan's son and Saul's grandson, came to David, and he fell to the ground, bowing low out of respect. "Mephibosheth?" David said. "Yes," he replied. "I am at your service!"

7 "Don't be afraid," David told him, "because I will certainly show you faithful love for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the fields of your grandfather Saul, and you will eat at my table always."

8 Mephibosheth bowed low out of respect and said, "Who am I, your servant, that you should care about a dead dog like me?"

9 Then David summoned Saul's servant Ziba and said to him, "I have given your master's grandson everything belonging to Saul and his family.

10 You will work the land for him—you, your sons, and your servants—and you will bring food into your master's house for them to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master's grandson, will always be at my table." (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

11 Then Ziba said to the king, "Your servant will do whatever my master the king commands." So Mephibosheth ate at David's table, like one of the king's own sons.

12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica. All who lived in Ziba's household became Mephibosheth's servants.

13 Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king's table. He was crippled in both feet.

1 Some time later, the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun succeeded him as king.

2 David said, "I'll be loyal to Nahash's son Hanun, just as his father was loyal to me." So David sent his servants with condolences concerning Hanun's father. But when David's servants arrived in Ammonite territory,

3 the Ammonite officials asked their master Hanun, "Do you really believe David is honoring your father because he has sent you condolences? Of course not! David has sent his servants to you to search the city, spy it out, and overthrow it."

4 So Hanun seized David's servants and shaved off their beards, cut off half their garments, from their buttocks down, and sent them off.

5 When this was reported to David, he sent men to meet them because they were completely ashamed. The king said, "Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown. Then you can come back."

6 When the Ammonites realized that they had offended David, they sent for and hired the Arameans of Beth-rehob and the Arameans of Zobah, totaling twenty thousand foot soldiers; the king of Maacah with one thousand soldiers; and twelve thousand soldiers from Tob.

7 When David heard this, he sent Joab with the entire army of warriors.

8 The Ammonites marched out and formed a battle line at the entrance to the city. The Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the soldiers from Tob and Maacah remained in the countryside.

9 When Joab saw that the battle would be fought on two fronts, he chose some of Israel's finest warriors and deployed them to meet the Arameans.

10 The rest of the army Joab placed under the command of his brother Abishai. When they took up their positions to meet the Ammonites, Joab said,

11 "If the Arameans prove too strong for me, you must help me, and if the Ammonites prove too strong for you, I'll help you.

12 Be brave! We must be courageous for the sake of our people and the cities of our God. The LORD will do what is good in his eyes."

13 When Joab and the troops who were with him advanced into battle against the Arameans, they fled from him.

14 When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they also fled from Abishai and retreated to the city. Then Joab returned from fighting the Ammonites and went to Jerusalem.

15 The Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, so they regrouped.

16 Hadadezer sent for Arameans from beyond the Euphrates River. They came to Helam with Shobach leading them as commander of Hadadezer's army.

17 When this was reported to David he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan, and went to Helam. The Arameans formed battle lines against David and fought with him.

18 But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David destroyed seven hundred of their chariots and forty thousand horsemen. David wounded their army commander Shobach, and he died there.

19 When all the kings who served Hadadezer saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became their subjects. Never again would the Arameans come to the aid of the Ammonites.

1 In the spring, when kings go off to war, David sent Joab, along with his servants and all the Israelites, and they destroyed the Ammonites, attacking the city of Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.

2 One evening, David got up from his couch and was pacing back and forth on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful.

3 David sent someone and inquired about the woman. The report came back: "Isn't this Eliam's daughter Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"

4 So David sent messengers to get her. When she came to him, he had sex with her. (Now she had been purifying herself after her monthly period.) Then she returned home.

5 The woman conceived and sent word to David. "I'm pregnant," she said.

6 Then 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 about the welfare of Joab and the army and how the battle was going.

8 Then David told Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him.

9 However, Uriah slept at the palace entrance with all his master's servants. He didn't go down to his own house.

10 David was told, "Uriah didn't go down to his own house," so David asked Uriah, "Haven't you just returned from a journey? Why didn't you go home?"

11 "The chest and Israel and Judah are all living in tents," Uriah told David. "And my master Joab and my master's troops are camping in the open field. How could I go home and eat, drink, and have sex with my wife? I swear on your very life, I will not do that!"

12 Then David told Uriah, "Stay here one more day. Tomorrow I'll send you back." So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day. The next day

13 David called for him, and he ate and drank, and David got him drunk. In the evening Uriah went out to sleep in the same place, alongside his master's servants, but he did not go down to his own home.

14 The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.

15 He wrote in the letter, "Place Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle, and then pull back from him so that he will be struck down and die."

16 So as Joab was attacking the city, he put Uriah in the place where he knew there were strong warriors.

17 When the city's soldiers came out and attacked Joab, some of the people from David's army fell. Uriah the Hittite was also killed.

18 Joab sent a complete report of the battle to David.

19 "When you have finished reporting all the news of the battle to the king," Joab instructed the messenger,

20 "if the king gets angry and asks you, ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? didn't you know they would shoot from the wall?

21 Who killed Jerubbaal's son Abimelech? didn't a woman throw an upper millstone on top of him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?' then say: ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too.'"

22 So the messenger set off, and when he arrived he reported to David everything Joab sent him to say.

23 "The men overpowered us," the messenger told David. "They came out against us in the open field, but we fought against them up to the entrance of the city gate.

24 Archers shot down on your servants from the wall. Some of the king's servants died. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too."

25 David said to the messenger, "Say this to Joab: ‘Don't be upset about this because the sword is that way: taking the life of this person or that person. Continue attacking the city and destroy it!' Encourage Joab!"

26 When Uriah's wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for her husband.

27 After the time of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her back to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. But what David had done was evil in the LORD's eyes.

11 Jesus said, “A certain man had two sons.

12 The younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the inheritance.' Then the father divided his estate between them.

13 Soon afterward, the younger son gathered everything together and took a trip to a land far away. There, he wasted his wealth through extravagant living.

14 “When he had used up his resources, a severe food shortage arose in that country and he began to be in need.

15 He hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

16 He longed to eat his fill from what the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything.

17 When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired hands have more than enough food, but I'm starving to death!

18 I will get up and go to my father, and say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

19 I no longer deserve to be called your son. Take me on as one of your hired hands." '

20 So he got up and went to his father. “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion. His father ran to him, hugged him, and kissed him.

21 Then his son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.'

22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Quickly, bring out the best robe and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet!

23 Fetch the fattened calf and slaughter it. We must celebrate with feasting

24 because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life! He was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate.

25 "Now his older son was in the field. Coming in from the field, he approached the house and heard music and dancing.

26 He called one of the servants and asked what was going on.

27 The servant replied, ‘Your brother has arrived, and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he received his son back safe and sound.'

28 Then the older son was furious and didn't want to enter in, but his father came out and begged him.

29 He answered his father, ‘Look, I've served you all these years, and I never disobeyed your instruction. Yet you've never given me as much as a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.

30 But when this son of yours returned, after gobbling up your estate on prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.'

31 Then his father said, ‘Son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.

32 But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found.'"