2 Samuel 8; 2 Samuel 9; 2 Samuel 10; 2 Samuel 11; 2 Samuel 12

1 After this, David defeated and crushed the Philistines. He took control of the main Philistine city from them.

2 He also defeated Moab, made the Moabites lie down on the ground, and measured them with a rope. He measured two lengths which were to be killed, and one length which was to be spared. So the Moabites became David's subjects and paid taxes [to him].

3 When David went to restore his control [over the territory] along the Euphrates River, he defeated Zobah's King Hadadezer, son of Rehob.

4 David took 1,700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers from him. David also disabled all but 100 of their horses so that they couldn't pull chariots.

5 When the Arameans from Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, David killed 22,000 of them.

6 David put troops in the Aramean kingdom of Damascus, and the Arameans became his subjects and paid taxes [to him]. Everywhere David went, the LORD gave him victories.

7 David took the gold shields that belonged to Hadadezer's servants, and he brought them to Jerusalem.

8 King David also took a large quantity of bronze from Betah and Berothai, Hadadezer's cities.

9 When King Toi of Hamath heard that David had defeated Hadadezer's whole army,

10 he sent his son Joram to greet King David and congratulate him for fighting and defeating Hadadezer. (There had often been war between Hadadezer and Toi.) Joram brought articles of gold, silver, and bronze with him.

11 King David dedicated these articles to the LORD, along with the silver and gold he had dedicated from all the nations he conquered--

12 from Edom, Moab, Ammon, the Philistines, Amalek, and from the goods taken from Zobah's King Hadadezer, son of Rehob.

13 David made a name for himself by killing 18,000 Edomites in the Dead Sea region as he returned [to Jerusalem].

14 He put troops everywhere in Edom, and all the Edomites were David's subjects. Everywhere David went, the LORD gave him victories.

15 So David ruled all Israel. He did what was fair and right for all his people.

16 Zeruiah's son Joab was in charge of the army. Ahilud's son Jehoshaphat was the royal historian.

17 Ahitub's son Zadok and Abiathar's son Ahimelech were priests. Seraiah was the royal scribe.

18 Jehoiada's son Benaiah was commander of the Cherethites and the Pelethites. And David's sons were priests.

1 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.

1 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.

1 In the spring, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, his mercenaries, and Israel's army [to war]. They destroyed the Ammonites and attacked Rabbah, while David stayed in Jerusalem.

2 Now, when evening came, David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the royal palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing, and she was very pretty.

3 David sent someone to ask about the woman. The man said, "She's Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite."

4 So David sent messengers and took her. She came to him, and he went to bed with her. (She had just cleansed herself after her monthly period.) Then she went home.

5 The woman had become pregnant. So she sent someone to tell David that she was pregnant.

6 Then David sent a messenger to Joab, saying, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent Uriah to David.

7 When Uriah arrived, David asked him how Joab and the troops were and how the war was going.

8 "Go home," David said to Uriah, "and wash your feet." Uriah left the royal palace, and the king sent a present to him.

9 But Uriah slept at the entrance of the royal palace among his superior's mercenaries. He didn't go home.

10 When they told David, "Uriah didn't go home," David asked Uriah, "Didn't you just come from a journey? Why didn't you go home?"

11 Uriah answered David, "The ark and [the army of] Israel and Judah are in temporary shelters, and my commander Joab and Your Majesty's mercenaries are living in the field. Should I then go to my house to eat and drink and go to bed with my wife? I solemnly swear, as sure as you're living, I won't do this!"

12 David said to Uriah, "Then stay here today, and tomorrow I'll send you back." So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.

13 David summoned him, ate and drank with him, and got him drunk. But that evening Uriah went to lie down on his bed among his superior's mercenaries. He didn't go home.

14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.

15 In the letter he wrote, "Put Uriah on the front line where the fighting is heaviest. Then abandon him so that he'll be struck down and die."

16 Since Joab had kept the city under observation, he put Uriah at the place where he knew the experienced warriors were.

17 The men of the city came out and fought Joab. Some of the people, namely, some of David's mercenaries, fell and died--including Uriah the Hittite.

18 Then Joab sent [a messenger] to report to David all the details of the battle.

19 And he commanded the messenger, "When you finish telling the king about the battle,

20 the king may become angry. He might ask 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 Jerubbesheth's son Abimelech? Didn't a woman on the wall of Thebez throw a small millstone at him and kill him? Why did you go so close to the wall?' If the king asks this, then say, 'Your man Uriah the Hittite is also dead.'"

22 The messenger left, and when he arrived, he reported to David everything Joab told him to say.

23 The messenger said, "Their men overpowered us and came to attack us in the field. Then we forced them back to the entrance of the city gate.

24 The archers on the wall shot down at your mercenaries, and some of Your Majesty's mercenaries died. Your man Uriah the Hittite also is dead."

25 David said to the messenger, "This is what you are to say to Joab, 'Don't let this thing trouble you, because a sword can kill one person as easily as another. Strengthen your attack against the city, and destroy it.' Say this to encourage him."

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

27 When her mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her to his home, and she became his wife. Then she gave birth to a son. But the LORD considered David's actions evil.

1 So the LORD sent Nathan to David. Nathan came to him and said, "There were two men in a certain city. One was rich, and the other was poor.

2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cows,

3 but the poor man had only one little female lamb that he had bought. He raised her, and she grew up in his home with his children. She would eat his food and drink from his cup. She rested in his arms and was like a daughter.

4 "Now, a visitor came to the rich man. The rich man thought it would be a pity to take one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler. So he took the poor man's lamb and prepared her for the traveler."

5 David burned with anger against the man. "I solemnly swear, as the LORD lives," he said to Nathan, "the man who did this certainly deserves to die!

6 And he must pay back four times the price of the lamb because he did this and had no pity."

7 "You are the man!" Nathan told David. "This is what the LORD God of Israel says: I anointed you king over Israel and rescued you from Saul.

8 I gave you your master Saul's house and his wives. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if this weren't enough, I would have given you even more.

9 Why did you despise my word by doing what I considered evil? You had Uriah the Hittite killed in battle. You took his wife as your wife. You used the Ammonites to kill him.

10 So warfare will never leave your house because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.

11 "This is what the LORD says: I will stir up trouble against you within your own household, and before your own eyes I will take your wives and give them to someone close to you. He will go to bed with your wives in broad daylight.

12 You did this secretly, but I will make this happen in broad daylight in front of all Israel."

13 Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin; you will not die.

14 But since you have shown total contempt for the LORD by this affair, the son that is born to you must die."

15 Then Nathan went home. The LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife had given birth to for David so that the child became sick.

16 David pleaded with God for the child; he fasted and lay on the ground all night.

17 The older leaders in his palace stood beside him to raise him up from the ground, but he was unwilling. And he wouldn't eat with them.

18 On the seventh day the child died. But David's officials were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. They thought, "While the child was alive, we talked to him, and he wouldn't listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may harm [himself]."

19 But when David saw that his officials were whispering to one another, he realized that the child was dead. "Is the child dead?" David asked them. "[Yes,] he is dead," they answered.

20 So David got up from the ground, bathed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes. He went into the LORD's house and worshiped. Then he went home and asked for food. They placed food in front of him, and he ate.

21 His officials asked him, "Why are you acting this way? You fasted and cried over the child when he was alive. But as soon as the child died, you got up and ate."

22 David answered, "As long as the child was alive, I fasted and cried. I thought, 'Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.'

23 But why should I fast now that he's dead? Can I bring him back? [Someday] I'll go to him, but he won't come back to me."

24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to bed with her, and she later gave birth to a son. David named him Solomon. The LORD loved the child

25 and sent a message through the prophet Nathan to name the baby Jedidiah [The LORD's Beloved].

26 Meanwhile, Joab fought against the Ammonite city of Rabbah and captured its royal fortress.

27 So he sent messengers to tell David, "I fought against Rabbah and captured the fortress guarding its water supply.

28 Gather the rest of the troops, surround the city, and capture it. Otherwise, I will capture the city, and it will be named after me."

29 So David gathered all the troops and went to Rabbah. He fought against the city and captured it.

30 He took the gold crown from the head of Rabbah's king and put it on his own head. (The crown weighed 75 pounds and contained a precious stone.) David also took a lot of goods from the city.

31 He brought out the troops who were there and put them to work with saws, hoes, and axes. He did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all the troops returned to Jerusalem.