2 Samuel 7; 2 Samuel 8; 2 Samuel 9; 2 Samuel 10

1 The king settled down in his palace. The LORD had given him peace and rest from all of his enemies who were around him.

2 Then the king spoke to the prophet Nathan. He said, "Here I am, living in a palace that has beautiful cedar walls. But the ark of God remains in a tent."

3 Nathan replied to the king, "Go ahead and do what you want to. The LORD is with you."

4 That night the word of the LORD came to Nathan. The LORD said,

5 "Go and speak to my servant David. Tell him, 'The LORD says, "Are you the one to build me a house to live in?

6 I have not lived in a house from the day I brought the people of Israel up out of Egypt until now. I have been moving from place to place. I have been living in a tent.

7 I have moved from place to place with all of the people of Israel. I commanded their rulers to be shepherds over them. I never asked any of those rulers, 'Why haven't you built me a house that has beautiful cedar walls?' " '

8 "So tell my servant David, 'The LORD who rules over all says, "I took you away from the grasslands. That's where you were taking care of your father's sheep and goats. I made you ruler over my people Israel.

9 I have been with you everywhere you have gone. I cut off all of your enemies when you were attacking them. " ' "Now I will make you famous. Your name will be just as respected as the names of the most important people on earth.

10 I will provide a place where my people Israel can live. I will plant them in the land. Then they will have a home of their own. They will not be bothered anymore. Evil people will no longer crush them, as they did at first.

11 That is what your enemies have done ever since I appointed leaders over my people Israel. But I will give you peace and rest from all of them. " ' "I tell you that I myself will set up a royal house for you.

12 Some day your life will come to an end. You will join the members of your family who have already died. Then I will make one of your own sons the next king after you. And I will make his kingdom secure.

13 He is the one who will build a house where I will put my Name. " ' "I will set up the throne of his kingdom. It will last forever.

14 I will be his father. And he will be my son. When he does what is wrong, I will use other men to beat him with rods and whips.

15 I took my love away from Saul. I removed him from being king. You were there when I did it. But I will never take my love away from your son.

16 " ' "Your royal house and your kingdom will last forever in my sight. Your throne will last forever." ' "

17 Nathan reported to David all of the words that the LORD had spoken to him.

18 Then King David went into the holy tent. He sat down in front of the Lord. He said, "LORD and King, who am I? My family isn't important. So why have you brought me this far?

19 I would have thought that you had already done more than enough for me. But now, LORD and King, you have also spoken about what is going to happen to my royal house in days to come. LORD and King, is this your usual way of dealing with people?

20 "What more can I say to you? LORD and King, you know all about me.

21 You have done a wonderful thing. You have made it known to me. You have done it because that's what you said you would do. It's exactly what you wanted to do for me.

22 "LORD and King, how great you are! There isn't anyone like you. There isn't any God but you. We have heard about it with our own ears.

23 "Who is like your people Israel? God, we are the one nation on earth you have saved. You have set us free for yourself. Your name has become famous. You have done great and wonderful things. You have driven out nations and their gods to make room for your people. You saved us when you set us free from Egypt.

24 You made Israel your very own people forever. Lord, you have become our God.

25 "And now, LORD God, keep forever the promise you have made to me and my royal house. Do exactly as you promised.

26 Then your name will be honored forever. People will say, 'The LORD rules over all. He is God over Israel.' My royal house will be made secure in your sight.

27 "LORD who rules over all, you are the God of Israel. Here's what you have shown me. You told me, 'I will build you a royal house.' So I can boldly offer this prayer to you.

28 LORD and King, you are God! Your words can be trusted. You have promised many good things to me.

29 "Now please bless my royal house. Then it will continue forever in your sight. LORD and King, you have spoken. Because you have given my royal house your blessing, it will be blessed forever."

1 While David was king of Israel, he won many battles over the Philistines. He brought them under his control. He took Metheg Ammah away from them.

2 David also won the battle over the people of Moab. He made them lie down on the ground. Then he measured them off with a piece of rope. He put two-thirds of them to death. He let the other third remain alive. So the Moabites were brought under David's rule. They gave him the gifts he required them to bring him.

3 David fought against Hadadezer, the son of Rehob. Hadadezer was king of Zobah. He had gone to take back control of the land along the Euphrates River.

4 David captured 1,000 of Hadadezer's chariots, 7,000 chariot riders and 20,000 soldiers on foot. He cut the legs of all but 100 of the chariot horses.

5 The Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer, the king of Zobah. But David struck down 22,000 of them.

6 He stationed some soldiers in the Aramean kingdom of Damascus. The people of Aram were brought under his rule. They gave him the gifts he required them to bring him. The LORD helped David win his battles everywhere he went.

7 David took the gold shields that belonged to the officers of Hadadezer. He brought the shields to Jerusalem.

8 He took a huge amount of bronze from Tebah and Berothai. Those towns belonged to Hadadezer.

9 Tou was king of Hamath. He heard that David had won the battle over the entire army of Hadadezer.

10 So Tou sent his son Joram to King David. Joram greeted David. He praised him because he had won the battle over Hadadezer. Hadadezer had been at war with Tou. So Joram brought with him articles that were made out of silver, gold and bronze.

11 King David set those articles apart for the Lord. He had done the same thing with the silver and gold he had taken from the other nations he had brought under his control.

12 Those nations were Edom, Moab, Ammon, Philistia and Amalek. He also set apart for the LORD what he had taken from Hadadezer, the son of Rehob. Hadadezer was king of Zobah.

13 David returned after he had struck down 18,000 men of Edom in the Valley of Salt. He became famous for doing it.

14 He stationed some soldiers all through Edom. The whole nation of Edom was brought under his rule. The LORD helped David win his battles everywhere he went.

15 David ruled over the whole nation of Israel. He did what was fair and right for all of his people.

16 Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was commander over the army. Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, kept the records.

17 Zadok, the son of Ahitub, was a priest. Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar, was also a priest. Seraiah was the secretary.

18 Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was commander over the Kerethites and Pelethites. And David's sons were royal advisers.

1 David asked, "Is anyone left from the royal house of Saul? If there is, I want to be kind to him because of Jonathan."

2 Ziba was a servant in Saul's family. David sent for him to come and see him. The king said to him, "Are you Ziba?" "I'm ready to serve you," he replied.

3 The king asked, "Isn't anyone left from the royal house of Saul? God has been very kind to me. I would like to be kind to someone in the same way." Ziba answered the king, "A son of Jonathan is still living. Both of his feet were hurt."

4 "Where is he?" the king asked. Ziba answered, "He's in the town of Lo Debar. He's staying at the house of Makir, the son of Ammiel."

5 So King David had Mephibosheth brought from Makir's house in Lo Debar.

6 Mephibosheth came to David. He was the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul. Mephibosheth bowed down to David to show him respect. David said, "Mephibosheth!" "I'm ready to serve you," he replied.

7 "Don't be afraid," David told him. "You can be sure that I will be kind to you because of your father Jonathan. I'll give back to you all of the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul. And I'll always provide what you need."

8 Mephibosheth bowed down to David. He said, "Who am I? Why should you pay attention to me? I'm nothing but a dead dog."

9 Then the king sent for Saul's servant Ziba. He said to him, "I'm giving your master's grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family.

10 You and your sons and your servants must farm the land for him. You must bring in the crops. Then he'll be taken care of. I'll always provide what he needs." Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants.

11 Then Ziba said to the king, "I'll do anything you command me to do. You are my king and master." So David provided what Mephibosheth needed. He treated him like one of the king's sons.

12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica. All of the members of Ziba's family became servants of Mephibosheth.

13 Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem. The king always provided what he needed. Both of his feet were hurt.

1 The king of Ammon died. His son Hanun became the next king after him.

2 David thought, "I'm going to be kind to Hanun. His father Nahash was kind to me." So David sent messengers to Hanun. He wanted them to tell Hanun how sad he was that Hanun's father had died. David's messengers went to the land of Ammon.

3 The Ammonite nobles spoke to their master Hanun. They said, "David has sent messengers to tell you he is sad. They say he wants to honor your father. But the real reason they've come is to look the city over. They want to destroy it."

4 So Hanun grabbed hold of David's men. He shaved off half of each man's beard. He cut their clothes off just below the waist and left them half naked. Then he sent them away.

5 David was told about it. So he sent messengers to his men because they were filled with shame. King David said to them, "Stay at Jericho until your beards grow out again. Then come back here."

6 The Ammonites realized that what they had done had made David very angry with them. So they hired 20,000 Aramean soldiers who were on foot. The soldiers came from Beth Rehob and Zobah. The Ammonites also hired the king of Maacah and 1,000 men. And they hired 12,000 men from Tob.

7 David heard about it. So he sent Joab out with the entire army of Israel's fighting men.

8 The Ammonites marched out. They took up their battle positions at the entrance of their city gate. The Arameans of Zobah and Rehob gathered their troops together in the open country. So did the men of Tob and Maacah.

9 Joab saw that there were lines of soldiers in front of him and behind him. So he chose some of the best troops in Israel. He sent them to march out against the Arameans.

10 He put the rest of the men under the command of his brother Abishai. Joab sent them to march out against the Ammonites.

11 He said, "Suppose the Arameans are too strong for me. Then you must come and help me. But suppose the Ammonites are too strong for you. Then I'll come and help you.

12 "Be strong. Let's be brave as we fight for our people and the cities of our God. The LORD will do what he thinks is best."

13 Then Joab and the troops who were with him marched out to attack the Arameans. They ran away from him.

14 The Ammonites saw that the Arameans were running away. So they ran away from Abishai. They went inside the city. After Joab had fought against the Ammonites, he went back to Jerusalem.

15 The Arameans saw that they had been driven away by Israel. So they brought their troops together.

16 Hadadezer had some Arameans brought from east of the Euphrates River. They went to Helam under the command of Shobach. He was the commander of Hadadezer's army.

17 David was told about it. So he gathered the whole army of Israel together. They went across the Jordan River to Helam. The Arameans lined up their soldiers to go to war against David. They began to fight against him.

18 But then they ran away from Israel. David killed 700 of their chariot riders. He killed 40,000 of their soldiers who were on foot. He also struck down Shobach, the commander of their army. Shobach died there.

19 All of the kings who were under the rule of Hadadezer saw that Israel had won the battle over them. So they made a peace treaty with the Israelites. They were brought under Israel's rule. After that, the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.