2 Samuel 9-10

New American Standard Bible

David’s Kindness to Mephibosheth

9 Then David said, “Is there ^[a]anyone still left of the house of Saul, ^(A)so that I could show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” ² Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and they summoned him to David; and the king said to him, “Are you ^(B)Ziba?” And he said, “I am your servant.” ³ Then the king said, “Is there no one remaining of the house of Saul to whom I could show the ^(C)kindness of God?” And Ziba said to the king, “^(D)There is still a son of Jonathan, one who is disabled in both feet.” ⁴ So the king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he is ^(E)in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar.” ⁵ Then King David sent ^[b]messengers who brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar. ^6 (F)Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, came to David and ^(G)fell on his face and prostrated himself. And David said, “Mephibosheth.” And he said, “Here is your servant!” ⁷ Then David said to him, “Do not be afraid, for ^(H)I will assuredly show kindness to you for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I ^(I)will restore to you all the ^[c]land of your ^[d]grandfather Saul; and ^(J)you yourself shall ^[e]eat at my table regularly.” ⁸ Again he prostrated himself, and said, “What is your servant, that you should be concerned about ^(K)a dead dog like me?”

⁹ Then the king summoned Saul’s servant Ziba and said to him, “^(L)Everything that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master’s ^[f]grandson. ¹⁰ You and your sons and your servants shall cultivate the land for him, and you shall bring in the produce so that your master’s grandson will have food ^[g]to eat; nevertheless ^(M)Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, ^(N)shall ^[h]eat at my table regularly.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. ¹¹ Then Ziba said to the king, “In accordance ^(O)with everything that my lord the king commands his servant, so your servant will do.” So Mephibosheth ate at ^[i]David’s table as one of the king’s sons. ¹² Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. And all who lived in the house of Ziba were servants to Mephibosheth. ¹³ So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because ^(P)he ate at the king’s table regularly. And ^(Q)he was disabled in his two feet.

Ammon and Aram Defeated

10 ^(R)Now it happened afterward that ^(S)the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun became king in his place. ² Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of ^(T)Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent ^[j]some of his servants to console him about his father. But when David’s servants came to the land of the Ammonites, ³ the commanders of the Ammonites said to their lord Hanun, “^[k]Do you think that David is simply honoring your father since he has sent you servants ^[l]to console you? ^(U)Has David not sent his servants to you in order to explore the city, to spy it out and overthrow it?” ⁴ So Hanun took David’s servants and ^(V)shaved off half of their beards, and ^(W)cut off their robes in the middle as far as their buttocks, and sent them away. ⁵ When messengers informed David, he sent servants to meet them, because the men were extremely humiliated. And the king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow back, and then you shall return.”

⁶ Now when the sons of Ammon saw that ^(X)they had become repulsive to David, the sons of Ammon sent messengers and ^(Y)hired the Arameans of ^(Z)Beth-rehob and the ^(AA)Arameans of Zobah, twenty thousand foot soldiers, and the king of ^(AB)Maacah with a thousand men, and the men of Tob with twelve thousand men. ⁷ When David heard about this, he sent Joab and all the army, the warriors. ⁸ And the sons of Ammon came out and lined up for battle ^(AC)at the entrance of the ^[m]city, while the Arameans of Zobah and of Rehob and the men of ^(AD)Tob and Maacah were stationed by themselves in the field.

⁹ Now when Joab saw that ^[n]the battle was set against him at the front and at the rear, he selected warriors from all the choice men in Israel, and lined them up against the Arameans. ¹⁰ But the remainder of the people he placed ^[o]under the command of his brother Abishai, and he lined them up against the sons of Ammon. ¹¹ And he said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come to help you. ^12 (AE)Be strong, and let’s show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and the cities of our God; and ^(AF)may the Lord do what is good in His sight.” ¹³ So Joab and the people who were with him advanced to the battle against the Arameans, and ^(AG)they fled from him. ¹⁴ When the sons of Ammon saw that the Arameans had fled, they also fled from Abishai and entered the city. ^(AH)Then Joab returned from fighting against the sons of Ammon and came to Jerusalem.

¹⁵ When the Arameans saw that they had been ^[p]defeated by Israel, they assembled together. ^16 (AI)And Hadadezer sent word and brought out the Arameans who were beyond the Euphrates River, and they came to Helam; and ^(AJ)Shobach the commander of the army of Hadadezer ^[q]led them. ¹⁷ Now when it was reported to David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Arameans lined up against David and fought him. ¹⁸ But the Arameans fled from Israel, and David killed ^(AK)seven hundred charioteers of the Arameans and forty thousand horsemen, and struck Shobach the commander of their army, and he died there. ¹⁹ When all the kings, servants of Hadadezer, saw that they had been ^[r]defeated by Israel, ^(AL)they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Arameans were afraid to help the sons of Ammon anymore.