Old/New Testament
9 David: Is anyone from Saul’s family still around that I could honor for the sake of my friend Jonathan?
2 One servant from Saul’s household, Ziba, was still alive, and they brought him to King David.
David: Are you Ziba?
Ziba: At your service, Majesty.
David: 3 Is anyone from Saul’s family still alive to whom I could show the kindness of God?
Ziba: Jonathan has a son who is still alive; he is crippled, unable to use his feet.
David: 4 Where is he?
Ziba: He lives with Machir, son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.
David still remembers his deepest friendship. The loss of Jonathan haunts David, and he desires to show honor to the family of God’s anointed, Saul. David promised his friend Jonathan that if he ever became king, he would treat Jonathan and his descendants with kindness. Their friendship was important to David; and although he thinks all of Saul’s family has been destroyed, he wants to find out if somewhere there might be a relative of Jonathan whom he may honor in gratitude for all Jonathan did for him.
5-6 David sent for Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth and had him brought to Jerusalem from the house of Machir, son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar. When he arrived, Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, grandson of Saul, laid facedown on the floor and honored the king.
David: Mephibosheth!
Mephibosheth: At your service, my king.
David: 7 There’s no need to be frightened. I intend to treat you kindly for the sake of your father, Jonathan, who was my loyal friend. I will return to you all the territory that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always be welcome at my table.
8 Mephibosheth again prostrated himself before the king.
Mephibosheth: What am I to you that the king should look with favor on a dead dog like me? I am as one of your servants.
9 Then the king summoned Ziba, who had been Saul’s servant.
David: Everything that belonged to his grandfather Saul and his family I have returned to your master’s descendant. 10 You, your sons, and your servants will work on his farms and bring in his produce, so that he and his household will have food. But Mephibosheth will always eat at my table.
Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants.
Ziba: 11 I am your servant, and you are my lord and king. Whatever you command I will do.
From then on, Mephibosheth ate at the king’s table as though he were one of David’s own sons. 12 Mephibosheth had a young son, Mica; and all who lived in the house of Ziba became Mephibosheth’s servants and worked for him. 13 Mephibosheth remained in Jerusalem, where he always ate at the king’s table. He was lame and could not walk on either foot.
Mephibosheth, the last surviving son of Jonathan, could escape notice in a warlike culture where physical prowess is valued. But David elevates Mephibosheth to the king’s table and honors him. David’s fulfillment of a promise to a long-dead friend is one of the most attractive stories about the king in the books of Samuel. While David proves too hard and even ruthless at times, his gentleness to those who are helpless is an endearing trait. It is this softness and desire to follow God against all odds that gives him special honor among the kings of Israel.
10 After a while, Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, died; and his son Hanun became the new king. Remember, Nahash and Saul were enemies, but Nahash had helped David.
David: 2 I will deal fairly with Hanun, son of Nahash, because his father dealt fairly with me.
So David sent messengers to Ammon with a message of sympathy about Nahash’s death. When David’s emissaries arrived, 3 the princes of the Ammonites spoke to Hanun their lord.
Ammonite Leaders: Do you think this means David honors your father the king just because he sends these men with empty condolences? Hasn’t David ordered them to search the city, keep their eyes open, and plot how to conquer us?
4 So Hanun had David’s messengers seized. He mocked the men, shaving off half their beards, cutting off their garments at their hips, and then ordering them home.
5 When David heard what had happened, he sent messengers to intercept them because they had been publicly humiliated.
David: Stay at Jericho until your beards grow back and your shame is gone. Then return home.
6 When the Ammonites realized they had earned David’s ridicule, they sent for and hired Arameans: 20,000 foot soldiers from Beth-rehob and Zobah, 1,000 fighting men from the king of Maacah, and 12,000 soldiers from Tob.
7 When David heard the Ammonites were preparing for war, he sent Joab and all his fighting men. 8 The Ammonites arrayed themselves in front of the gates, but their mercenaries (the Arameans of Zobah and of Rehob, and the men of Tob and Maacah) took up positions out in the open country.
9 When Joab saw that the battle lines had been drawn both in front of and behind him, he chose some of Israel’s best fighting men and set them against the Arameans, 10 and he put his brother Abishai in charge of the rest and set them against the Ammonites.
Joab (to Abishai): 11 If the Arameans are too strong for me, come and help me; and if I see that the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will come and help you. 12 Be strong, and let us fight bravely for the sake of our people and the cities of our True God, and may the Eternal do what seems good in His sight.
13 So Joab and his soldiers moved against the Arameans, and the mercenaries fled from him. 14 When the Ammonites saw that their hired soldiers, the Arameans, were running away, they also fled from Abishai and his forces and entered into the safety of their city. Then Joab and the armies of Israel stopped fighting the Ammonites and returned to Jerusalem.
15 But when the Arameans saw they had been routed by Israel, they came back together to pool all their resources. 16 Hadadezer sent for the Arameans who lived beyond the Euphrates River, and they gathered at Helam under Shobach, the general of all Hadadezer’s army. 17 When David got this news, he gathered his army, crossed over the Jordan River, and went to Helam. The Arameans came out and arranged themselves to fight David 18 and ran from Israel in defeat: David killed 700 charioteers and 40,000 horsemen,[a] and he mortally wounded Shobach the commander of their army, who died there.
19 When all the rulers who were subject to Hadadezer learned of Israel’s victories, they gave up and made peace with Israel and became subject to them. So the Arameans were afraid and would no longer help the Ammonites against David.
11 In the springtime of the year, the season when most kings took their soldiers out to fight, David stayed in Jerusalem and sent Joab out as general in charge of David’s men and the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and put the city of Rabbah under siege.
2 Early one evening, David rose from his bed and was strolling on the palace roof when he saw a woman bathing on a roof below his. She was very beautiful. 3 David sent someone to find out who the woman was, and the answer came back that she was Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Uriah was one of David’s officers who had gone to war with the rest of David’s troops.
4-5 David couldn’t get her off his mind, so he sent messengers to bring Bathsheba to him. She came, and they had sexual relations. Soon after she returned home, Bathsheba realized she was pregnant, and she sent this news to David. Since their encounter occurred just after the purifying bath after her period, her husband Uriah could not have been the father. 6 So David sent a message to his general Joab.
David: Send me Uriah the Hittite.
Joab sent Uriah back to David. 7 There he was taken in front of the king; and David asked how Joab was doing, how the army was getting along, and how the campaign was progressing. 8 When they finished discussing the news from the front, David suggested that Uriah go to his own house to clean up, relax, and visit his wife.
David: Since I’ve called you back here, why don’t you go down to your house?
David sent a gift after him when he left, 9 but Uriah did not go down to his own house. Instead he spent the night at the entrance of the palace with all the king’s servants.
David is frustrated by this. If Uriah doesn’t have sexual relations with his wife, then everyone will know that Bathsheba has been unfaithful—and they might remember her secret trip to the palace.
Servants (to David): 10 Uriah did not go home last night.
David (to Uriah): You’ve just come home from a long trip. Why didn’t you spend the night in your own house?
Uriah: 11 The people of Israel and Judah and the covenant chest of the Lord are in tents; my general, Joab, and the king’s other servants are sleeping in the open fields. Do you think I would go to my home to eat and drink and sleep with my wife while everyone else suffers? As you live, good king, I will not do such a thing.
David: 12 Stay here with me today; tomorrow I will send you back to the battle.
Uriah remained in Jerusalem that whole day and the next day. 13 David invited him to eat and drink in the king’s royal company, and David got him drunk. After the party, Uriah fell asleep on a bed with the servants of the king, and again he did not return to his home.
14 So the next morning, realizing Uriah would not go home to be with Bathsheba, David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it back to the front with Uriah.
David’s seduction of the beautiful Bathsheba and the plot to murder her husband, Uriah, represent low points in David’s life. Even when someone has a reputation for good character—and David must have one, since he is beloved of God—temptation can lead him to act totally against his own values. David takes Bathsheba because he wants her and because he has the power to do so; he orders her husband into battle to be killed because he is unable to cover his lustful advances.
David’s Letter: 15 Put Uriah at the front of the battle, in a place where the fighting is most intense. Then pull back and leave him in front of the line so that the enemy will strike him down and kill him.
16 After he received this message, Joab laid out his attack plans and assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the enemy had put strong warriors. 17 When the warriors of the city came out to fight against Joab’s forces, some of David’s servants were killed, and Uriah the Hittite was one of them.
18 Joab sent a messenger to David with news of the battle.
Joab (to the messenger): 19 Give the king all of this news about the battle. 20 If he gets angry and asks you, “Why did the army go so near the city to fight? Didn’t you realize that they would shoot from the walls? 21 Wasn’t Abimelech, Jerubbesheth’s son, killed by a woman who dropped a millstone on him from the wall at Thebez?[b] Why were you so close to the wall?” then tell him, “Your servant Uriah the Hittite was also killed in the fighting.”
22 So the messenger went and told David everything Joab had instructed him to say. But he did not wait for the king’s reaction before telling him Uriah had died.
Messenger: 23 Their soldiers came out against us into the field surrounding the city. At first they had the advantage over us, but we drove them back to their gate. 24 Then their archers fired on us from the wall; and some of your servants were killed, including your servant Uriah the Hittite.
David: 25 Take this reply back to Joab: “Don’t let this trouble you. The sword kills indiscriminately. Continue to push forward against the city, and capture it.” And give him my encouragement.
26 When Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife, heard the news of his death, she went into mourning for seven days. 27 When her appointed time of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her into his household. He made her his wife, and in time she bore him a son.
But the Eternal One was displeased with what David had done.
11 Once there was this man who had two sons. 12 One day the younger son came to his father and said, “Father, eventually I’m going to inherit my share of your estate. Rather than waiting until you die, I want you to give me my share now.” And so the father liquidated assets and divided them. 13 A few days passed and this younger son gathered all his wealth and set off on a journey to a distant land. Once there he wasted everything he owned on wild living. 14 He was broke, a terrible famine struck that land, and he felt desperately hungry and in need. 15 He got a job with one of the locals, who sent him into the fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man felt so miserably hungry that he wished he could eat the slop the pigs were eating. Nobody gave him anything.
17 So he had this moment of self-reflection: “What am I doing here? Back home, my father’s hired servants have plenty of food. Why am I here starving to death? 18 I’ll get up and return to my father, and I’ll say, ‘Father, I have done wrong—wrong against God and against you. 19 I have forfeited any right to be treated like your son, but I’m wondering if you’d treat me as one of your hired servants?’” 20 So he got up and returned to his father. The father looked off in the distance and saw the young man returning. He felt compassion for his son and ran out to him, enfolded him in an embrace, and kissed him.
21 The son said, “Father, I have done a terrible wrong in God’s sight and in your sight too. I have forfeited any right to be treated as your son.”
22 But the father turned to his servants and said, “Quick! Bring the best robe we have and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. 23 Go get the fattest calf and butcher it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate 24 because my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and has been found.” So they had this huge party.
25 Now the man’s older son was still out in the fields working. He came home at the end of the day and heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the servants and asked what was going on. 27 The servant said, “Your brother has returned, and your father has butchered the fattest calf to celebrate his safe return.”
28 The older brother got really angry and refused to come inside, so his father came out and pleaded with him to join the celebration. 29 But he argued back, “Listen, all these years I’ve worked hard for you. I’ve never disobeyed one of your orders. But how many times have you even given me a little goat to roast for a party with my friends? Not once! This is not fair! 30 So this son of yours comes, this wasteful delinquent who has spent your hard-earned wealth on loose women, and what do you do? You butcher the fattest calf from our herd!”
31 The father replied, “My son, you are always with me, and all I have is yours. 32 Isn’t it right to join in the celebration and be happy? This is your brother we’re talking about. He was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found again!”
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.