17Nathan spoke to David in accordance with all these words and all this prophecy. 18Then King David came and sat before the LORD, and he said, “What am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my family, that You have brought me thus far? 19Yet even this, O Lord GOD, has seemed too little to You; for You have spoken of Your servant’s house also for the future. g-May that be the law for the people,-g O Lord GOD. 20What more can David say to You? You know Your servant, O Lord GOD. 21g-For Your word’s sake and of Your own accord-g You have wrought this great thing, and made it known to Your servant. 22You are great indeed, O LORD God! There is none like You and there is no other God but You, as we have always heard. 23And who is like Your people Israel, a unique nation on earth, whom God went and redeemed as His people, winning renown for Himself and doing great and marvelous deeds for themh [and] for Your land—[driving out]i nations and their gods before Your people, whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt. 24You have established Your people Israel as Your very own people forever; and You, O LORD, have become their God.
25“And now, O LORD God, fulfill Your promise to Your servant and his house forever; and do as You have promised. 26And may Your name be glorified forever, in that men will say, ‘The LORD of Hosts is God over Israel’; and may the house of Your servant David be established before You. 27Because You, O LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, have revealed to Your servant that You will build a house for him, Your servant has ventured to offer this prayer to You. 28And now, O Lord GOD, You are God and Your words will surely come true, and You have made this gracious promise to Your servant. 29Be pleased, therefore, to bless Your servant’s house, that it abide before You forever; for You, O Lord GOD, have spoken. May Your servant’s house be blessed forever by Your blessing.”
8 aSome time afterward, David attacked the Philistines and subdued them; and David took Metheg-ammahb from the Philistines. 2He also defeated the Moabites. He made them lie down on the ground and he measured them off with a cord; he measured out two lengths of cord for those who were to be put to death, and one length for those to be spared.c And the Moabites became tributary vassals of David.
3David defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, who was then on his way to restore his monumentd at the Euphrates River. 4David captured 1,700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers of his force; and David hamstrung all the chariot horses, except for 100 which he retained. 5And when the Arameans of Damascus came to the aid of King Hadadezer of Zobah, David struck down 22,000 of the Arameans. 6David stationed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became tributary vassals of David. The LORD gave David victory wherever he went. 7David took the gold shieldse carried by Hadadezer’s retinue and brought them to Jerusalem; 8and from Betah and Berothai, towns of Hadadezer, King David took a vast amount of copper.
9When King Toi of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer, 10Toi sent his son Joram to King David to greet him and to congratulate him on his military victory over Hadadezer—for Hadadezer had been at war with Toi. [Joram] brought with him objects of silver, gold, and copper. 11King David dedicated these to the LORD, along with the other silver and gold that he dedicated, [taken] from all the nations he had conquered: 12from Edom,f Moab, and Ammon; from the Philistines and the Amalekites, and from the plunder of Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah.
13David gained fame g-when he returned from defeating-g Edomf in the Valley of Salt, 18,000 in all. 14He stationed garrisons in Edom—h- he stationed garrisons in all of Edom-h—and all the Edomites became vassals of David. The LORD gave David victory wherever he went.
15David reigned over all Israel, and David executed true justice among all his people. 16Joab son of Zeruiah was commander of the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder; 17Zadok son of Ahitub and i-Ahimelech son of Abiathar-i were priests; Seraiahj was scribe; 18Benaiah son of Jehoiada was k-commander of-k the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were priests.
9 David inquired, “Is there anyone still left of the House of Saul with whom I can keep faith for the sake of Jonathan?” 2There was a servant of the House of Saul named Ziba, and they summoned him to David. “Are you Ziba?” the king asked him. a-“Yes, sir,”-a he replied. 3The king continued, “Is there anyone at all left of the House of Saul with whom I can keep faith as pledged before God?”b Ziba answered the king, “Yes, there is still a son of Jonathan whose feet are crippled.” 4“Where is he?” the king asked, and Ziba said to the king, “He is in the house of Machir son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar.” 5King David had him brought from the house of Machir son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar; 6and when Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul came to David, he flung himself on his face and prostrated himself. David said, “Mephibosheth!” and he replied, “At your service, sir.” 7David said to him, “Don’t be afraid, for I will keep faith with you for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will give you back all the land of your grandfather Saul; moreover, you shall always eat at my table.” 8[Mephibosheth] prostrated himself again, and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog like me?”
most mss. read “Aram.”
9The king summoned Ziba, Saul’s steward, and said to him, “I give to your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and to his entire family. 10You and your sons and your slaves shall farm the land for him and shall bring in [its yield] to provide food for your master’s grandsonc to live on; but Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, shall always eat at my table.”—Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty slaves.—11Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do just as my lord the king has commanded him.” d-“Mephibosheth shall eat at my table-d like one of the king’s sons.”
12Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica; and all the members of Ziba’s household worked for Mephibosheth. 13Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate regularly at the king’s table. He was lame in both feet.
10 aSome time afterward, the king of Ammon died, and his son Hanun succeeded him as king. 2David said, “I will keep faith with Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father kept faith with me.” He sent his courtiers with a message of condolence to him over his father. But when David’s courtiers came to the land of Ammon, 3the Ammonite officials said to their lord Hanun, “Do you think David is really honoring your father just because he sent you men with condolences? Why, David has sent his courtiers to you to explore and spy out the city, and to overthrowb it.” 4So Hanun seized David’s courtiers, clipped off one side of their beards and cut away half of their garments at the buttocks, and sent them off. 5When David was told of it, he dispatched men to meet them, for the men were greatly embarrassed. And the king gave orders: “Stop in Jericho until your beards grow back; then you can return.”
6The Ammonites realized that they had c-incurred the wrath of-c David; so the Ammonites sent agents and hired Arameans of Beth-rehob and Arameans of Zobah—20,000 foot soldiers—the king of Maacah [with] 1,000 men, and 12,000 men from Tob. 7On learning this, David sent out Joab and the whole army—[including] the professional fighters. 8The Ammonites marched out and took up their battle position at the entrance of the gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah took their stand separately in the open. 9Joab saw that there was a battle line against him both front and rear. So he made a selection from all the picked men of Israel and arrayed them against the Arameans, 10and the rest of the troops he put under the command of his brother Abishaid and arrayed them against the Ammonites. 11[Joab] said, “If the Arameans prove too strong for me, you come to my aid; and if the Ammonites prove too strong for you, I will come to your aid. 12Let us be strong and resolute for the sake of our people and the lande of our God; and the LORD will do what He deems right.”
13Joab and the troops with him marched into battle against the Arameans, who fled before him. 14And when the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they fled before Abishai and withdrew into the city. So Joab broke off the attack against the Ammonites, and went to Jerusalem.
15When the Arameans saw that they had been routed by Israel, they regrouped their forces. 16Hadadezerf
