1 Then David asked, “Is there anyone left from the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for the sake of Jonathan?”

2 And there was a servant of the house of Saul named Ziba. They summoned him to David, and the king inquired, “Are you Ziba?”

“I am your servant,” he replied.

3 So the king asked, “Is there anyone left of the house of Saul to whom I can show the kindness of God?”

Ziba answered, “There is still Jonathan’s son, who is lame in both feet.”

4“Where is he?” replied the king.

And Ziba said, “Indeed, he is in Lo-debar at the house of Machir son of Ammiel.”

5 So King David had him brought from the house of Machir son of Ammiel in Lo-debar. 6And when Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he fell facedown in reverence.

Then David said, “Mephibosheth!”

“I am your servant,” he replied.

7“Do not be afraid,” said David, “for surely I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”

8 Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog like me?”

9 Then the king summoned Saul’s servant Ziba and said to him, “I have given to your master’s grandson all that belonged to Saul and to all his house. 10You and your sons and servants are to work the ground for him and bring in the harvest, so that your master’s grandson may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, is always to eat at my table.”

Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. 11And Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do all that my lord the king has commanded.”

So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s own sons. 12And Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica, and all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants of Mephibosheth. 13So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table, and he was lame in both feet.

1 Some time later, the king of the Ammonites died and was succeeded by his son Hanun. 2And David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.”

So David sent some of his servants to console Hanun concerning his father. But when they arrived in the land of the Ammonites, 3the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, “Just because David has sent you comforters, do you really believe he is showing respect for your father? Has not David instead sent his servants to explore the city, spy it out, and overthrow it?”

4 So Hanun took David’s servants, shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their garments at the hips, and sent them away.

5 When this was reported to David, he sent messengers to meet the men, since they had been thoroughly humiliated. The king told them, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown back, and then return.”

6 When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench to David, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth-rehob and Zoba, as well as a thousand men from the king of Maacah and twelve thousand men from Tob.

7 On hearing this, David sent Joab and the entire army of mighty men. 8The Ammonites marched out and arrayed themselves for battle at the entrance of the city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the open country.

9 When Joab saw the battle lines before him and behind him, he selected some of the best men of Israel and arrayed them against the Arameans. 10And he placed the rest of the troops under the command of his brother Abishai, who arrayed them against the Ammonites.

11“If the Arameans are too strong for me,” said Joab, “then you will come to my rescue. And if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to your rescue. 12Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and for the cities of our God. May the Lord do what is good in His sight.”

13 So Joab and his troops advanced to fight the Arameans, who fled before him. 14When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they too fled before Abishai, and they entered the city. So Joab returned from fighting against the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem.

15 When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they regrouped. 16Hadadezer sent messengers to bring more Arameans from beyond the Euphrates, and they came to Helam with Shobach the commander of Hadadezer’s army leading them.

17 When this was reported to David, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan, and went to Helam. Then the Arameans arrayed themselves against David and fought against him. 18But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred charioteers and forty thousand foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobach the commander of their army, who died there.

19 When all the kings who were subject to Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subject to them. So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.

1 In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, David sent out Joab and his servants with the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.

2 One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing— a very beautiful woman. 3So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

4 Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home. 5And the woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

6 At this, David sent orders to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David.

7 When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing and how the war was going. 8Then he said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.”

So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king followed him. 9But Uriah slept at the door of the palace with all his master’s servants; he did not go down to his house.

10 And David was told, “Uriah did not go home.”

“Haven’t you just arrived from a journey?” David asked Uriah. “Why didn’t you go home?”

11 Uriah answered, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camped in the open field. How can I go to my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing!”

12“Stay here one more day,” David said to Uriah, “and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.

13 Then David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him, and he got Uriah drunk. And in the evening Uriah went out to lie down on his cot with his master’s servants, but he did not go home.

14 The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.”

16 So as Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the strongest enemy soldiers were. 17And when the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of David’s servants fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died.

18 Joab sent to David a full account of the battle 19and instructed the messenger, “When you have finished giving the king a full account of the battle, 20if the king’s anger flares, he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Did you not realize they would shoot from atop the wall? 21Who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who dropped an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’

If he asks you this, then you are to say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.’”

22 So the messenger set out and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to say. 23The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. 24Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s servants were killed. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.”

25 Then David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Do not let this matter upset you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him with these words.”

26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27And when the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son.

But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord.

1 “ I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard. 2He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.

5 I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, proving yourselves to be My disciples.

9 As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Remain in My love. 10If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. 11I have told you these things so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

14 You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will remain — so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. 17This is My command to you: Love one another.

18 If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. 19If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.

20 Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well. 21But they will treat you like this because of My name, since they do not know the One who sent Me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.

23 Whoever hates Me hates My Father as well. 24If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father. 25But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’

26 When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father — the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father — He will testify about Me. 27And you also must testify, because you have been with Me from the beginning.’’