II Samuel 10-14

II Samuel 10

¹Now after this, death came to the king of the children of Ammon, and Hanun, his son, became king in his place.

²And David said, I will be a friend to Hanun, the son of Nahash, as his father was a friend to me. So David sent his servants, to give him words of comfort on account of his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon.

³But the chiefs of the children of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, Does it seem to you that David is honouring your father by sending comforters to you? has he not sent his servants to go through the town and make secret observation of it, and overcome it?

⁴So Hanun took David's servants, and after cutting off half the hair on their chins, and cutting off the skirts of their robes up to the middle, he sent them away.

⁵When David had news of it, he sent men out with the purpose of meeting them on their way, for the men were greatly shamed: and the king said, Go to Jericho till your hair is long again, and then come back.

⁶And when the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves hated by David, they sent to the Aramaeans of Beth-rehob and Zobah, and got for payment twenty thousand footmen, and they got from the king of Maacah a thousand men, and from Tob twelve thousand.

⁷And hearing of this, David sent Joab and all the army and the best fighting-men.

⁸And the children of Ammon came out and put their forces in position at the way into the town: and the Aramaeans of Zobah and of Rehob, with the men of Tob and Maacah, were by themselves in the field.

⁹Now when Joab saw that their forces were in position against him in front and at his back, he took the best of the men of Israel and put them in line against the Aramaeans;

¹⁰And the rest of the people he put in position against the children of Ammon, with Abishai, his brother, at their head.

¹¹And he said, If the Aramaeans are stronger and get the better of me, then you are to come to my help; but if the children of Ammon get the better of you, I will come to your help.

¹²Take heart, and let us be strong for our people and for the towns of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him.

¹³Then Joab and the people with him went forward to the fight against the Aramaeans, and they went in flight before him.

¹⁴And when the children of Ammon saw the flight of the Aramaeans, they themselves went in flight from Abishai, and came into the town. So Joab went back from fighting the children of Ammon and came to Jerusalem.

¹⁵And when the Aramaeans saw that Israel had overcome them, they got themselves together.

¹⁶And Hadadezer sent for the Aramaeans who were on the other side of the River: and they came to Helam, with Shobach, the captain of Hadadezer's army, at their head.

¹⁷And word of this was given to David: and he got all Israel together and went over Jordan and came to Helam. And the Aramaeans put their forces in position against David, and made an attack on him.

¹⁸And the Aramaeans went in flight before Israel; and David put to the sword the men of seven hundred Aramaean war-carriages and forty thousand footmen, and Shobach, the captain of the army, was wounded, and came to his death there.

¹⁹And when all the kings who were servants of Hadadezer saw that they were overcome by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became their servants. So the Aramaeans, in fear, gave no more help to the children of Ammon.

II Samuel 11

¹Now in the spring, at the time when kings go out to war, David sent Joab and his servants and all Israel with him; and they made waste the land of the children of Ammon, and took up their position before Rabbah, shutting it in. But David was still at Jerusalem.

²Now one evening, David got up from his bed, and while he was walking on the roof of the king's house, he saw from there a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.

³And David sent to get knowledge who the woman was. And one said, Is this not Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite?

⁴And David sent and took her; and she came to him, and he took her to his bed: (for she had been made clean;) then she went back to her house.

⁵And the woman became with child; and she sent word to David that she was with child.

⁶And David sent to Joab saying, Send Uriah the Hittite to me. And Joab sent Uriah to David.

⁷And when Uriah came to him, David put questions to him about how Joab and the people were, and how the war was going.

⁸And David said to Uriah, Go down to your house and let your feet be washed. And Uriah went away from the king's house, and an offering from the king was sent after him.

⁹But Uriah took his rest at the door of the king's house, with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.

¹⁰And when word was given to David that Uriah had not gone down to his house, David said to Uriah, Have you not come from a journey? why did you not go down to your house?

¹¹And Uriah said to David, Israel and Judah with the ark are living in tents, and my lord Joab and the other servants of my lord are sleeping in the open field; and am I to go to my house and take food and drink, and go to bed with my wife? By the living Lord, and by the life of your soul, I will not do such a thing.

¹²And David said to Uriah, Be here today, and after that I will let you go. So Uriah was in Jerusalem that day and the day after.

¹³And when David sent for him, he took meat and drink with him, and David made him the worse for drink: and when evening came, he went to rest on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.

¹⁴Now in the morning, David gave Uriah a letter to take to Joab.

¹⁵And in the letter he said, Take care to put Uriah in the very front of the line, where the fighting is most violent, and go back from him, so that he may be overcome and put to death.

¹⁶So while Joab was watching the town, he put Uriah in the place where it was clear to him the best fighters were.

¹⁷And the men of the town went out and had a fight with Joab: and a number of David's men came to their death in the fight, and with them Uriah the Hittite.

¹⁸Then Joab sent David news of everything which had taken place in the war:

¹⁹And he gave orders to the man who took the news, saying, After you have given the king all the news about the war,

²⁰If the king is angry and says, Why did you go so near the town for the fight? was it not certain that their archers would be on the wall?

²¹Who put Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, to death? did not a woman send a great stone down on him from the wall, putting him to death at Thebez? why did you go so near the wall? Then say to him, Your servant Uriah the Hittite is among the dead.

²²So the man went, and came to David, and gave him all the news which Joab had sent him to give; then David was angry with Joab and said, Why did you go so near the town for the fight? was it not certain that their archers would be on the wall? who put Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, to death? did not a woman send a great stone down on him from the wall, putting him to death at Thebez? why did you go so near the wall?

²³And the man said to David, Truly the men got the better of us, and came out against us into the open country, but we sent them back to the very doors of the town.

²⁴And the archers sent their arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king's servants are dead, and among them is your servant Uriah the Hittite.

²⁵Then David said to the man, Go and say to Joab, Do not let this be a grief to you; for one man may come to his death by the sword like another: put up an even stronger fight against the town, and take it: and do you put heart into him.

²⁶And when the wife of Uriah had news that her husband was dead, she gave herself up to weeping for him.

²⁷And when the days of weeping were past, David sent for her, and took her into his house, and she became his wife and gave him a son. But the Lord was not pleased with the thing David had done.

II Samuel 12

¹And the Lord sent Nathan to David. And Nathan came to him and said, There were two men in the same town: one a man of great wealth, and the other a poor man.

²The man of wealth had great numbers of flocks and herds;

³But the poor man had only one little she-lamb, which he had got and taken care of: from its birth it had been with him like one of his children; his meat was its food, and from his cup it took its drink, resting in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him.

⁴Now a traveller came to the house of the man of wealth, but he would not take anything from his flock or his herd to make a meal for the traveller who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and made it ready for the man who had come.

⁵And David was full of wrath against that man; and he said to Nathan, By the living Lord, death is the right punishment for the man who has done this:

⁶And he will have to give back four times the value of the lamb, because he has done this and because he had no pity.

⁷And Nathan said to David, You are that man. The Lord God of Israel says, I made you king over Israel, putting holy oil on you, and I kept you safe from the hands of Saul;

⁸I gave you your master's daughter and your master's wives for yourself, and I gave you the daughters of Israel and Judah; and if that had not been enough, I would have given you such and such things.

⁹Why then have you had no respect for the word of the Lord, doing what is evil in his eyes? You have put Uriah the Hittite to death with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife; you have put him to death with the sword of the children of Ammon.

¹⁰So now the sword will never be turned away from your family; because you have had no respect for me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.

¹¹The Lord says, From those of your family I will send evil against you, and before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to your neighbour, and he will take your wives to his bed by the light of this sun.

¹²You did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel and in the light of the sun.

¹³And David said to Nathan, Great is my sin against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, The Lord has put away your sin; death will not come on you.

¹⁴But still, because you have had no respect for the Lord, death will certainly overtake the child who has newly come to birth.

¹⁵Then Nathan went back to his house. And the hand of the Lord was on David's son, the child of Uriah's wife, and it became very ill.

¹⁶So David made prayer to God for the child; and he took no food day after day, and went in and, stretching himself out on the earth, was there all night.

¹⁷And the chief men of his house got up and went to his side to make him get up from the earth, but he would not; and he would not take food with them.

¹⁸And then on the seventh day the child's death took place. And David's servants were in fear of giving him the news of the child's death: for they said, Truly, while the child was still living he gave no attention when we said anything to him: what will he do to himself if we give him word that the child is dead?

¹⁹But when David saw that his servants were talking together quietly, he was certain that the child was dead: and he said to his servants, Is the child dead? and they said, He is.

²⁰Then David got up from the earth, and after washing and rubbing himself with oil and changing his clothing, he went into the house of the Lord and gave worship: then he went back to his house, and at his order they put food before him and he had a meal.

²¹Then his servants said to him, Why have you been acting in this way? you were weeping and going without food while the child was still living; but when the child was dead, you got up and had a meal.

²²And he said, While the child was still living I went without food and gave myself up to weeping: for I said, Who is able to say that the Lord will not have mercy on me and give the child life?

²³But now that the child is dead there is no reason for me to go without food; am I able to make him come back to life? I will go to him, but he will never come back to me.

²⁴And David gave comfort to his wife Bath-sheba, and he went in to her and had connection with her: and she had a son to whom she gave the name Solomon. And he was dear to the Lord.

²⁵And he sent word by Nathan the prophet, who gave him the name Jedidiah, by the word of the Lord.

²⁶Now Joab was fighting against Rabbah, in the land of the children of Ammon, and he took the water-town.

²⁷And Joab sent men to David, saying, I have made war against Rabbah and have taken the water-town.

²⁸So now, get the rest of the people together, and put them in position against the town and take it, for if I take it, it will be named after my name.

²⁹Then David got all the people together and went to Rabbah and made war on it and took it.

³⁰And he took the crown of Milcom from his head; the weight of it was a talent of gold, and in it were stones of great price; and it was put on David's head. And he took a great store of goods from the town.

³¹And he took the people out of the town and put them to work with wood-cutting instruments, and iron grain-crushers, and iron axes, and at brick-making: this he did to all the towns of the children of Ammon. Then David and all the people went back to Jerusalem.

II Samuel 13

¹Now after this, it came about that Absalom, David's son, had a beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar; and David's son Amnon was in love with her.

²And he was so deeply in love that he became ill because of his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin, and so it seemed hard to Amnon to do anything to her.

³But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother: and Jonadab was a very wise man.

⁴And he said to him, O son of the king, why are you getting thinner day by day? will you not say what your trouble is? And Amnon said to him, I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.

⁵Then Jonadab said to him, Go to your bed, and let it seem that you are ill: and when your father comes to see you, say to him, Let my sister Tamar come and give me bread, and get the food ready before my eyes, so that I may see it and take it from her hand.

⁶So Amnon went to bed and made himself seem ill: and when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, Please let my sister Tamar come and make me one or two cakes before my eyes, so that I may take food from her hand.

⁷Then David sent to the house for Tamar and said, Go now to your brother Amnon's house and get a meal for him.

⁸So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house; and he was in bed. And she took paste and made cakes before his eyes, cooking them over the fire.

⁹And she took the cooking-pot, and put the cakes before him, but he would not take them. And Amnon said, Let everyone go away from me. So they all went out.

¹⁰Then Amnon said to Tamar, Take the food and come into my bedroom, so that I may take it from your hand. So Tamar took the cakes she had made and went with them into her brother Amnon's bedroom.

¹¹And when she took them to give them to him, he put his arms round her and said, Come to bed, my sister.

¹²And answering him, she said, O my brother, do not put shame on me; it is not right for such a thing to be done in Israel: do not this evil thing.

¹³What will become of me in my shame? and as for you, you will be looked down on with disgust by all Israel. Now then, go and make your request to the king, for he will not keep me from you.

¹⁴But he would not give attention to what she said: but being stronger than she, he took her by force, and had connection with her.

¹⁵Then Amnon was full of hate for her, hating her with a hate greater than his earlier love for her. And he said to her, Get up and be gone.

¹⁶And she said to him, Not so, my brother, for this great wrong in sending me away is worse than what you did to me before. But he gave no attention to her.

¹⁷Then he gave a cry to the servant who was waiting on him and said, Put this woman out, and let the door be locked after her.

¹⁸Now she had on a long robe, such as in past times the king's virgin daughters were dressed in. Then the servant put her out, locking the door after her.

¹⁹And Tamar, in her grief, put dust on her head; and she put her hand on her head and went away crying loudly.

²⁰And her brother Absalom said to her, Has your brother Amnon been with you? but now, let there be an end to your crying, my sister: he is your brother, do not take this thing to heart. So Tamar went on living uncomforted in her brother's house.

²¹But when King David had news of all these things he was very angry; but he did not make trouble for Amnon his son, for he was dear to David, being his oldest son.

²²But Absalom said nothing to his brother Amnon, good or bad: for he was full of hate for him, because he had taken his sister Tamar by force.

²³Now after two full years, Absalom had men cutting the wool of his sheep in Baal-hazor, which is near Ephraim: and he sent for all the king's sons to come to his feast.

²⁴And Absalom came to the king and said, See now, your servant is cutting the wool of his sheep; will the king and his servants be pleased to come?

²⁵And the king said to Absalom, No, my son, let us not all go, or the number will be over-great for you. And he made his request again, but he would not go, but he gave him his blessing.

²⁶Then Absalom said, If you will not go, then let my brother Amnon go with us. And the king said to him, Is there any reason for him to go with you?

²⁷But Absalom went on requesting him till he let Amnon and all the king's sons go with him. And Absalom made a great feast like a feast for a king.

²⁸Now Absalom had given orders to his servants, saying, Now take note when Amnon's heart is glad with wine; and when I say to you, Make an attack on Amnon, then put him to death without fear: have I not given you orders? be strong and without fear.

²⁹So Absalom's servants did to Amnon as Absalom had given them orders. Then all the king's sons got up, and every man got on his beast and went in flight.

³⁰Now while they were on their way, news was given to David that Absalom had put to death all the sons of the king and that not one of them was still living.

³¹Then the king got up in great grief, stretching himself out on the earth: and all his servants were by his side, with their clothing parted.

³²And Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother, said, Let not my lord have the idea that all the sons of the king have been put to death; for only Amnon is dead: this has been purposed by Absalom from the day when he took his sister Tamar by force.

³³So now, let not my lord the king take this thing to heart, with the idea that all the king's sons are dead: for only Amnon is dead.

³⁴But Absalom went in flight. And the young man who kept the watch, lifting up his eyes, saw that a great band of people was coming down the slope by the way of the Horons; and the watchman came and gave word to the king, saying, I saw men coming down by the way of the Horons, from the hillside.

³⁵And Jonadab said to the king, See, the king's sons are coming; as your servant said, so it is.

³⁶And while he was talking, the king's sons came, with weeping and loud cries: and the king and all his servants were weeping bitterly.

³⁷So Absalom went in flight and came to Talmai, the son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur, where he was for three years.

³⁸And the king was sorrowing for his son all the time.

³⁹And the heart of David was wasted with desire for Absalom: for he was comforted for the death of Amnon.

II Samuel 14

¹Now it was clear to Joab, the son of Zeruiah, that the king's heart was turning to Absalom.

²And Joab sent to Tekoa and got from there a wise woman, and said to her, Now make yourself seem like one given up to grief, and put on the clothing of sorrow, not using any sweet oil for your body, but looking like one who for a long time has been weeping for the dead:

³And come to the king and say these words to him. So Joab gave her words to say.

⁴And the woman of Tekoa came to the king, and falling on her face, gave him honour and said, Give me help, O king.

⁵And the king said to her, What is your trouble? And her answer was, Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead.

⁶And I had two sons, and the two of them had a fight in the field, and there was no one to come between them, and one with a blow put the other to death.

⁷And now all the family is turned against me, your servant, saying, Give up him who was the cause of his brother's death, so that we may put him to death in payment for the life of his brother, whose life he took; and we will put an end to the one who will get the heritage: so they will put out my last burning coal, and my husband will have no name or offspring on the face of the earth.

⁸And the king said to the woman, Go to your house and I will give orders about this.

⁹And the woman of Tekoa said to the king, My lord, O king, may the sin be on me and on my family, and may the king and the seat of his kingdom be clear of sin!

¹⁰And the king said, If anyone says anything to you, make him come to me, and he will do you no more damage.

¹¹Then she said, Let the king keep in mind the Lord your God, so that he who gives punishment for blood may be kept back from further destruction and that no one may send death on my son. And he said, By the living Lord, not a hair of your son's head will come to the earth.

¹²Then the woman said, Will the king let his servant say one word more? And he said, Say on.

¹³And the woman said, Why have you had such a thought about the people of God? (for in saying these very words the king has put himself in the wrong because he has not taken back the one whom he sent far away.)

¹⁴For death comes to us all, and we are like water drained out on the earth, which it is not possible to take up again; and God will not take away the life of the man whose purpose is that he who has been sent away may not be completely cut off from him.

¹⁵And now it is my fear of the people which has made me come to say these words to my lord the king: and your servant said, I will put my cause before the king, and it may be that he will give effect to my request.

¹⁶For the king will give ear, and take his servant out of the power of the man whose purpose is the destruction of me and my son together from the heritage of God.

¹⁷Then your servant said, May the word of my lord the king give me peace! for my lord the king is as the angel of God in his hearing of good and bad: and may the Lord your God be with you!

¹⁸Then the king said to the woman, Now give me an answer to the question I am going to put to you; keep nothing back. And the woman said, Let my lord the king say on.

¹⁹And the king said, Is not the hand of Joab with you in all this? And the woman in answer said, By the life of your soul, my lord the king, it is not possible for anyone to go to the right hand or to the left from anything said by the king: your servant Joab gave me orders, and put all these words in my mouth:

²⁰This he did, hoping that the face of this business might be changed: and my lord is wise, with the wisdom of the angel of God, having knowledge of everything on earth.

²¹And the king said to Joab, See now, I will do this thing: go then and Come back with the young man Absalom.

²²Then Joab, falling down on his face on the earth, gave the king honour and blessing; and Joab said, Today it is clear to your servant that I have grace in your eyes, my lord king, because the king has given effect to the request of his servant.

²³So Joab got up and went to Geshur and came back again to Jerusalem with Absalom.

²⁴And the king said, Let him go to his house, but let him not see my face. So Absalom went back to his house and did not see the face of the king.

²⁵Now in all Israel there was no one so greatly to be praised for his beautiful form as Absalom: from his feet to the crown of his head he was completely beautiful.

²⁶And when he had his hair cut, (which he did at the end of every year, because of the weight of his hair;) the weight of the hair was two hundred shekels by the king's weight.

²⁷And Absalom was the father of three sons and of one daughter named Tamar, who was very beautiful.

²⁸For two full years Absalom was living in Jerusalem without ever seeing the face of the king.

²⁹Then Absalom sent for Joab to send him to the king, but he would not come to him: and he sent again a second time, but he would not come.

³⁰So he said to his servants, See, Joab's field is near mine, and he has barley in it; go and put it on fire. And Absalom's servants put the field on fire.

³¹Then Joab came to Absalom in his house and said to him, Why have your servants put my field on fire?

³²And Absalom's answer was, See, I sent to you saying, Come here, so that I may send you to the king to say, Why have I come back from Geshur? it would be better for me to be there still: let me now see the king's face, and if there is any sin in me, let him put me to death.

³³So Joab went to the king and said these words to him: and when the king had sent for him, Absalom came, and went down on his face on the earth before the king: and the king gave him a kiss.