Now there was of Saul's people a servant named Ziba, and they sent him to David and the king said to him, Are you Ziba? And he said, I am.

And the king said to him, Where is he? And Ziba said to the king, He is in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar.

And Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, came to David, and falling down on his face, gave him honour. And David said, Mephibosheth. And answering he said, Your servant is here.

And he went down on his face before the king, and said, What is your servant, for you to take note of a dead dog such as I am?

And you and your sons and your servants are to take care of the land for him, and get in the fruit of it, so that your master's son may have food: but Mephibosheth, your master's son, will have a place at my table at all times. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.

And Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica. And all the people living in the house of Ziba were servants to Mephibosheth.

And 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.

So 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.

And 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.

And 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.

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

Take 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.

And 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.

And 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.

And 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.

Now 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.

And 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.

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

And 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.

And 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?

And 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.

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

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

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

If 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?

So 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?

And 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.

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

Who, through the purpose of God, have been made holy by the Spirit, disciples of Jesus, made clean by his blood: May you have grace and peace in full measure.

And a heritage fair, holy and for ever new, waiting in heaven for you,

You have cause for great joy in this, though it may have been necessary for you to be troubled for a little time, being tested in all sorts of ways,

To whom your love is given, though you have not seen him and the faith which you have in him, though you do not see him now, gives you joy greater than words and full of glory:

For the prophets who gave the news of the grace which would come to you, made search with all care for knowledge of this salvation

And it was made clear to those prophets that they were God's servants not for themselves but for you, to give you word of the things which have now come to your ears from the preachers of the good news through the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven things which even angels have a desire to see.

Like children ruled by God, do not go back to the old desires of the time when you were without knowledge:

Because it has been said in the Writings, You are to be holy, for I am holy.

Being conscious that you have been made free from that foolish way of life which was your heritage from your fathers, not through a payment of things like silver or gold which come to destruction,

Who was marked out by God before the making of the world, but was caused to be seen in these last times for you,