Study Desk

Now Mephibosheth the son of Saul had come down to meet the king; and he had not done anything for his feet, nor done anything for his mustache, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came home in peace.

So he answered, "O my lord, the king, my servant deceived me; for your servant said, ‘I will saddle a donkey for myself that I may ride on it and go with the king,' because your servant is lame.

For all my father's household was nothing but men worthy of death before my lord the king; yet you set your servant among those who ate at your own table. What right do I have yet that I should complain anymore to the king?"

Now Barzillai was very old, being eighty years old; and he had sustained the king while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very great man.

Please let your servant return, that I may die in my own city near the grave of my father and my mother. However, here is your servant Chimham, let him pass over with my lord the king, and do for him what is good in your sight."

So the king answered, "Chimham shall pass over with me, and I will do for him what is good in your sight; and whatever you require of me, I will do for you."

Then all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, "Because the king is a close relative to us. Why then are you angry about this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king's expense, or has anything been taken for us?"

Then the king said to Amasa, "Call out the men of Judah for me within three days, and you yourself stand here."

And David said to Abishai, "Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom; take your lord's servants and pursue him, lest he find for himself fortified cities and deliver himself from our sight."

Now there stood by him one of Joab's young men, and said, "Whoever delights in Joab and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab."

And there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the presence of Yahweh. And Yahweh said, "It is for Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death."

So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites, and the sons of Israel made a covenant with them, but Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah).

Thus David said to the Gibeonites, "What should I do for you? And how can I make atonement that you may bless the inheritance of Yahweh?"

Then the Gibeonites said to him, "We have no concern of silver or gold with Saul or his house, nor is it for us to put any man to death in Israel." And he said, "I will do for you whatever you say."

And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until it rained on them from the sky; and she allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night.

Then they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the grave of Kish his father; thus they did all that the king commanded, and afterwards God was moved by the entreaty for the land.

For the waves of death encompassed me;The torrents of vileness terrorized me;

In my distress I called upon Yahweh,And I called to my God;And out of His temple He heard my voice,And my cry for help came into His ears.

He delivered me from my strong enemy,From those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.

For I have kept the ways of Yahweh,And have not wickedly departed from my God.