And you didn’t stop there, O Lord God! You have also spoken about the future of your servant’s family. ¹  Is this your usual way of dealing with men, ²  O Lord God?

Now, O sovereign Lord, you are the true God! ¹  May your words prove to be true! ²  You have made this good promise to your servant! ³ 

Now there was a servant from Saul’s house named Ziba, so he was summoned to David. The king asked him, “Are you Ziba?” He replied, “At your service.” ¹ 

The king asked him, “Where is he?” Ziba told the king, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.

When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed low with his face toward the ground. ¹  David said, “Mephibosheth?” He replied, “Yes, at your service.” ² 

Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s attendant, and said to him, “Everything that belonged to Saul and to his entire house I hereby give to your master’s grandson.

David sent some messengers to get her. ¹  She came to him and he had sexual relations with her. ²  (Now at that time she was in the process of purifying herself from her menstrual uncleanness.) ³  Then she returned to her home.

But Uriah stayed at the door of the palace with all ¹  the servants of his lord. He did not go down to his house.

So David said to Uriah, “Stay here another day. Tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem both that day and the following one. ¹ 

In the letter he wrote: “Station Uriah in the thick of the battle and then withdraw from him so he will be cut down and killed.”

The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and attacked us ¹  in the field. But we forced them to retreat all the way ²  to the door of the city gate.

Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall and some of the king’s soldiers ¹  died. Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.”

Then David became very angry at this man. He said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ¹ 

Then Nathan went to his home. The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and the child became very ill. ¹ 

When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he ¹  realized that the child was dead. So David asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” They replied, “Yes, he’s dead.”

Joab then sent messengers to David, saying, “I have fought against Rabbah and have captured the water supply of the city. ¹ 

So David sent Tamar to the house saying, “Please go to the house of Amnon your brother and prepare some food for him.”

But she said to him, “No I won’t, for sending me away now would be worse than what you did to me earlier!” ¹  But he refused to listen to her.

Then Absalom went to the king and said, “My shearers have begun their work. ¹  Let the king and his servants go with me.”

While they were still on their way, the following report reached David: “Absalom has killed all the king’s sons; not one of them is left!”