lethites, and the Phelethites, and David's sons, were the pa lace guards.

IX. And David said, Is there any yet left of the house of Saul, that 2 I may shew him kindness for Jonathan's sake? Now there was

a servant of the house of Saul, whose name was Siba. So they called him to David. And the king said to him, Art thou 3 Siba? And he said, I am thy servant. Then the king said to him, Is there any man yet left of the house of Saul, that I may treat him with all the kindness possible? And when Siba said 4 to the king, There is still a son of Jonathan who is disabled in his feet, the king said to Siba, Where is he? And Siba said to the king, Behold at the house of Machir, son of Amiel 5 of Lodabar. Thereupon king David sent for him from the 6 house of Machir, son of Amiel of Lodabar. And when Memphibosthe son of Jonathan, son of Saul was brought before king David, he fell on his face, and made obeisance to him. And when David said to him, Memphibosthe! He said, Here 7 am I thy servant. Then David said to him, Fear not; for I will indeed deal kindly with thee, for Jonathan thy father's sake, and restore thee all the fields of Saul thy grandfather, 8 and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. Upon which Memphibosthe bowed down, and said, Who am I thy servant, that thou shouldst look on such a dead dog as I am? 9 Then the king called Siba, the servant of Saul, and said to him, All that belong to Saul and his house I have given to thy 10 master's son. Therefore work thou the land for him; both thou and thy sons, and thy servants; and thou shalt bring in provisions for thy master's son, that he may have bread to eat. And Memphibosthe, thy master's son, shall eat bread continually at my table. Now Siba had fifteen sons, and twen11 ty servants. And Siba said to the king, According to all that the king hath commanded his servant, so will thy servant do. 12 So Memphibosthe ate at David's table, like one of the king's sons; and Memphibosthe had a young son whose name was Micha; and all the family of the house of Siba were servants 13 of Memphibosthe. And Memphibosthe dwelt at Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king's table, and was lame in both his feet.

X.

Now after this the king of the Ammonites died, and An2 non his son reigned in his stead. Whereupon David said, I will shew kindness to Annon, son of Naas, as his father shewed kindness to me. So David sent his servants to comfort 3 him for the death of his father. But when David's servants came to the land of the Ammonites, the chiefs of the children of Ammon said to Annon their lord, Is it to honour thy father in thy presence, that David hath sent thee comforters? Is it not rather that they may examine the city and view it? It is indeed for the purpose of spying it, that David hath sent these 4 servants of his to thee. Upon this Annon took David's servants,

and shaved their beards, and cut off one half of their upper gar5 ments, even up to the loins, and sent them away. And when David was informed touching his men, he sent to meet them, for the men had been greatly dishonoured, and the king said, 6 Tarry at Jericho till your beards grow, and then return. Now when the children of Ammon saw that David's people were dishonoured, they sent, and hired the Syrians of Baithraam, and the Syrians of Suba and Roob, twenty thousand infantry, and of the king of Amelek, a thousand men, and of Istob 7 twelve thousand men. And when David heard it, he sent out 8 Joab, and all the army, even all the mighty men. And the chil

dren of Ammon came out and drew up for battle before the gate of the city; and the Syrians of Suba, and Roob, with Is9 tob, and Amelek, were by themselves in the fields. When Joab saw that there was a front of battle against him both before and behind, he made a draught from among all the youth of Israel, and set them in array against the Syrians, and he com10 mitted the residue of the people to his brother Abessa; and 11 they drew up in array against the children of Ammon. And

Joab said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, you must come to my assistance; and if the children of Ammon be too strong 12 for thee, we will come to save thee. Act manfully, and let us

shew our courage for our people and for the cities of our God. 13 And the Lord will do what is good in his sight. Then Joab,

and all his people with him, advanced to battle against the Sy14 rians, and they fled before him. And when the Ammonites saw that the Syrians fled, they also fled before Abessa, and entered the city. Whereupon Joab returned from the chil

15 dren of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem. Now when the Syrians saw that they had given way before Israel, they assem16 bled together, and Adraazar sent and collected the Syrians from the banks of the river Chalamak, and they came to Ailam, with Sobak, the commander in chief of Adraazar's ar17 my, at their head. When this was told David, he assembled all Israel, and crossed the Jordan, and came to Ailam; and the 18 Syrians drew up in array against David, and fought him. But the Syrians fled before Israel, and David destroyed of Syria seven hundred chariots, and forty thousand horsemen. He smote also Sobak the commander in chief of the army, so that 19 he died there. And when all the kings who were vassals of Adraazar saw that they were smitten before Israel, they revolted, and joined Israel and served them. So Syria was intimidated from aiding the Ammonites any more.

XI. And when the season of the year returned for kings to go out

to battle, David sent out Joab, and all his servants with him, and all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and 2 besieged Rabbath: but David abode at Jerusalem. And it happened, that one afternoon, David arose from his couch, and walked on the roof of the king's house, and from the top of the house he saw a woman bathing, and she was very beau3 tiful. So David sent and sought out the woman, and one said, Is not this Bersabe, the daughter of Eliab, the wife of Ourias, 4 the Chettite? Whereupon David sent messengers, and took her, and went in unto her, and lay with her. And when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her 5 house. And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, 6 saying, I am with child. Whereupon David sent to Joab, say7 ing, Send Ourias the Chettite to me. So Joab sent Ourias to

David. And on his arrival, Ourias went directly to him. And when David had inquired of the welfare of Joab, and the wel8 fare of the people, and the success of the war, he said to Ourias, Go down to thy house and wash thy feet. So Ourias departed from the king's house, and there was sent after him a por9 tion of meat from the king. But Ourias laid himself down to

sleep at the king's gate, with the servants of his lord, and did 10 not go down to his house. And when they told David, saying, Ourias did not go down to his house, David said to Ourias,

Art thou not come from a journey, why then didst thou not 11 go down to thy house? And Ourias said to David, The ark, and Israel, and Juda, dwell in tents, and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord encamp on the ground, and shall I go down to my house to eat and drink, and lie with my wife? How can I do it? As thy soul liveth, I will do no such thing. 12 Then David said to Ourias, Tarry here to-day also, and tomorrow I will dismiss thee. So Ourias tarried at Jerusalem 13 that day and the morrow. And David invited him, and he ate and drank in his presence. But though he caused him to drink, and made him drunk, yet he went out in the evening, to sleep on his bed with the king's servants, and did not go 14 down to his house. And in the morning David wrote a letter

to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Ourias, and in the letter he 15 wrote, saying, Set Ourias in the front of the hottest battle, 16 and retire from him, that he may be smitten and die. So in disposing the guards against the city, Joab stationed Ourias in 17 the place where he knew there were men of valour. And the

men of the city sallied out, and fought with Joab, and some of the people of David's servants fell, and Ourias the Chettite died 18 also. Then Joab sent and told David all the circumstances of the 19 battle, which were to be delivered verbally to the king. And

he gave a charge to the messenger, saying, When thou hast finished telling the king all the circumstances of the battle, if 20 it should happen that the king's anger rise, and he should say to thee, Why did you approach so near to the city to fight? 21 Did you not know that they would shoot from the top of the

wall? Who smote Abimelech son of Jerobaal, son of Ner? Did not a woman throw a piece of a millstone on him from the 22 top of the wall, so that he died at Thamasi? Why did you approach the wall? Then thou shalt say, Thy servant Ourias the Chettite is also dead. So Joab's messenger went to Jerusalem to the king, and when he arrived and told David all that Joab mentioned to him—all the circumstances of the battle, David was inflamed with wrath against Joab, and said to the messenger, Why did you approach so near the city to fight? Did you not know that you would be smitten from the wall? Who smote Abimelech, son of Jerobaal? Did not a woman throw a millstone upon him from the wall, so that he died at Thamasi?

23 Why did you approach so near the wall? Then the messen. ger said to David, The men took courage against us, and sallied out upon us into the field, and when we continued our pursuit of them, even to the doors of the gate, the archers 24 from the wall shot at thy servants, so that some of the king's

servants were slain, and thy servant Ourias the Chettite is 25 dead also. Thereupon David said to the messenger, Thus shalt thou say to Joab, Let not this be grievous in thy sight; for the sword devoureth sometimes on one side, and sometimes on the other. Make thy battle strong against the city, and block it up, and enclose it with strong works.

26

Now when the wife of Ourias heard that Ourias her hus27 band was dead, she mourned for her husband. And when her mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son.

XII.

But the deed which David had done appeared evil in the sight of the Lord; therefore the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to David. And when he came to David he said to him, There were two men in the same city. The one was rich, and the 2 other poor. The rich man had flocks and herds in great abun3 dance, but the poor man had only one little ewe lamb, which he bought, and nourished, and fed: And it had grown up with him and his children in the same house. It ate of his bread, and drank of his cup, and slept in his bosom, and was to him 4 like a daughter. And there came a traveller to the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flocks, or of his own herds, to entertain the stranger-the wayfaring man, who had come to him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the 5 man who came to him. And David was inflamed with indig

nation against the man to a great degree, and said to Nathan, 6 As the Lord liveth, the man who hath done this is guilty of

death, and shall make sevenfold restitution for the lamb, because 7 he hath done such a deed and had no compassion. Whereupon Nathan said to David, Thou art the man who hath done this. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel, I anointed thee to be king over Israel, and it was I who delivered thee out of the hand of Saul, and gave thee the house of thy master, and thy master's 8 wives into thy bosom. I gave thee also the house of Israel and Juda, and if this had not been enough, I would have added still