^8:1Later David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. David took Metheg Ammah¹ from the Philistines.²^8:2He defeated the Moabites. He made them lie on the ground and then used a rope to measure them off. He put two-thirds of them to death and spared the other third.³ The Moabites became David’s subjects and brought tribute.⁴^8:3David defeated King Hadadezer son of Rehob of Zobah when he came to reestablish⁵ his authority⁶ over the Euphrates⁷ River. ^8:4David seized from him 1,700 charioteers⁸ and 20,000 infantrymen. David cut the hamstrings of all but a hundred of the chariot horses.⁹^8:5The Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, but David killed 22,000 of the Arameans. ^8:6David placed garrisons in the territory of the Arameans of Damascus; the Arameans became David’s subjects and brought tribute. The Lord protected¹⁰ David wherever he campaigned.¹¹^8:7David took the golden shields that belonged to Hadadezer’s servants and brought them to Jerusalem.¹²^8:8From Tebah¹³ and Berothai, Hadadezer’s cities, King David took a great deal of bronze.

^8:9When King Toi¹⁴ of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer, ^8:10he¹⁵ sent his son Joram¹⁶ to King David to extend his best wishes¹⁷ and to pronounce a blessing on him for his victory over Hadadezer, for Toi had been at war with Hadadezer.¹⁸ He brought with him various items made of silver, gold, and bronze.¹⁹^8:11King David dedicated these things to the Lord,²⁰ along with the dedicated silver and gold that he had taken from²¹ all the nations that he had subdued, ^8:12including²² Aram,²³ Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amelek. This also included some of the plunder taken from²⁴ King Hadadezer son of Rehob of Zobah.

^8:13David became famous²⁵ when he returned from defeating the Arameans²⁶ in the Valley of Salt, he defeated²⁷ 18,000 in all. ^8:14He placed garrisons throughout Edom,²⁸ and all the Edomites became David’s subjects. The Lord protected David wherever he campaigned. ^8:15David reigned over all Israel; he guaranteed justice for all his people.²⁹

David’s Cabinet

^8:16Joab son of Zeruiah was general in command of³⁰ the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was secretary; ^8:17Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar³¹ were priests; Seraiah was scribe; ^8:18Benaiah son of Jehoida supervised³² the Kerithites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were priests.³³

David Finds Mephibosheth

^9:1¹ Then David asked, “Is anyone still left from the family² of Saul, so that I may extend kindness to him for the sake of Jonathan?”

^9:2Now 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.”³^9:3The king asked, “Is there not someone left from Saul’s family,⁴ that I may extend God’s kindness to him?” Ziba said to the king, “One of Jonathan’s sons is left; both of his feet are crippled.” ^9:4The king asked him, “Where is he?” Ziba told the king, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.

^9:5So King David had him brought⁵ from the house of Makir son of Ammiel in⁶ Lo Debar. ^9:6When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed low with his face toward the ground.⁷ David said, “Mephibosheth?” He replied, “Yes, at your service.”⁸

^9:7David said to him, “Don’t be afraid, because I will certainly extend kindness to you for the sake of Jonathan your father. You will be a regular guest at my table.”⁹^9:8Then Mephibosheth¹⁰ bowed and said, “Of what importance am I, your servant, that you show regard for a dead dog like me?”¹¹

^9:9Then 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. ^9:10You will cultivate¹² the land for him—you and your sons and your servants. You will bring its produce¹³ and it will be¹⁴ food for your master’s grandson to eat.¹⁵ But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, will be a regular guest at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

^9:11Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do everything that my lord the king has instructed his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth was a regular guest¹⁶ at David’s table,¹⁷ just as though he were one of the king’s sons.

^9:12Now Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. All the members of Ziba’s household were Mephibosheth’s servants. ^9:13Mephibosheth was living in Jerusalem,¹⁸ for he was a regular guest at the king’s table. But both his feet were crippled.

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Footnotes

1 Heb “the bridle of one cubit.” Many English versions treat this as a place name because the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:1 reads “Gath” (which is used by here). It is possible that “the bridle of one cubit” is to be understood as “the token of surrender,” referring to the Philistine’s defeat rather than a specific place (cf. , ).
2 Heb “from the hand [i.e., control] of the Philistines.”
3 Heb “and he measured [with] two [lengths] of rope to put to death and [with] the fullness of the rope to keep alive.”
4 Heb “and the Moabites were servants of David, carriers of tribute.”
5 The has ἐπιστῆσαι (epistēsai, “cause to stand”). See the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:3.
6 Heb “hand.”
7 The does not have the name “Euphrates” in the text. It is supplied in the margin (Qere) as one of ten places where the Masoretes believed that something was “to be read although it was not written” in the text as they had received it. The ancient versions (, , ) include the word. See also the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:3.
8 The has “one thousand chariots and seven thousand charioteers,” a reading adopted in the text of the . See the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:4.
9 Heb “and David cut the hamstrings of all the chariot horses, and he left from them a hundred chariot horses.”
10 Or “delivered.”
11 Or “wherever he went.”
12 The includes seventeen words (in Greek) at the end of v. 7 that are not found in the . The addition is as follows: “And Sousakim king of Egypt took them when he came up to Jerusalem in the days of Rehoboam the son of Solomon.” This Greek reading now finds Hebrew support in 4QSama. For a reconstruction of this poorly preserved Qumran text see E. C. Ulrich, Jr., The Qumran Text of Samuel and Josephus (), 45–48. For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
13 Heb “Betah” (so , , ), but the name should probably be corrected to “Tebah.” See the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:8.
14 The name is spelled “Tou” in the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:9. adopts the spelling “Tou” here.
15 Heb “Toi.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun in the translation for stylistic reasons.
16 The name appears as “Hadoram” in the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:10.
17 Heb “to ask concerning him for peace.”
18 Heb “and to bless him because he fought with Hadadezer and defeated him, for Hadadezer was a man of battles with Toi.”
19 Heb “and in his hand were items of silver and items of gold and items of bronze.”
20 Heb “also them King David made holy to the Lord.”
21 Heb “with the silver and the gold that he had dedicated from.”
22 Heb “from.”
23 The present translation follows the ; a few Hebrew along with the and read “Edom” (cf. 2 Sam 8:14 and 1 Chr 18:11). Many modern English versions read “Edom” here (e.g., , , , ).
24 Heb “and from the plunder of.”
25 Heb “made a name.”
26 So , ; , , , “Edomites” (see the note on “Aram” in v. ).
27 The words “he defeated” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
28 The is repetitious here: “He placed in Edom garrisons; in all Edom he placed garrisons.” The lacks “in all Edom”; most of the Greek tradition (with the exception of the Lucianic recension and the recension of Origen) and the lack “he placed garrisons.” The reading appears here to be the result of a conflation of variant readings.
29 Heb “and David was doing what is just and fair for all his people.”
30 Heb “was over.”
31 Here Ahimelech is called “the son of Abiathar,” but , , and reverse this to conform with 1 Sam 22:20. Most recent English versions (e.g., , , , , ) retain the order found in the .
32 The translation follows the , , and in reading “over,” rather than the simple conjunction that appears in . See also the parallel passage in 1 Chr 18:17.
33 That David’s sons could have been priests, in light of the fact that they were not of the priestly lineage, is strange. One must assume either (1) that the word “priest” (כֹּהֵן, kohen) during this period of time could be used in a broader sense of “chief ruler” (); “chief minister” (, ), or “royal adviser” (), perhaps based on the parallel passage in 1 Chr 18:17 which has “the king’s leading officials”, or (2) that in David’s day members of the king’s family could function as a special category of “priests” (cf. “priestly leaders”). The latter option seems to be the more straightforward way of understanding the word in 2 Sam 8:18.
1 2 Samuel 9–20 is known as the Succession Narrative. It is a literary unit that describes David’s efforts at consolidating his own kingdom following the demise of King Saul; it also provides the transition to subsequent leadership on the part of David’s successor Solomon.
2 Heb “house.”
3 Heb “your servant.”
4 Heb “house.”
5 Heb “sent and took him.”
6 Heb “from.”
7 Heb “he fell on his face and bowed down.”
8 Heb “Look, your servant.”
9 Heb “and you will eat food over my table continually.”
10 Heb “he”; the referent (Mephibosheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 Heb “What is your servant, that you turn to a dead dog which is like me?”
12 Heb “work.”
13 The Hebrew text implies, but does not actually contain, the words “its produce” here.
14 The words “it will be,” though present in the , are absent from the , the , and .
15 Heb “and he will eat it.”
16 Heb “eating.”
17 Heb “my table.” But the first person reference to David is awkward here since the quotation of David’s words has already been concluded in v. 10; nor does the “my” refer to Ziba, since the latter part of v. 11 does not seem to be part of Ziba’s response to the king. The ancient versions are not unanimous in the way that they render the phrase. The has “the table of David” (τῆς τραπέζης Δαυιδ, tēs trapezēs Dauid); the has “the table of the king” (patureh demalka’); the has “your table” (mensam tuam). The present translation follows the .
18 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .