Study Desk

After David had settled into his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent."

And when your days are fulfilled and you go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.

He will build a house for Me, and I will establish his throne forever.

I will be his Father, and he will be My son. And i will never remove My loving devotion from him as I removed it from your predecessor.

But I will set him over My house and My kingdom forever, and his throne will be established forever."

And now, O LORD, let the word You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house be established forever. Do as You have promised,

As far as Hamath, David also defeated King Hadadezer of Zobah, who had marched out to establish his dominion along the Euphrates River.

he sent his son Hadoram to greet King David and to bless him for fighting against Hadadezer and defeating him. For Tou and Hadadezer had been at war. Hadoram brought all kinds of articles of gold and silver and bronze,

Thus David reigned over all Israel, administering justice and righteousness for all his people:

Some time later, Nahash king of the Ammonites died and was succeeded by his son.

And David said, "I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me." So David sent messengers to console Hanun concerning his father. But when David's servants arrived in the land of the Ammonites to console him,

the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun, "Just because David has sent you comforters, do you really believe he is showing respect for your father? Have not his servants come to you to explore the land, spy it out, and overthrow it?"

When someone came and told David about his men, he sent messengers to meet them, since the men had been thoroughly humiliated. The king told them, "Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown back, and then return."

So they hired for themselves thirty-two thousand chariots, as well as the king of Maacah with his troops, who came and camped near Medeba while the Ammonites came from their cities and marched out for battle.

And he placed the rest of the forces under the command of his brother Abishai, who arrayed them against the Ammonites.

Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and for the cities of our God. May the LORD do what is good in His sight."

So Joab and his troops advanced to fight the Arameans, who fled before him.

David brought out the people who were there and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes. And he did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.

So these descendants of Rapha in Gath fell at the hands of David and his servants.

But Joab replied, "May the LORD multiply His troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all servants of my lord? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?"