Now, therefore, act, - for Yahweh, spake unto David, saying, By the hand of David my servant, will I save my people Israel, out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies.

Go and say unto my servant - unto David: Thus, saith Yahweh, - Shalt, thou, build me a house, for me to dwell in;

Now, therefore, thus, shalt thou say unto my servant, unto David: Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, I myself, took thee away from the pasture, from after the flock, - to become leader over my people, over Israel;

and hast yet further made this seem little in thine eyes, My Lord, Yahweh, in that thou hast spoken, even of the house, of thy servant, for a great while to come? This, then is the law of manhood, O My Lord, Yahweh!

What more, then, can David yet further speak unto thee, - seeing that, thou thyself knowest thy servant, O My Lord Yahweh?

For the sake of thine own word, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this great thing, - making it known unto thy servant.

Now, therefore, O Yahweh Elohim, the word which thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, confirm thou, unto times age-abiding, - and do, as thou hast spoken:

that thy name may be age-abidingly magnified, saying, Yahweh of hosts, is God over Israel, and so, the house of thy servant David, be established before thee.

For, thou, O Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, hast unveiled the ear of thy servant, saying - A house, will I build for thee. For this cause, hath thy servant found in his heart, to pray unto thee, this prayer.

Now, therefore, O My Lord, Yahweh, thou, art God, and, thy words, shall prove true, - therefore hast thou spoken unto thy servant this goodness.

Now, therefore, be pleased to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue age-abidingly before thee, - for, thou, O My Lord, Yahweh, hast spoken, therefore, with thine own blessing, shall the house of thy servant be age-abidingly blessed.

Now, unto the house of Saul, belonged a servant, whose name, was Ziba, and, when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him - Art, thou, Ziba? And he said - Thy servant!

Now, when Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came in unto David, he fell on his face and did homage. And David said, Mephibosheth? And he said, Lo! thy servant.

And he did homage, and said - What is thy servant, - that thou hast turned towards such a dead dog as I?

Then the king called for Ziba, Saul's servant, and said unto him, - All that pertained unto Saul and unto all his house, have I given unto the son of thy lord:

Then said Ziba unto the king, According to all that my lord the king shall command his servant, so, will thy servant do, - but, Mephibosheth, is to eat at the table of David, as one of the sons of the king.

Who smote Abimelech son of Jerubbaal? Did not, a woman, cast on him an upper millstone from off the wall, that he died, in Thebez? Wherefore came ye near unto the wall? Then shalt thou say - Moreover, thy servant, Uriah the Hittite, died.

Then did the archers shoot upon thy servants, from off the wall, and there died some of the servants of the king, - moreover also, thy servant, Uriah the Hittite, died.

Absolom came also unto the king, and said, See, I pray thee, thy servant hath, sheepshearers, - I pray thee, let the king and his servants go with thy servant.

So Jonadab said unto the king, Lo! the king's sons, are come, - according to the word of thy servant, so hath it come to pass.

Then said the king, Is, the hand of Joab, with thee, in all this? And the woman answered and said - By the life of thy soul, my lord, O king, there is no way to the right or to the left, of anything that my lord the king hath spoken, for, thy servant Joab himself, charged me, and, himself, put, in the mouth of thy maidservant, all these words:

for the purpose of turning round the face of the matter, hath thy servant Joab done this thing, - my lord being wise, as with the wisdom of a messenger of God, in knowing all that is done in the land.

So Joab fell with his face to the earth, and did homage, and blessed the king, - and Joab said - To-day, doth thy servant know, that I have found favour in thine eyes, my lord O king, in that the king hath fulfilled the request of thy servant.

And Absolom used to rise up early, and take his stand beside the way of the gate, - and so it was - when any man who had a controversy would come unto the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and said: Of what city, art, thou? And he said, Of one of the tribes of Israel, is thy servant. And Absolom said unto him,

for thy servant vowed, a vow, while I abode in Geshur in Syria, saying, - If Yahweh, will but bring me back, unto Jerusalem, then will I serve Yahweh,

But Ittai answered the king, and said, - By the life of Yahweh, and by the life of my lord the king, surely, in whatsoever place, my lord the king, may be, whether for death or for life, there will, thy servant, be.

but, if, to the city, thou return, then canst thou say unto Absolom - Thy servant, I, O king, will be, as, the servant of thy father, I was formerly, so will I, now, be thy servant: thus shalt thou frustrate for me the counsel of Ahithophel.

Now, David, had passed on but a little from the summit, when lo! Ziba, servant of Mephibosheth, met him, - with a couple of asses saddled, and, upon them, two hundred cakes of bread, and one hundred cakes of raisins, and one hundred summer fruits, and a skin of wine.

And the king said, Is it, well, with the young man - Absolom? Then said Ahimaaz - I saw a great crowd, when Joab sent the king's servant and me thy servant, but I knew not what it meant .

And, a thousand men, were with him, out of Benjamin, Ziba also, servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and twenty servants, with him, - and they went through the Jordan, before the king.

and he said unto the king - Let not my lord impute to me iniquity, neither do thou remember the perverseness of thy servant, on the day that thou wentest out, my lord O king, from Jerusalem, that the king should lay it upon his heart.

For thy servant doth know, that, I, sinned, - lo! therefore, I have arrived to-day, as the first of all the house of Joseph, to come down to meet my lord the king.

And he said, My lord, O king, my servant, betrayed me, - for thy servant said - I will even saddle me mine ass, that I may ride thereon, and go with the king, for, lame, is thy servant.

And he hath slandered thy servant, unto my lord the king, - but, my lord the king, is as a messenger of God, do therefore what is good in thine own eyes.

For, when all the house of my father were nothing better than dead men, unto my lord the king, then didst thou set thy servant among them that used to eat at thy table, - what then have I further, by way of right, or to cry out any further unto the king?

Eighty years old, am I to-day - could I discern between good and bad? or could thy servant taste what I might eat, and what I might drink? or could I hearken any more to the voice of singing men and singing women? Wherefore, then, should thy servant yet be a burden unto my lord the king?

Just a little way, will thy servant pass over the Jordan with the king, - but wherefore should the king recompense me with this reward?

Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back again, that I may die in mine own city, by the grave of my father, and my mother. But here is thy servant Chimham - let him pass over with my lord the king, and do unto him that which may be good in thine eyes.

And the heart of David smote him, after he had reckoned up the people, - and David said unto Yahweh - I have sinned greatly, in what I have done, Now, therefore, O Yahweh, take away, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly.

Then said Araunah, Wherefore, hath my lord the king come unto his servant? And David said - To buy of thee the threshing-floor, to build an altar unto Yahweh, that the plague may be stayed from off the people.