Then David called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, "I have
given to your master's son all that belongs to Saul and to his family.
You with your sons and servants shall cultivate the land for him and
harvest the fruits, that your master's son may have food to eat; but
Meribaal, your master's son, shall always eat at my table." Now Ziba had
fifteen sons and twenty servants; and he said to David, "Your servant
will do all that my lord commands."

So Meribaal ate at David's table like one of his own sons. Meribaal also
had a young son, whose name was Mica. And all who lived in the house of
Ziba were Meribaal's servants. So Meribaal lived in Jerusalem, and
though he was lame in both feet, he always ate at David's table.

A RICH MAN WHO WAS A THIEF

One evening, while Joab was besieging Rabbath Ammon, David rose from his
bed and walked upon the roof of the royal palace. From the roof he saw a
woman bathing; and she was very beautiful. And David sent to ask about
the woman; and some one said, "Is not this Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah
the Hittite?" Then David sent messengers to bring her; and she came to
him, but later returned to her home.

Then David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah. In the letter,
he said, "Place Uriah in the front line where there is the fiercest
fighting, then draw back from behind him, that he may be struck down and
die." So Joab, in posting guards over the city, sent Uriah to the place
where he knew there were brave men. When the men of the city went out to
fight against Joab, some of the soldiers of David fell, and Uriah the
Hittite was killed.

Then Joab sent to tell David all about the war, and he gave this command
to the messenger: "If, after you have finished telling the ruler all
about the war, he is angry and says to you, 'Why did you go so near to
the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?
Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal? Did not a woman cast an
upper millstone upon him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why
did you go near the wall?' then say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is
dead also.'"

So the messenger of Joab went to Jerusalem and told David all that Joab
commanded him. Then David said to the messenger, "Say to Joab, 'Let not
this thing trouble you, for the sword takes one and then another. Go on
fighting against the city and capture it,' and encourage him."

When Bathsheba heard that Uriah her husband was d