The Last Words of David - 2 Samuel 23:3 - 4

"Now these be the last words of David. ... The spirit of the Lord spake by me, ... The God of Israel said, ... He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light of morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain."

And performed here in a piece by Randall Thompson.

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Comments on 2 Samuel 13-24

"The price of David’s sin of murder and adultery was high. He spent the rest of his life regretting it. In one psalm he expressed his mental torment and pleaded for forgiveness. “'Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me... .
“'Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.' (Psalm 51:1–3, 10–11.)
"Eventually, David received the assurance that his soul would be “delivered . . . from the lowest hell” (Psalm 86:12–13). But this assurance could not restore the blessings he had lost. They were gone forever.
"David paid another price, too, an earthly one, which haunted him until the day he died. 'The sword shall never depart from thine house,' the prophet Nathan told him, 'because thou hast despised me [the Lord], and hast taken the wife of Uriah' (2 Samuel 12:10). This prophecy was literally fulfilled."
This is the introduction to the notes and commentary on 2 Samuel 13–24 in the church educational systems Institute course on the Old Testament. If you wish to read this, please click on this link.

Comment on 2 Samuel 1 - 12

Now that you have read the first twelve chapters of 2 Samuel you may be interested in this.

“'If the Latter-day Saints ever hope to make any headway with the Jewish people, they must stop talking about King David as a tragic, sinful figure, for we view him as one of the great figures of our history.' So spoke a Jewish youth to his Latter-day Saint neighbor.

“'Was David a good man?' Ask this question among Old Testament scholars, and you will likely be immediately embroiled in a vigorous debate.

"Under David Israel reached its golden age, the zenith of its power. For the first time, under his direction the chosen people controlled the whole land promised to Abraham’s seed nearly a thousand years earlier. Israel had not achieved such heights before, nor did they ever again.

"Do we emphasize the David who killed Goliath, or the David who killed Uriah? Should we view him as the servant who refused to lift his hand against the Lord’s anointed, or as the Lord’s anointed who lifted his hand against a faithful and loyal servant? Was his life a tragedy, or a triumph?"

This quote is from the Church Educational System institute course on the Old Testament for 2 Samuel chapters 1 to 12. If you would like to read the entire discussion click this link.

Comments on 2 Samuel

"When I was a boy, we lived in a home surrounded by an orchard. There never seemed to be enough water for the trees. The ditches, always freshly plowed in the spring, would soon fill with weeds. One day, in charge of the irrigation turn, I found myself in trouble. As the water moved down the rows choked with weeds, it would flood in every direction. I worked in the puddles trying to build up the bank. As soon as I had one break patched up, there would be another. A neighbor came through the orchard. He watched for a moment, and then with a few vigorous strokes of the shovel, he cleared the ditch and allowed the water to course through the channel he had made. He said, 'If you want the water to stay in its course, you’ll have to make a place for it to go.'
"I have come to know that thoughts, like water, will stay on course if we make a place for them to go. Otherwise, our thoughts follow the course of least resistance, always seeking the lower levels. Probably the greatest challenge and the most difficult thing you will face in mortal life is to learn to control your thoughts. In the Bible it says, as a man 'thinketh in his heart, so is he' (Proverbs 23:7). Those who can control their thoughts have conquered themselves."

This is an excerpt from an April 2008 Liahona article by Boyd K. Packer. It was adapted from his October 1973 general conference address and is entitled "Worthy Music, Worthy Thoughts." If you would like to read the article in its entirety click this link.