
The Second Book of Samuel

   

   {1:1} It happened after the death of Saul, when David was returned
from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had abode two days in
Ziklag; {1:2} it happened on the third day, that behold, a man came out
of the camp from Saul, with his clothes torn, and earth on his head:
and so it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the earth, and
did obeisance. {1:3} David said to him, From whence come you? He said
to him, Out of the camp of Israel am I escaped. {1:4} David said to
him, How went the matter? Please tell me. He answered, The people are
fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead;
and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also. {1:5} David said to the
young man who told him, How know you that Saul and Jonathan his son are
dead? {1:6} The young man who told him said, As I happened by chance on
Mount Gilboa, behold, Saul was leaning on his spear; and, behold, the
chariots and the horsemen followed hard after him. {1:7} When he looked
behind him, he saw me, and called to me. I answered, Here am I. {1:8}
He said to me, Who are you? I answered him, I am an Amalekite. {1:9} He
said to me, Stand, I pray you, beside me, and kill me; for anguish has
taken hold of me, because my life is yet whole in me. {1:10} So I stood
beside him, and killed him, because I was sure that he could not live
after that he was fallen: and I took the crown that was on his head,
and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them here to my
lord. {1:11} Then David took hold on his clothes, and tore them; and
likewise all the men who were with him: {1:12} and they mourned, and
wept, and fasted until even, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and
for the people of Yahweh, and for the house of Israel; because they
were fallen by the sword. {1:13} David said to the young man who told
him, Whence are you? He answered, I am the son of a foreigner, an
Amalekite. {1:14} David said to him, How were you not afraid to put
forth your hand to destroy Yahweh's anointed? {1:15} David called one
of the young men, and said, Go near, and fall on him. He struck him, so
that he died. {1:16} David said to him, Your blood be on your head; for
your mouth has testified against you, saying, I have slain Yahweh's
anointed.

   {1:17} David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over
Jonathan his son {1:18} (and he bade them teach the children of Judah
[the song of] the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jashar):
{1:19} Your glory, Israel, is slain on your high places!
How are the mighty fallen!
{1:20} Don't tell it in Gath,
Don't publish it in the streets of Ashkelon;
Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,
Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.
{1:21} You mountains of Gilboa,
Let there be no dew nor rain on you, neither fields of offerings:
For there the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away,
The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil.
{1:22} From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty,
The bow of Jonathan didn't turn back,
The sword of Saul didn't return empty.
{1:23} Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives,
In their death they were not divided:
They were swifter than eagles,
They were stronger than lions.
{1:24} You daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,
Who clothed you in scarlet delicately,
Who put ornaments of gold on your clothing.
{1:25} How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!
Jonathan is slain on your high places.
{1:26} I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan:
Very pleasant have you been to me:
Your love to me was wonderful,
Passing the love of women.
{1:27} How are the mighty fallen,
The weapons of war perished!

    {2:1} It happened after this, that David inquired of Yahweh,
saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? Yahweh said to
him, Go up. David said, Where shall I go up? He said, To Hebron. {2:2}
So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the
Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. {2:3} His
men who were with him did David bring up, every man with his household:
and they lived in the cities of Hebron. {2:4} The men of Judah came,
and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. They told
David, saying, The men of Jabesh Gilead were those who buried Saul.
{2:5} David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead, and said to
them, Blessed be you of Yahweh, that you have shown this kindness to
your lord, even to Saul, and have buried him. {2:6} Now Yahweh show
loving kindness and truth to you: and I also will requite you this
kindness, because you have done this thing. {2:7} Now therefore let
your hands be strong, and be you valiant; for Saul your lord is dead,
and also the house of Judah have anointed me king over them. {2:8} Now
Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's army, had taken Ish-bosheth the
son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim; {2:9} and he made him
king over Gilead, and over the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and over
Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel. {2:10} Ish-bosheth,
Saul's son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and
he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. {2:11} The
time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven
years and six months. {2:12} Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of
Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. {2:13}
Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out, and met
them by the pool of Gibeon; and they sat down, the one on the one side
of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool. {2:14} Abner
said to Joab, Please let the young men arise and play before us. Joab
said, Let them arise. {2:15} Then they arose and went over by number:
twelve for Benjamin, and for Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of
the servants of David. {2:16} They caught everyone his fellow by the
head, and [thrust] his sword in his fellow's side; so they fell down
together: therefore that place was called Helkath Hazzurim, which is in
Gibeon. {2:17} The battle was very severe that day: and Abner was
beaten, and the men of Israel, before the servants of David. {2:18} The
three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel: and
Asahel was as light of foot as a wild gazelle. {2:19} Asahel pursued
after Abner; and in going he didn't turn to the right hand nor to the
left from following Abner. {2:20} Then Abner looked behind him, and
said, Is it you, Asahel? He answered, It is I. {2:21} Abner said to
him, Turn you aside to your right hand or to your left, and lay you
hold on one of the young men, and take you his armor. But Asahel would
not turn aside from following him. {2:22} Abner said again to Asahel,
Turn you aside from following me: why should I strike you to the
ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab your brother? {2:23}
However he refused to turn aside: therefore Abner with the hinder end
of the spear struck him in the body, so that the spear came out behind
him; and he fell down there, and died in the same place: and it
happened, that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and
died stood still. {2:24} But Joab and Abishai pursued after Abner: and
the sun went down when they were come to the hill of Ammah, that lies
before Giah by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon. {2:25} The children
of Benjamin gathered themselves together after Abner, and became one
band, and stood on the top of a hill. {2:26} Then Abner called to Joab,
and said, "Shall the sword devour forever? Don't you know that it will
be bitterness in the latter end? How long shall it be then, before you
bid the people return from following their brothers?" {2:27} Joab said,
As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely then in the morning the
people had gone away, nor followed everyone his brother. {2:28} So Joab
blew the trumpet; and all the people stood still, and pursued after
Israel no more, neither fought they any more. {2:29} Abner and his men
went all that night through the Arabah; and they passed over the
Jordan, and went through all Bithron, and came to Mahanaim. {2:30} Joab
returned from following Abner: and when he had gathered all the people
together, there lacked of David's servants nineteen men and Asahel.
{2:31} But the servants of David had struck of Benjamin, and of Abner's
men, [so that] three hundred sixty men died. {2:32} They took up
Asahel, and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was in
Bethlehem. Joab and his men went all night, and the day broke on them
at Hebron.

    {3:1} Now there was long war between the house of Saul and the
house of David: and David grew stronger and stronger, but the house of
Saul grew weaker and weaker. {3:2} To David were sons born in Hebron:
and his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; {3:3} and his
second, Chileab, of Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; and the
third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;
{3:4} and the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth,
Shephatiah the son of Abital; {3:5} and the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah,
David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron. {3:6} It happened,
while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David,
that Abner made himself strong in the house of Saul. {3:7} Now Saul had
a concubine, whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah: and
[Ish-bosheth] said to Abner, Why have you gone in to my father's
concubine? {3:8} Then was Abner very angry for the words of
Ish-bosheth, and said, Am I a dog's head that belongs to Judah? This
day do I show kindness to the house of Saul your father, to his
brothers, and to his friends, and have not delivered you into the hand
of David; and yet you charge me this day with a fault concerning this
woman. {3:9} God do so to Abner, and more also, if, as Yahweh has sworn
to David, I don't do even so to him; {3:10} to transfer the kingdom
from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel
and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba. {3:11} He could not answer
Abner another word, because he feared him. {3:12} Abner sent messengers
to David on his behalf, saying, Whose is the land? saying [also], Make
your league with me, and, behold, my hand shall be with you, to bring
about all Israel to you. {3:13} He said, Well; I will make a league
with you; but one thing I require of you: that is, you shall not see my
face, except you first bring Michal, Saul's daughter, when you come to
see my face. {3:14} David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul's son,
saying, Deliver me my wife Michal, whom I pledged to be married to me
for one hundred foreskins of the Philistines. {3:15} Ish-bosheth sent,
and took her from her husband, even from Paltiel the son of Laish.
{3:16} Her husband went with her, weeping as he went, and followed her
to Bahurim. Then said Abner to him, Go, return: and he returned. {3:17}
Abner had communication with the elders of Israel, saying, In times
past you sought for David to be king over you: {3:18} now then do it;
for Yahweh has spoken of David, saying, By the hand of my servant David
I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and
out of the hand of all their enemies. {3:19} Abner also spoke in the
ears of Benjamin: and Abner went also to speak in the ears of David in
Hebron all that seemed good to Israel, and to the whole house of
Benjamin. {3:20} So Abner came to David to Hebron, and twenty men with
him. David made Abner and the men who were with him a feast. {3:21}
Abner said to David, I will arise and go, and will gather all Israel to
my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you
may reign over all that your soul desires. David sent Abner away; and
he went in peace. {3:22} Behold, the servants of David and Joab came
from a foray, and brought in a great spoil with them: but Abner was not
with David in Hebron; for he had sent him away, and he was gone in
peace. {3:23} When Joab and all the army who was with him had come,
they told Joab, saying, Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he
has sent him away, and he is gone in peace. {3:24} Then Joab came to
the king, and said, What have you done? behold, Abner came to you; why
is it that you have sent him away, and he is quite gone? {3:25} You
know Abner the son of Ner, that he came to deceive you, and to know
your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you do. {3:26}
When Joab was come out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, and
they brought him back from the well of Sirah: but David didn't know it.
{3:27} When Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the
midst of the gate to speak with him quietly, and struck him there in
the body, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother. {3:28}
Afterward, when David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are guiltless
before Yahweh forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner: {3:29} let
it fall on the head of Joab, and on all his father's house; and let
there not fail from the house of Joab one who has an issue, or who is a
leper, or who leans on a staff, or who falls by the sword, or who lacks
bread. {3:30} So Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner, because he
had killed their brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle. {3:31} David
said to Joab, and to all the people who were with him, Tear your
clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. King
David followed the bier. {3:32} They buried Abner in Hebron: and the
king lifted up his voice, and wept at the grave of Abner; and all the
people wept. {3:33} The king lamented for Abner, and said,
Should Abner die as a fool dies?
{3:34} Your hands were not bound, nor your feet put into fetters:
As a man falls before the children of iniquity, so did you fall.

   All the people wept again over him. {3:35} All the people came to
cause David to eat bread while it was yet day; but David swore, saying,
God do so to me, and more also, if I taste bread, or anything else,
until the sun be down. {3:36} All the people took notice of it, and it
pleased them; as whatever the king did pleased all the people. {3:37}
So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of
the king to kill Abner the son of Ner. {3:38} The king said to his
servants, "Don't you know that there a prince and a great man has
fallen this day in Israel? {3:39} I am this day weak, though anointed
king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me. May Yahweh
reward the evil-doer according to his wickedness."

    {4:1} When [Ish-bosheth], Saul's son, heard that Abner was dead in
Hebron, his hands became feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.
{4:2} [Ish-bosheth], Saul's son, [had] two men who were captains of
bands: the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other
Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin
(for Beeroth also is reckoned to Benjamin: {4:3} and the Beerothites
fled to Gittaim, and have lived as foreigners there until this day).
{4:4} Now Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son who was lame of his feet. He
was five years old when the news came of Saul and Jonathan out of
Jezreel; and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it happened, as she
made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. His name was
Mephibosheth. {4:5} The sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and
Baanah, went, and came about the heat of the day to the house of
Ish-bosheth, as he took his rest at noon. {4:6} They came there into
the midst of the house, as though they would have fetched wheat; and
they struck him in the body: and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped.
{4:7} Now when they came into the house, as he lay on his bed in his
bedchamber, they struck him, and killed him, and beheaded him, and took
his head, and went by the way of the Arabah all night. {4:8} They
brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David to Hebron, and said to the
king, Behold, the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who
sought your life; and Yahweh has avenged my lord the king this day of
Saul, and of his seed. {4:9} David answered Rechab and Baanah his
brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, As Yahweh
lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity, {4:10} when one
told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good
news, I took hold of him, and killed him in Ziklag, which was the
reward I gave him for his news. {4:11} How much more, when wicked men
have slain a righteous person in his own house on his bed, shall I not
now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?
{4:12} David commanded his young men, and they killed them, and cut off
their hands and their feet, and hanged them up beside the pool in
Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth, and buried it in the
grave of Abner in Hebron.

   {5:1} Then came all the tribes of Israel to David to Hebron, and
spoke, saying, Behold, we are your bone and your flesh. {5:2} In times
past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in
Israel: and Yahweh said to you, You shall be shepherd of my people
Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel. {5:3} So all the elders of
Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a covenant with
them in Hebron before Yahweh: and they anointed David king over Israel.
{5:4} David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned
forty years. {5:5} In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six
months; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel
and Judah. {5:6} The king and his men went to Jerusalem against the
Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying,
Except you take away the blind and the lame, you shall not come in
here; thinking, David can't come in here. {5:7} Nevertheless David took
the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David. {5:8} David said
on that day, Whoever strikes the Jebusites, let him get up to the
watercourse, and [strike] the lame and the blind, who are hated of
David's soul. Therefore they say, There are the blind and the lame; he
can't come into the house. {5:9} David lived in the stronghold, and
called it the city of David. David built round about from Millo and
inward. {5:10} David grew greater and greater; for Yahweh, the God of
Armies, was with him. {5:11} Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to
David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons; and they built
David a house. {5:12} David perceived that Yahweh had established him
king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people
Israel's sake. {5:13} David took him more concubines and wives out of
Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron; and there were yet sons and
daughters born to David. {5:14} These are the names of those who were
born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon,
{5:15} and Ibhar, and Elishua, and Nepheg, and Japhia, {5:16} and
Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphelet. {5:17} When the Philistines heard
that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went
up to seek David; and David heard of it, and went down to the
stronghold. {5:18} Now the Philistines had come and spread themselves
in the valley of Rephaim. {5:19} David inquired of Yahweh, saying,
Shall I go up against the Philistines? will you deliver them into my
hand? Yahweh said to David, Go up; for I will certainly deliver the
Philistines into your hand. {5:20} David came to Baal Perazim, and
David struck them there; and he said, Yahweh has broken my enemies
before me, like the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of
that place Baal Perazim. {5:21} They left their images there; and David
and his men took them away. {5:22} The Philistines came up yet again,
and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. {5:23} When David
inquired of Yahweh, he said, You shall not go up: make a circuit behind
them, and come on them over against the mulberry trees. {5:24} It shall
be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry
trees, that then you shall bestir yourself; for then is Yahweh gone out
before you to strike the army of the Philistines. {5:25} David did so,
as Yahweh commanded him, and struck the Philistines from Geba until you
come to Gezer.

    {6:1} David again gathered together all the chosen men of Israel,
thirty thousand. {6:2} David arose, and went with all the people who
were with him, from Baale Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God,
which is called by the Name, even the name of Yahweh of Armies who sits
[above] the cherubim. {6:3} They set the ark of God on a new cart, and
brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in the hill: and Uzzah
and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. {6:4} They brought
it out of the house of Abinadab, which was in the hill, with the ark of
God: and Ahio went before the ark. {6:5} David and all the house of
Israel played before Yahweh with all manner of [instruments made of]
fir-wood, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with tambourines,
and with castanets, and with cymbals. {6:6} When they came to the
threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put forth [his hand] to the ark of God,
and took hold of it; for the oxen stumbled. {6:7} The anger of Yahweh
was kindled against Uzzah; and God struck him there for his error; and
there he died by the ark of God. {6:8} David was displeased, because
Yahweh had broken forth on Uzzah; and he called that place Perez Uzzah,
to this day. {6:9} David was afraid of Yahweh that day; and he said,
How shall the ark of Yahweh come to me? {6:10} So David would not
remove the ark of Yahweh to him into the city of David; but David
carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. {6:11} The
ark of Yahweh remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three
months: and Yahweh blessed Obed-edom, and all his house. {6:12} It was
told king David, saying, Yahweh has blessed the house of Obed-edom, and
all that pertains to him, because of the ark of God. David went and
brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of
David with joy. {6:13} It was so, that, when those who bore the ark of
Yahweh had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf.
{6:14} David danced before Yahweh with all his might; and David was
girded with a linen ephod. {6:15} So David and all the house of Israel
brought up the ark of Yahweh with shouting, and with the sound of the
trumpet. {6:16} It was so, as the ark of Yahweh came into the city of
David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window, and
saw king David leaping and dancing before Yahweh; and she despised him
in her heart. {6:17} They brought in the ark of Yahweh, and set it in
its place, in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it; and
David offered burnt offerings and peace-offerings before Yahweh. {6:18}
When David had made an end of offering the burnt offering and the
peace-offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh of Armies.
{6:19} He dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of
Israel, both to men and women, to everyone a cake of bread, and a
portion [of flesh], and a cake of raisins. So all the people departed
everyone to his house. {6:20} Then David returned to bless his
household. Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and
said, How glorious was the king of Israel today, who uncovered himself
today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain
fellows shamelessly uncovers himself! {6:21} David said to Michal, [It
was] before Yahweh, who chose me above your father, and above all his
house, to appoint me prince over the people of Yahweh, over Israel:
therefore will I play before Yahweh. {6:22} I will be yet more vile
than this, and will be base in my own sight: but of the handmaids of
whom you have spoken, they shall honor me. {6:23} Michal the daughter
of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

   

    {7:1} It happened, when the king lived in his house, and Yahweh had
given him rest from all his enemies round about, {7:2} that the king
said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but
the ark of God dwells within curtains. {7:3} Nathan said to the king,
Go, do all that is in your heart; for Yahweh is with you. {7:4} It
happened the same night, that the word of Yahweh came to Nathan,
saying, {7:5} Go and tell my servant David, Thus says Yahweh, Shall you
build me a house for me to dwell in? {7:6} for I have not lived in a
house since the day that I brought up the children of Israel out of
Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tent. {7:7}
In all places in which I have walked with all the children of Israel,
spoke I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to be
shepherd of my people Israel, saying, Why have you not built me a house
of cedar? {7:8} Now therefore thus shall you tell my servant David,
Thus says Yahweh of Armies, I took you from the sheep pen, from
following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people, over
Israel; {7:9} and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut
off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name,
like the name of the great ones who are in the earth. {7:10} I will
appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they
may dwell in their own place, and be moved no more; neither shall the
children of wickedness afflict them any more, as at the first, {7:11}
and [as] from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people
Israel; and I will cause you to rest from all your enemies. Moreover
Yahweh tells you that Yahweh will make you a house. {7:12} When your
days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set
up your seed after you, who shall proceed out of your bowels, and I
will establish his kingdom. {7:13} He shall build a house for my name,
and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. {7:14} I will
be his father, and he shall be my son: if he commit iniquity, I will
chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children
of men; {7:15} but my loving kindness shall not depart from him, as I
took it from Saul, whom I put away before you. {7:16} Your house and
your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before you: your throne shall
be established forever. {7:17} According to all these words, and
according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak to David. {7:18} Then
David the king went in, and sat before Yahweh; and he said, Who am I,
Lord Yahweh, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?
{7:19} This was yet a small thing in your eyes, Lord Yahweh; but you
have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come; and
this [too] after the manner of men, Lord Yahweh! {7:20} What can David
say more to you? for you know your servant, Lord Yahweh. {7:21} For
your word's sake, and according to your own heart, have you worked all
this greatness, to make your servant know it. {7:22} Therefore you are
great, Yahweh God: for there is none like you, neither is there any God
besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. {7:23}
What one nation in the earth is like your people, even like Israel,
whom God went to redeem to himself for a people, and to make him a
name, and to do great things for you, and awesome things for your land,
before your people, whom you redeem to you out of Egypt, [from] the
nations and their gods? {7:24} You did establish to yourself your
people Israel to be a people to you forever; and you, Yahweh, became
their God. {7:25} Now, Yahweh God, the word that you have spoken
concerning your servant, and concerning his house, confirm you it
forever, and do as you have spoken. {7:26} Let your name be magnified
forever, saying, Yahweh of Armies is God over Israel; and the house of
your servant David shall be established before you. {7:27} For you,
Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, have revealed to your servant,
saying, I will build you a house: therefore has your servant found in
his heart to pray this prayer to you. {7:28} Now, O Lord Yahweh, you
are God, and your words are truth, and you have promised this good
thing to your servant: {7:29} now therefore let it please you to bless
the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you; for
you, Lord Yahweh, have spoken it: and with your blessing let the house
of your servant be blessed forever.

    {8:1} After this it happened that David struck the Philistines, and
subdued them: and David took the bridle of the mother city out of the
hand of the Philistines. {8:2} He struck Moab, and measured them with
the line, making them to lie down on the ground; and he measured two
lines to put to death, and one full line to keep alive. The Moabites
became servants to David, and brought tribute. {8:3} David struck also
Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his
dominion at the River. {8:4} David took from him one thousand seven
hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David hamstrung all
the chariot horses, but reserved of them for one hundred chariots.
{8:5} When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of
Zobah, David struck of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men. {8:6}
Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became
servants to David, and brought tribute. Yahweh gave victory to David
wherever he went. {8:7} David took the shields of gold that were on the
servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. {8:8} From Betah
and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, king David took exceeding much
brass. {8:9} When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had struck all
the army of Hadadezer, {8:10} then Toi sent Joram his son to king
David, to Greet him, and to bless him, because he had fought against
Hadadezer and struck him: for Hadadezer had wars with Toi. [Joram]
brought with him vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of
brass: {8:11} These also did king David dedicate to Yahweh, with the
silver and gold that he dedicated of all the nations which he subdued;
{8:12} of Syria, and of Moab, and of the children of Ammon, and of the
Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer, son of
Rehob, king of Zobah. {8:13} David got him a name when he returned from
smiting the Syrians in the Valley of Salt, even eighteen thousand men.
{8:14} He put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom put he garrisons,
and all the Edomites became servants to David. Yahweh gave victory to
David wherever he went. {8:15} David reigned over all Israel; and David
executed justice and righteousness to all his people. {8:16} Joab the
son of Zeruiah was over the army; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was
recorder; {8:17} and Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech the son of
Abiathar, were priests; and Seraiah was scribe; {8:18} and Benaiah the
son of Jehoiada [was over] the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and
David's sons were chief ministers.

    {9:1} David said, Is there yet any who is left of the house of
Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? {9:2} There was
of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba, and they called him
to David; and the king said to him, Are you Ziba? He said, Your servant
is he. {9:3} The king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul,
that I may show the kindness of God to him? Ziba said to the king,
Jonathan has yet a son, who is lame of his feet. {9:4} The king said to
him, Where is he? Ziba said to the king, Behold, he is in the house of
Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo Debar. {9:5} Then king David sent, and
fetched him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo
Debar. {9:6} Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came
to David, and fell on his face, and did obeisance. David said,
Mephibosheth. He answered, Behold, your servant! {9:7} David said to
him, "Don't be afraid of him; for I will surely show you kindness for
Jonathan your father's sake, and will restore you all the land of Saul
your father; and you shall eat bread at my table continually." {9:8} He
did obeisance, and said, "What is your servant, that you should look on
such a dead dog as I am?" {9:9} Then the king called to Ziba, Saul's
servant, and said to him, "All that pertained to Saul and to all his
house have I given to your master's son. {9:10} You shall till the land
for him, you, and your sons, and your servants; and you shall bring in
[the fruits], that your master's son may have bread to eat: but
Mephibosheth your master's son shall eat bread always at my table." Now
Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. {9:11} Then said Ziba to the
king, According to all that my lord the king commands his servant, so
shall your servant do. As for Mephibosheth, [said the king], he shall
eat at my table, as one of the king's sons. {9:12} Mephibosheth had a
young son, whose name was Mica. All that lived in the house of Ziba
were servants to Mephibosheth. {9:13} So Mephibosheth lived in
Jerusalem; for he ate continually at the king's table. He was lame in
both his feet.

    {10:1} It happened after this, that the king of the children of
Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his place. {10:2} David said,
I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father shown
kindness to me. So David sent by his servants to comfort him concerning
his father. David's servants came into the land of the children of
Ammon. {10:3} But the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun
their lord, Do you think that David honors your father, in that he has
sent comforters to you? Hasn't David sent his servants to you to search
the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it? {10:4} So Hanun took
David's servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut
off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them
away. {10:5} When they told it to David, he sent to meet them; for the
men were greatly ashamed. The king said, Wait at Jericho until your
beards be grown, and then return. {10:6} When the children of Ammon saw
that they were become odious to David, the children of Ammon sent and
hired the Syrians of Beth Rehob, and the Syrians of Zobah, twenty
thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah with one thousand men, and the
men of Tob twelve thousand men. {10:7} When David heard of it, he sent
Joab, and all the army of the mighty men. {10:8} The children of Ammon
came out, and put the battle in array at the entrance of the gate: and
the Syrians of Zobah and of Rehob, and the men of Tob and Maacah, were
by themselves in the field. {10:9} Now when Joab saw that the battle
was set against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men
of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians: {10:10} The rest
of the people he committed into the hand of Abishai his brother; and he
put them in array against the children of Ammon. {10:11} He said, If
the Syrians be too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the
children of Ammon be too strong for you, then I will come and help you.
{10:12} Be of good courage, and let us play the man for our people, and
for the cities of our God: and Yahweh do that which seems him good.
{10:13} So Joab and the people who were with him drew near to the
battle against the Syrians: and they fled before him. {10:14} When the
children of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fled, they likewise fled
before Abishai, and entered into the city. Then Joab returned from the
children of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem. {10:15} When the Syrians saw
that they were put to the worse before Israel, they gathered themselves
together. {10:16} Hadarezer sent, and brought out the Syrians who were
beyond the River: and they came to Helam, with Shobach the captain of
the army of Hadarezer at their head. {10:17} It was told David; and he
gathered all Israel together, and passed over the Jordan, and came to
Helam. The Syrians set themselves in array against David, and fought
with him. {10:18} The Syrians fled before Israel; and David killed of
the Syrians [the men of] seven hundred chariots, and forty thousand
horsemen, and struck Shobach the captain of their army, so that he died
there. {10:19} When all the kings who were servants to Hadarezer saw
that they were put to the worse before Israel, they made peace with
Israel, and served them. So the Syrians feared to help the children of
Ammon any more.

   {11:1} It happened, at the return of the year, at the time when
kings go out [to battle], that David sent Joab, and his servants with
him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and
besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. {11:2} It happened at
evening, that David arose from off his bed, and walked on the roof of
the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the
woman was very beautiful to look on. {11:3} David send and inquired
after the woman. One said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of
Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? {11:4} David sent messengers, and
took her; and she came in to him, and he lay with her (for she was
purified from her uncleanness); and she returned to her house. {11:5}
The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, I am with
child. {11:6} David sent to Joab, [saying], Send me Uriah the Hittite.
Joab sent Uriah to David. {11:7} When Uriah was come to him, David
asked of him how Joab did, and how the people fared, and how the war
prospered. {11:8} David said to Uriah, Go down to your house, and wash
your feet. Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed
him a mess [of food] from the king. {11:9} But Uriah slept at the door
of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and didn't go
down to his house. {11:10} When they had told David, saying, Uriah
didn't go down to his house, David said to Uriah, Haven't you come from
a journey? why did you not go down to your house? {11:11} Uriah said to
David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in booths; and my lord
Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open field;
shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my
wife? as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.
{11:12} David said to Uriah, Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will
let you depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the next day.
{11:13} When David had called him, he ate and drink before him; and he
made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the
servants of his lord, but didn't go down to his house. {11:14} It
happened in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it
by the hand of Uriah. {11:15} He wrote in the letter, saying, Set Uriah
in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire you from him, that
he may be struck, and die. {11:16} It happened, when Joab kept watch on
the city, that he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew that
valiant men were. {11:17} The men of the city went out, and fought with
Joab: and there fell some of the people, even of the servants of David;
and Uriah the Hittite died also. {11:18} Then Joab sent and told David
all the things concerning the war; {11:19} and he charged the
messenger, saying, "When you have made an end of telling all the things
concerning the war to the king, {11:20} it shall be that, if the king's
wrath arise, and he tells you, 'Why did you go so near to the city to
fight? Didn't you know that they would shoot from the wall? {11:21} who
struck Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Didn't a woman cast an upper
millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you
go so near the wall?' then shall you say, 'Your servant Uriah the
Hittite is dead also.'"

   {11:22} So the messenger went, and came and shown David all that
Joab had sent him for. {11:23} The messenger said to David, The men
prevailed against us, and came out to us into the field, and we were on
them even to the entrance of the gate. {11:24} The shooters shot at
your servants from off the wall; and some of the king's servants are
dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. {11:25} Then
David said to the messenger, Thus shall you tell Joab, Don't let this
thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another; make
your battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and
encourage you him. {11:26} When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her
husband was dead, she made lamentation for her husband. {11:27} When
the mourning was past, David sent and took her home to his house, and
she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had
done displeased Yahweh.

   {12:1} Yahweh sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him,
"There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.
{12:2} The rich man had very many flocks and herds, {12:3} but the poor
man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and
raised. It grew up together with him, and with his children. It ate of
his own food, drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was to
him like a daughter. {12:4} A traveler came to the rich man, and he
spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the
wayfaring man who had come to him, but took the poor man's lamb, and
dressed it for the man who had come to him."

   {12:5} David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he
said to Nathan, "As Yahweh lives, the man who has done this is worthy
to die! {12:6} He shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this
thing, and because he had no pity!"

   {12:7} Nathan said to David, "You are the man. This is what Yahweh,
the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I
delivered you out of the hand of Saul. {12:8} I gave you your master's
house, and your master's wives into your bosom, and gave you the house
of Israel and of Judah; and if that would have been too little, I would
have added to you many more such things. {12:9} Why have you despised
the word of Yahweh, to do that which is evil in his sight? You have
struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be
your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
{12:10} Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house,
because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the
Hittite to be your wife.' {12:11} This is what Yahweh says: 'Behold, I
will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take
your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he
will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. {12:12} For you did
it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the
sun.'"

   {12:13} David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against Yahweh."

   Nathan said to David, "Yahweh also has put away your sin. You will
not die. {12:14} However, because by this deed you have given great
occasion to Yahweh's enemies to blaspheme, the child also who is born
to you shall surely die." {12:15} Nathan departed to his house.

   Yahweh struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it was
very sick. {12:16} David therefore begged God for the child; and David
fasted, and went in, and lay all night on the earth. {12:17} The elders
of his house arose, [and stood] beside him, to raise him up from the
earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them. {12:18} It
happened on the seventh day, that the child died. The servants of David
feared to tell him that the child was dead; for they said, Behold,
while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he didn't listen to
our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child
is dead! {12:19} But when David saw that his servants were whispering
together, David perceived that the child was dead; and David said to
his servants, Is the child dead? They said, He is dead. {12:20} Then
David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and
changed his clothing; and he came into the house of Yahweh, and
worshiped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they
set bread before him, and he ate. {12:21} Then said his servants to
him, What thing is this that you have done? you did fast and weep for
the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, you did
rise and eat bread. {12:22} He said, While the child was yet alive, I
fasted and wept: for I said, Who knows whether Yahweh will not be
gracious to me, that the child may live? {12:23} But now he is dead,
why should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but
he will not return to me. {12:24} David comforted Bathsheba his wife,
and went in to her, and lay with her: and she bore a son, and he called
his name Solomon. Yahweh loved him; {12:25} and he sent by the hand of
Nathan the prophet; and he named him Jedidiah, for Yahweh's sake.
{12:26} Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and
took the royal city. {12:27} Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I
have fought against Rabbah; yes, I have taken the city of waters.
{12:28} Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and
encamp against the city, and take it; lest I take the city, and it be
called after my name. {12:29} David gathered all the people together,
and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it. {12:30} He took
the crown of their king from off his head; and the weight of it was a
talent of gold, and [in it were] precious stones; and it was set on
David's head. He brought forth the spoil of the city, exceeding much.
{12:31} He brought forth the people who were therein, and put them
under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made
them pass through the brick kiln: and thus did he to all the cities of
the children of Ammon. David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

   {13:1} It happened after this, that Absalom the son of David had a
beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David
loved her. {13:2} Amnon was so vexed that he fell sick because of his
sister Tamar; for she was a virgin; and it seemed hard to Amnon to do
anything to her. {13:3} But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab,
the son of Shimeah, David's brother; and Jonadab was a very subtle man.
{13:4} He said to him, Why, son of the king, are you thus lean from day
to day? Won't you tell me? Amnon said to him, I love Tamar, my brother
Absalom's sister. {13:5} Jonadab said to him, Lay you down on your bed,
and feign yourself sick: and when your father comes to see you, tell
him, Please let my sister Tamar come and give me bread to eat, and
dress the food in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it from her
hand. {13:6} So Amnon lay down, and feigned himself sick: and when the
king was come to see him, Amnon said to the king, Please let her sister
Tamar come, and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat
from her hand. {13:7} Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, Go now to
your brother Amnon's house, and dress him food. {13:8} So Tamar went to
her brother Amnon's house; and he was laid down. She took dough, and
kneaded it, and made cakes in his sight, and did bake the cakes. {13:9}
She took the pan, and poured them out before him; but he refused to
eat. Amnon said, Have out all men from me. They went out every man from
him. {13:10} Amnon said to Tamar, Bring the food into the chamber, that
I may eat from your hand. Tamar took the cakes which she had made, and
brought them into the chamber to Amnon her brother. {13:11} When she
had brought them near to him to eat, he took hold of her, and said to
her, Come, lie with me, my sister. {13:12} She answered him, No, my
brother, do not force me; for no such thing ought to be done in Israel.
Don't you do this folly. {13:13} I, where shall I carry my shame? and
as for you, you will be as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore,
please speak to the king; for he will not withhold me from you. {13:14}
However he would not listen to her voice; but being stronger than she,
he forced her, and lay with her. {13:15} Then Amnon hated her with
exceeding great hatred; for the hatred with which he hated her was
greater than the love with which he had loved her. Amnon said to her,
Arise, be gone. {13:16} She said to him, Not so, because this great
wrong in putting me forth is [worse] than the other that you did to me.
But he would not listen to her. {13:17} Then he called his servant who
ministered to him, and said, Put now this woman out from me, and bolt
the door after her. {13:18} She had a garment of various colors on her;
for with such robes were the king's daughters who were virgins dressed.
Then his servant brought her out, and bolted the door after her.
{13:19} Tamar put ashes on her head, and tore her garment of various
colors that was on her; and she laid her hand on her head, and went her
way, crying aloud as she went. {13:20} Absalom her brother said to her,
Has Amnon your brother been with you? but now hold your peace, my
sister: he is your brother; don't take this thing to heart. So Tamar
remained desolate in her brother Absalom's house. {13:21} But when king
David heard of all these things, he was very angry. {13:22} Absalom
spoke to Amnon neither good nor bad; for Absalom hated Amnon, because
he had forced his sister Tamar. {13:23} It happened after two full
years, that Absalom had sheep-shearers in Baal Hazor, which is beside
Ephraim: and Absalom invited all the king's sons. {13:24} Absalom came
to the king, and said, See now, your servant has sheep-shearers; let
the king, I pray you, and his servants go with your servant. {13:25}
The king said to Absalom, No, my son, let us not all go, lest we be
burdensome to you. He pressed him: however he would not go, but blessed
him. {13:26} Then said Absalom, If not, please let my brother Amnon go
with us. The king said to him, Why should he go with you? {13:27} But
Absalom pressed him, and he let Amnon and all the king's sons go with
him. {13:28} Absalom commanded his servants, saying, Mark you now, when
Amnon's heart is merry with wine; and when I tell you, Smite Amnon,
then kill him; don't be afraid; haven't I commanded you? be courageous,
and be valiant. {13:29} The servants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom
had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, and every man got him up
on his mule, and fled. {13:30} It happened, while they were in the way,
that the news came to David, saying, Absalom has slain all the king's
sons, and there is not one of them left. {13:31} Then the king arose,
and tore his garments, and lay on the earth; and all his servants stood
by with their clothes torn. {13:32} Jonadab, the son of Shimeah,
David's brother, answered, Don't let my lord suppose that they have
killed all the young men the king's sons; for Amnon only is dead; for
by the appointment of Absalom this has been determined from the day
that he forced his sister Tamar. {13:33} Now therefore don't let my
lord the king take the thing to his heart, to think that all the king's
sons are dead; for Amnon only is dead. {13:34} But Absalom fled. The
young man who kept the watch lifted up his eyes, and looked, and,
behold, there came much people by the way of the hill-side behind him.
{13:35} Jonadab said to the king, Behold, the king's sons are come: as
your servant said, so it is. {13:36} It happened, as soon as he had
made an end of speaking, that behold, the king's sons came, and lifted
up their voice, and wept: and the king also and all his servants wept
very sore. {13:37} But Absalom fled, and went to Talmai the son of
Ammihur, king of Geshur. [David] mourned for his son every day. {13:38}
So Absalom fled, and went to Geshur, and was there three years. {13:39}
[the soul of] king David longed to go forth to Absalom: for he was
comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.

   {14:1} Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart
was toward Absalom. {14:2} Joab sent to Tekoa, and fetched there a wise
woman, and said to her, please act like a mourner, and put on mourning
clothing, Please, and don't anoint yourself with oil, but be as a woman
who has a long time mourned for the dead: {14:3} and go in to the king,
and speak on this manner to him. So Joab put the words in her mouth.
{14:4} When the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face
to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help, O king. {14:5} The
king said to her, What ails you? She answered, Of a truth I am a widow,
and my husband is dead. {14:6} Your handmaid had two sons, and they two
strove together in the field, and there was none to part them, but the
one struck the other, and killed him. {14:7} Behold, the whole family
is risen against your handmaid, and they say, Deliver him who struck
his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he
killed, and so destroy the heir also. Thus will they quench my coal
which is left, and will leave to my husband neither name nor remainder
on the surface of the earth. {14:8} The king said to the woman, Go to
your house, and I will give charge concerning you. {14:9} The woman of
Tekoa said to the king, My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on
my father's house; and the king and his throne be guiltless. {14:10}
The king said, Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he
shall not touch you any more. {14:11} Then said she, Please let the
king remember Yahweh your God, that the avenger of blood destroy not
any more, lest they destroy my son. He said, As Yahweh lives, there
shall not one hair of your son fall to the earth. {14:12} Then the
woman said, Please let your handmaid speak a word to my lord the king.
He said, Say on. {14:13} The woman said, Why then have you devised such
a thing against the people of God? for in speaking this word the king
is as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring home again his
banished one. {14:14} For we must needs die, and are as water split on
the ground, which can't be gathered up again; neither does God take
away life, but devises means, that he who is banished not be an outcast
from him. {14:15} Now therefore seeing that I have come to speak this
word to my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid:
and your handmaid said, I will now speak to the king; it may be that
the king will perform the request of his servant. {14:16} For the king
will hear, to deliver his servant out of the hand of the man who would
destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God. {14:17}
Then your handmaid said, Please let the word of my lord the king be
comfortable; for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern
good and bad: and Yahweh your God be with you. {14:18} Then the king
answered the woman, Please don't hide anything from me that I shall ask
you. The woman said, Let my lord the king now speak. {14:19} The king
said, Is the hand of Joab with you in all this? The woman answered, As
your soul lives, my lord the king, none can turn to the right hand or
to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken; for your
servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all these words in the mouth of
your handmaid; {14:20} to change the face of the matter has your
servant Joab done this thing: and my lord is wise, according to the
wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth.
{14:21} The king said to Joab, Behold now, I have done this thing: go
therefore, bring the young man Absalom back. {14:22} Joab fell to the
ground on his face, and did obeisance, and blessed the king: and Joab
said, Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight,
my lord, king, in that the king has performed the request of his
servant. {14:23} So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom
to Jerusalem. {14:24} The king said, Let him turn to his own house, but
let him not see my face. So Absalom turned to his own house, and didn't
see the king's face. {14:25} Now in all Israel there was none to be so
much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even
to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. {14:26} When he
cut the hair of his head (now it was at every year's end that he cut
it; because it was heavy on him, therefore he cut it); he weighed the
hair of his head at two hundred shekels, after the king's weight.
{14:27} To Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter, whose
name was Tamar: she was a woman of a beautiful face. {14:28} Absalom
lived two full years in Jerusalem; and he didn't see the king's face.
{14:29} Then Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king; but he
would not come to him: and he sent again a second time, but he would
not come. {14:30} Therefore he said to his servants, Behold, Joab's
field is near mine, and he has barley there; go and set it on fire.
Absalom's servants set the field on fire. {14:31} Then Joab arose, and
came to Absalom to his house, and said to him, Why have your servants
set my field on fire? {14:32} Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent to
you, saying, Come here, that I may send you to the king, to say, Why am
I come from Geshur? it were better for me to be there still. Now
therefore let me see the king's face; and if there be iniquity in me,
let him kill me. {14:33} So Joab came to the king, and told him; and
when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king, and bowed himself
on his face to the ground before the king: and the king kissed Absalom.

   {15:1} It happened after this, that Absalom prepared him a chariot
and horses, and fifty men to run before him. {15:2} Absalom rose up
early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when
any man had a suit which should come to the king for judgment, then
Absalom called to him, and said, Of what city are you? He said, Your
servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. {15:3} Absalom said to him,
Behold, your matters are good and right; but there is no man deputized
of the king to hear you. {15:4} Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were
made judge in the land, that every man who has any suit or cause might
come to me, and I would do him justice! {15:5} It was so, that when any
man came near to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took hold
of him, and kissed him. {15:6} In this manner Absalom did to all Israel
who came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the
men of Israel. {15:7} It happened at the end of forty years, that
Absalom said to the king, please let me go and pay my vow, which I have
vowed to Yahweh, in Hebron. {15:8} For your servant vowed a vow while I
abode at Geshur in Syria, saying, If Yahweh shall indeed bring me again
to Jerusalem, then I will serve Yahweh. {15:9} The king said to him, Go
in peace. So he arose, and went to Hebron. {15:10} But Absalom sent
spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as you hear
the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, Absalom is king in
Hebron. {15:11} With Absalom went two hundred men out of Jerusalem, who
were invited, and went in their simplicity; and they didn't know
anything. {15:12} Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's
counselor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he was offering the
sacrifices. The conspiracy was strong; for the people increased
continually with Absalom. {15:13} There came a messenger to David,
saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom. {15:14}
David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, Arise,
and let us flee; for else none of us shall escape from Absalom: make
speed to depart, lest he overtake us quickly, and bring down evil on
us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword. {15:15} The king's
servants said to the king, Behold, your servants are ready to do
whatever my lord the king shall choose. {15:16} The king went forth,
and all his household after him. The king left ten women, who were
concubines, to keep the house. {15:17} The king went forth, and all the
people after him; and they stayed in Beth Merhak. {15:18} All his
servants passed on beside him; and all the Cherethites, and all the
Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who came after him
from Gath, passed on before the king. {15:19} Then said the king to
Ittai the Gittite, Why go you also with us? return, and abide with the
king: for you are a foreigner, and also an exile; [return] to your own
place. {15:20} Whereas you came but yesterday, should I this day make
you go up and down with us, seeing I go where I may? return you, and
take back your brothers; mercy and truth be with you. {15:21} Ittai
answered the king, and said, As Yahweh lives, and as my lord the king
lives, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether for
death or for life, even there also will your servant be. {15:22} David
said to Ittai, Go and pass over. Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all
his men, and all the little ones who were with him. {15:23} All the
country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the
king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people
passed over, toward the way of the wilderness. {15:24} Behold, Zadok
also [came], and all the Levites with him, bearing the ark of the
covenant of God; and they set down the ark of God; and Abiathar went
up, until all the people had done passing out of the city. {15:25} The
king said to Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall
find favor in the eyes of Yahweh, he will bring me again, and show me
both it, and his habitation: {15:26} but if he say thus, I have no
delight in you; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seems good to
him. {15:27} The king said also to Zadok the priest, "Aren't you a
seer? Return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you,
Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. {15:28} Behold, I
will stay at the fords of the wilderness, until word comes from you to
inform me." {15:29} Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried the ark of God
again to Jerusalem: and they abode there. {15:30} David went up by the
ascent of the [Mount of] Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his
head covered, and went barefoot: and all the people who were with him
covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.
{15:31} One told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators
with Absalom. David said, Yahweh, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel
into foolishness. {15:32} It happened that when David had come to the
top [of the ascent], where God was worshiped, behold, Hushai the
Archite came to meet him with his coat torn, and earth on his head.
{15:33} David said to him, If you pass on with me, then you will be a
burden to me: {15:34} but if you return to the city, and tell Absalom,
I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father's servant in
time past, so will I now be your servant; then will you defeat for me
the counsel of Ahithophel. {15:35} Don't you have Zadok and Abiathar
the priests there with you? therefore it shall be, that whatever thing
you shall hear out of the king's house, you shall tell it to Zadok and
Abiathar the priests. {15:36} Behold, they have there with them their
two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok's son, and Jonathan, Abiathar's son; and by
them you shall send to me everything that you shall hear. {15:37} So
Hushai, David's friend, came into the city; and Absalom came into
Jerusalem.

   {16:1} When David was a little past the top [of the ascent], behold,
Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of donkeys
saddled, and on them two hundred loaves of bread, and one hundred
clusters of raisins, and one hundred summer fruits, and a bottle of
wine. {16:2} The king said to Ziba, What do you mean by these? Ziba
said, The donkeys are for the king's household to ride on; and the
bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that
such as are faint in the wilderness may drink. {16:3} The king said,
Where is your master's son? Ziba said to the king, Behold, he abides at
Jerusalem; for he said, Today will the house of Israel restore me the
kingdom of my father. {16:4} Then said the king to Ziba, Behold, all
that pertains to Mephibosheth is yours. Ziba said, I do obeisance; let
me find favor in your sight, my lord, O king. {16:5} When king David
came to Bahurim, behold, a man of the family of the house of Saul came
out, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera. He came out, and cursed
still as he came. {16:6} He cast stones at David, and at all the
servants of king David: and all the people and all the mighty men were
on his right hand and on his left. {16:7} Thus said Shimei when he
cursed, Be gone, be gone, you man of blood, and base fellow: {16:8}
Yahweh has returned on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose
place you have reigned; and Yahweh has delivered the kingdom into the
hand of Absalom your son; and, behold, you are [taken] in your own
mischief, because you are a man of blood. {16:9} Then said Abishai the
son of Zeruiah to the king, "Why should this dead dog curse my lord the
king? Please let me go over and take off his head." {16:10} The king
said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? Because he
curses, and because Yahweh has said to him, Curse David; who then shall
say, Why have you done so? {16:11} David said to Abishai, and to all
his servants, Behold, my son, who came forth from my bowels, seeks my
life: how much more [may] this Benjamite now [do it]? let him alone,
and let him curse; for Yahweh has invited him. {16:12} It may be that
Yahweh will look on the wrong done to me, and that Yahweh will requite
me good for [his] cursing of me this day. {16:13} So David and his men
went by the way; and Shimei went along on the hill-side over against
him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust.
{16:14} The king, and all the people who were with him, came weary; and
he refreshed himself there. {16:15} Absalom, and all the people, the
men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him. {16:16} It
happened, when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, was come to Absalom,
that Hushai said to Absalom, [Long] live the king, [Long] live the
king. {16:17} Absalom said to Hushai, Is this your kindness to your
friend? Why didn't you go with your friend? {16:18} Hushai said to
Absalom, No; but whom Yahweh, and this people, and all the men of
Israel have chosen, his will I be, and with him will I abide. {16:19}
Again, whom should I serve? Shouldn't I serve in the presence of his
son? as I have served in your father's presence, so will I be in your
presence. {16:20} Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give your counsel
what we shall do. {16:21} Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go in to your
father's concubines, that he has left to keep the house; and all Israel
will hear that you are abhorred of your father: then will the hands of
all who are with you be strong. {16:22} So they spread Absalom a tent
on the top of the house; and Absalom went in to his father's concubines
in the sight of all Israel. {16:23} The counsel of Ahithophel, which he
gave in those days, was as if a man inquired at the oracle of God: so
was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.

   {17:1} Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me now choose out
twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this
night: {17:2} and I will come on him while he is weary and weak-handed,
and will make him afraid; and all the people who are with him shall
flee; and I will strike the king only; {17:3} and I will bring back all
the people to you: the man whom you seek is as if all returned: [so]
all the people shall be in peace. {17:4} The saying pleased Absalom
well, and all the elders of Israel. {17:5} Then said Absalom, Call now
Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he says. {17:6}
When Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spoke to him, saying,
Ahithophel has spoken after this manner: shall we do [after] his
saying? if not, speak up. {17:7} Hushai said to Absalom, The counsel
that Ahithophel has given this time is not good. {17:8} Hushai said
moreover, You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men,
and they are fierce in their minds, as a bear robbed of her cubs in the
field; and your father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the
people. {17:9} Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some [other]
place: and it will happen, when some of them are fallen at the first,
that whoever hears it will say, There is a slaughter among the people
who follow Absalom. {17:10} Even he who is valiant, whose heart is as
the heart of a lion, will utterly melt; for all Israel knows that your
father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are valiant men.
{17:11} But I counsel that all Israel be gathered together to you, from
Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude;
and that you go to battle in your own person. {17:12} So shall we come
on him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light on him
as the dew falls on the ground; and of him and of all the men who are
with him we will not leave so much as one. {17:13} Moreover, if he be
gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and
we will draw it into the river, until there not be one small stone
found there. {17:14} Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The
counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.
For Yahweh had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to
the intent that Yahweh might bring evil on Absalom. {17:15} Then said
Hushai to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did
Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus
have I counseled. {17:16} Now therefore send quickly, and tell David,
saying, Don't lodge this night at the fords of the wilderness, but by
all means pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people
who are with him. {17:17} Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En
Rogel; and a maid-servant used to go and tell them; and they went and
told king David: for they might not be seen to come into the city.
{17:18} But a boy saw them, and told Absalom: and they went both of
them away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a
well in his court; and they went down there. {17:19} The woman took and
spread the covering over the well's mouth, and strewed bruised grain
thereon; and nothing was known. {17:20} Absalom's servants came to the
woman to the house; and they said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? The
woman said to them, They have gone over the brook of water. When they
had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. {17:21}
It happened, after they had departed, that they came up out of the
well, and went and told king David; and they said to David, Arise you,
and pass quickly over the water; for thus has Ahithophel counseled
against you. {17:22} Then David arose, and all the people who were with
him, and they passed over the Jordan: by the morning light there lacked
not one of them who had not gone over the Jordan. {17:23} When
Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his
donkey, and arose, and got him home, to his city, and set his house in
order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the tomb of
his father. {17:24} Then David came to Mahanaim. Absalom passed over
the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. {17:25} Absalom set
Amasa over the army instead of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man,
whose name was Ithra the Israelite, who went in to Abigail the daughter
of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab's mother. {17:26} Israel and Absalom
encamped in the land of Gilead. {17:27} It happened, when David was
come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the
children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and
Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, {17:28} brought beds, and basins,
and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and meal, and parched
[grain], and beans, and lentils, and parched [pulse], {17:29} and
honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David, and
for the people who were with him, to eat: for they said, The people are
hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.

   {18:1} David numbered the people who were with him, and set captains
of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. {18:2} David sent
forth the people, a third part under the hand of Joab, and a third part
under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and a
third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the
people, I will surely go forth with you myself also. {18:3} But the
people said, You shall not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not
care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but you
are worth ten thousand of us; therefore now it is better that you are
ready to help us out of the city. {18:4} The king said to them, What
seems you best I will do. The king stood by the gate-side, and all the
people went out by hundreds and by thousands. {18:5} The king commanded
Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Deal gently for my sake with the
young man, even with Absalom. All the people heard when the king gave
all the captains charge concerning Absalom. {18:6} So the people went
out into the field against Israel: and the battle was in the forest of
Ephraim. {18:7} The people of Israel were struck there before the
servants of David, and there was a great slaughter there that day of
twenty thousand men. {18:8} For the battle was there spread over the
surface of all the country; and the forest devoured more people that
day than the sword devoured. {18:9} Absalom happened to meet the
servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went
under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the
oak, and he was taken up between the sky and earth; and the mule that
was under him went on. {18:10} A certain man saw it, and told Joab, and
said, Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak. {18:11} Joab said to the
man who told him, Behold, you saw it, and why didn't you strike him
there to the ground? and I would have given you ten [pieces of] silver,
and a sash. {18:12} The man said to Joab, Though I should receive a
thousand [pieces of] silver in my hand, I still wouldn't put forth my
hand against the king's son; for in our hearing the king charged you
and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware that none touch the young man
Absalom. {18:13} Otherwise if I had dealt falsely against his life (and
there is no matter hid from the king), then you yourself would have set
yourself against [me]. {18:14} Then said Joab, I may not wait thus with
you. He took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart
of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak. {18:15} Ten
young men who bore Joab's armor compassed about and struck Absalom, and
killed him. {18:16} Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from
pursuing after Israel; for Joab held back the people. {18:17} They took
Absalom, and cast him into the great pit in the forest, and raised over
him a very great heap of stones: and all Israel fled everyone to his
tent. {18:18} Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for
himself the pillar, which is in the king's dale; for he said, I have no
son to keep my name in memory: and he called the pillar after his own
name; and it is called Absalom's monument, to this day. {18:19} Then
said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, Let me now run, and bear the king news,
how that Yahweh has avenged him of his enemies. {18:20} Joab said to
him, You shall not be the bearer of news this day, but you shall bear
news another day; but this day you shall bear no news, because the
king's son is dead. {18:21} Then said Joab to the Cushite, Go, tell the
king what you have seen. The Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran.
{18:22} Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab, But come
what may, Please let me also run after the Cushite. Joab said, Why will
you run, my son, seeing that you will have no reward for the news?
{18:23} But come what may, [said he], I will run. He said to him, Run.
Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and outran the Cushite.
{18:24} Now David was sitting between the two gates: and the watchman
went up to the roof of the gate to the wall, and lifted up his eyes,
and looked, and, behold, a man running alone. {18:25} The watchman
cried, and told the king. The king said, If he be alone, there is news
in his mouth. He came apace, and drew near. {18:26} The watchman saw
another man running; and the watchman called to the porter, and said,
Behold, [another] man running alone. The king said, He also brings
news. {18:27} The watchman said, I think the running of the foremost is
like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. The king said, He is a
good man, and comes with good news. {18:28} Ahimaaz called, and said to
the king, All is well. He bowed himself before the king with his face
to the earth, and said, Blessed be Yahweh your God, who has delivered
up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king. {18:29}
The king said, Is it well with the young man Absalom? Ahimaaz answered,
When Joab sent the king's servant, even me your servant, I saw a great
tumult, but I don't know what it was. {18:30} The king said, Turn
aside, and stand here. He turned aside, and stood still. {18:31}
Behold, the Cushite came; and the Cushite said, News for my lord the
king; for Yahweh has avenged you this day of all those who rose up
against you. {18:32} The king said to the Cushite, Is it well with the
young man Absalom? The Cushite answered, The enemies of my lord the
king, and all who rise up against you to do you hurt, be as that young
man is. {18:33} The king was much moved, and went up to the chamber
over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, my son Absalom,
my son, my son Absalom! would I had died for you, Absalom, my son, my
son!

   {19:1} It was told Joab, Behold, the king weeps and mourns for
Absalom. {19:2} The victory that day was turned into mourning to all
the people; for the people heard say that day, The king grieves for his
son. {19:3} The people got them by stealth that day into the city, as
people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle. {19:4} The
king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, my son
Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son! {19:5} Joab came into the house to
the king, and said, You have shamed this day the faces of all your
servants, who this day have saved your life, and the lives of your sons
and of your daughters, and the lives of your wives, and the lives of
your concubines; {19:6} in that you love those who hate you, and hate
those who love you. For you have declared this day, that princes and
servants are nothing to you: for this day I perceive that if Absalom
had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased you well.
{19:7} Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak comfortably to your
servants; for I swear by Yahweh, if you don't go forth, there will not
stay a man with you this night: and that will be worse to you than all
the evil that has happened to you from your youth until now. {19:8}
Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. They told to all the people,
saying, Behold, the king is sitting in the gate: and all the people
came before the king. Now Israel had fled every man to his tent. {19:9}
All the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel,
saying, The king delivered us out of the hand of our enemies, and he
saved us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now he is fled out of
the land from Absalom. {19:10} Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is
dead in battle. Now therefore why don't you speak a word of bringing
the king back? {19:11} King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the
priests, saying, Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, Why are you the
last to bring the king back to his house? seeing the speech of all
Israel is come to the king, [to bring him] to his house. {19:12} You
are my brothers, you are my bone and my flesh: why then are you the
last to bring back the king? {19:13} Say you to Amasa, Aren't you my
bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if you aren't
captain of the army before me continually in the room of Joab. {19:14}
He bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as [the heart of] one
man; so that they sent to the king, [saying], Return you, and all your
servants. {19:15} So the king returned, and came to the Jordan. Judah
came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to bring the king over the
Jordan. {19:16} Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, who was of
Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet king
David. {19:17} There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba
the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty
servants with him; and they went through the Jordan in the presence of
the king. {19:18} There went over a ferry-boat to bring over the king's
household, and to do what he thought good. Shimei the son of Gera fell
down before the king, when he was come over the Jordan. {19:19} He said
to the king, Don't let my lord impute iniquity to me, neither do you
remember that which your servant did perversely the day that my lord
the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his
heart. {19:20} For your servant does know that I have sinned:
therefore, behold, I am come this day the first of all the house of
Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king. {19:21} But Abishai the son
of Zeruiah answered, Shall Shimei not be put to death for this, because
he cursed Yahweh's anointed? {19:22} David said, What have I to do with
you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be adversaries to
me? shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? for don't I
know that I am this day king over Israel? {19:23} The king said to
Shimei, You shall not die. The king swore to him. {19:24} Mephibosheth
the son of Saul came down to meet the king; and he had neither dressed
his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day
the king departed until the day he came home in peace. {19:25} It
happened, when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king
said to him, Why didn't you go with me, Mephibosheth? {19:26} He
answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me: for your servant
said, I will saddle me a donkey, that I may ride thereon, and go with
the king; because your servant is lame. {19:27} He has slandered your
servant to my lord the king; but my lord the king is as an angel of
God: do therefore what is good in your eyes. {19:28} For all my
father's house were but dead men before my lord the king; yet you set
your servant among those who ate at your own table. What right
therefore have I yet that I should cry any more to the king? {19:29}
The king said to him, Why speak you any more of your matters? I say,
You and Ziba divide the land. {19:30} Mephibosheth said to the king,
yes, let him take all, because my lord the king is come in peace to his
own house. {19:31} Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim; and
he went over the Jordan with the king, to conduct him over the Jordan.
{19:32} Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even eighty years old: and
he had provided the king with sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim; for
he was a very great man. {19:33} The king said to Barzillai, Come you
over with me, and I will sustain you with me in Jerusalem. {19:34}
Barzillai said to the king, How many are the days of the years of my
life, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? {19:35} I am this
day eighty years old: can I discern between good and bad? can your
servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice
of singing men and singing women? why then should your servant be yet a
burden to my lord the king? {19:36} Your servant would but just go over
the Jordan with the king: and why should the king recompense it me with
such a reward? {19:37} Please let your servant turn back again, that I
may die in my own city, by the grave of my father and my mother. But
behold, your servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king;
and do to him what shall seem good to you. {19:38} The king answered,
Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall
seem good to you: and whatever you shall require of me, that will I do
for you. {19:39} All the people went over the Jordan, and the king went
over: and the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him; and he returned
to his own place. {19:40} So the king went over to Gilgal, and Chimham
went over with him: and all the people of Judah brought the king over,
and also half the people of Israel. {19:41} Behold, all the men of
Israel came to the king, and said to the king, Why have our brothers
the men of Judah stolen you away, and brought the king, and his
household, over the Jordan, and all David's men with him? {19:42} All
the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is a
close relative to us: why then are you angry for this matter? have we
eaten at all at the king's cost? or has he given us any gift? {19:43}
The men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten
parts in the king, and we have also more [right] in David than you: why
then did you despise us, that our advice should not be first had in
bringing back our king? The words of the men of Judah were fiercer than
the words of the men of Israel.

   {20:1} There happened to be there a base fellow, whose name was
Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew the trumpet, and
said, We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the
son of Jesse: every man to his tents, Israel. {20:2} So all the men of
Israel went up from following David, and followed Sheba the son of
Bichri; but the men of Judah joined with their king, from the Jordan
even to Jerusalem. {20:3} David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the
king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the
house, and put them in custody, and provided them with sustenance, but
didn't go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death,
living in widowhood. {20:4} Then said the king to Amasa, Call me the
men of Judah together within three days, and be here present. {20:5} So
Amasa went to call [the men of] Judah together; but he stayed longer
than the set time which he had appointed him. {20:6} David said to
Abishai, Now will Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did
Absalom: take your lord's servants, and pursue after him, lest he get
him fortified cities, and escape out of our sight. {20:7} There went
out after him Joab's men, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and
all the mighty men; and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after
Sheba the son of Bichri. {20:8} When they were at the great stone which
is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Joab was girded with his apparel
of war that he had put on, and thereon was a sash with a sword fastened
on his loins in the sheath of it; and as he went forth it fell out.
{20:9} Joab said to Amasa, Is it well with you, my brother? Joab took
Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. {20:10} But Amasa
took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand: so he struck him
therewith in the body, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and
didn't strike him again; and he died. Joab and Abishai his brother
pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri. {20:11} There stood by him one
of Joab's young men, and said, He who favors Joab, and he who is for
David, let him follow Joab. {20:12} Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in
the midst of the highway. When the man saw that all the people stood
still, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a
garment over him, when he saw that everyone who came by him stood
still. {20:13} When he was removed out of the highway, all the people
went on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri. {20:14} He
went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and to Beth Maacah, and
all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after
him. {20:15} They came and besieged him in Abel of Beth Maacah, and
they cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the
rampart; and all the people who were with Joab battered the wall, to
throw it down. {20:16} Then cried a wise woman out of the city, "Hear,
hear! Please say to Joab, 'Come near here, that I may speak with you.'"
{20:17} He came near to her; and the woman said, Are you Joab? He
answered, I am. Then she said to him, Hear the words of your handmaid.
He answered, I do hear. {20:18} Then she spoke, saying, They were wont
to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask [counsel] at Abel:
and so they ended [the matter]. {20:19} I am of those who are peaceable
and faithful in Israel: you seek to destroy a city and a mother in
Israel: why will you swallow up the inheritance of Yahweh? {20:20} Joab
answered, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or
destroy. {20:21} The matter is not so: but a man of the hill-country of
Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand
against the king, even against David; deliver him only, and I will
depart from the city. The woman said to Joab, Behold, his head shall be
thrown to you over the wall. {20:22} Then the woman went to all the
people in her wisdom. They cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri,
and threw it out to Joab. He blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed
from the city, every man to his tent. Joab returned to Jerusalem to the
king. {20:23} Now Joab was over all the army of Israel; and Benaiah the
son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites;
{20:24} and Adoram was over the men subject to forced labor; and
Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder; {20:25} and Sheva was
scribe; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests; {20:26} and also Ira the
Jairite was chief minister to David.

   {21:1} There was a famine in the days of David three years, year
after year; and David sought the face of Yahweh. Yahweh said, It is for
Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put to death the Gibeonites.
{21:2} The king called the Gibeonites, and said to them (now the
Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of
the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn to them: and Saul
sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah);
{21:3} and David said to the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? And
with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of
Yahweh? {21:4} The Gibeonites said to him, It is no matter of silver or
gold between us and Saul, or his house; neither is it for us to put any
man to death in Israel. He said, What you shall say, that will I do for
you. {21:5} They said to the king, The man who consumed us, and who
devised against us, [that] we should be destroyed from remaining in any
of the borders of Israel, {21:6} let seven men of his sons be delivered
to us, and we will hang them up to Yahweh in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen
of Yahweh. The king said, I will give them. {21:7} But the king spared
Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of Yahweh's
oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
{21:8} But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah,
whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of
Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of
Barzillai the Meholathite: {21:9} He delivered them into the hands of
the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the mountain before Yahweh, and
they fell [all] seven together. They were put to death in the days of
harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of barley harvest. {21:10}
Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her on
the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water was poured on them
from the sky; and she allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on
them by day, nor the animals of the field by night. {21:11} It was told
David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had
done. {21:12} David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of
Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh Gilead, who had stolen them
from the street of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, in
the day that the Philistines killed Saul in Gilboa; {21:13} and he
brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his
son: and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. {21:14} They
buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of
Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father: and they performed
all that the king commanded. After that God was entreated for the land.
{21:15} The Philistines had war again with Israel; and David went down,
and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines. David
grew faint; {21:16} and Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant,
the weight of whose spear was three hundred [shekels] of brass in
weight, he being girded with a new [sword], thought to have slain
David. {21:17} But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck
the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him,
saying, You shall go no more out with us to battle, that you don't
quench the lamp of Israel. {21:18} It came to pass after this, that
there was again war with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbecai the
Hushathite killed Saph, who was of the sons of the giant. {21:19} There
was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan the son of
Jaareoregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite's brother, the
staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. {21:20} There was again
war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, who had on every hand
six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and
he also was born to the giant. {21:21} When he defied Israel, Jonathan
the son of Shimei, David's brother, killed him. {21:22} These four were
born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by
the hand of his servants.

   {22:1} David spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that
Yahweh delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the
hand of Saul: {22:2} and he said,
Yahweh is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine;
{22:3} God, my rock, in him will I take refuge;
My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge;
My savior, you save me from violence.
{22:4} I will call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised:
So shall I be saved from my enemies.
{22:5} For the waves of death compassed me;
The floods of ungodliness made me afraid:
{22:6} The cords of Sheol were round about me;
The snares of death came on me.
{22:7} In my distress I called on Yahweh;
Yes, I called to my God:
He heard my voice out of his temple,
My cry [came] into his ears.
{22:8} Then the earth shook and trembled,
The foundations of heaven quaked
Were shaken, because he was angry.
{22:9} There went up a smoke out of his nostrils,
Fire out of his mouth devoured:
Coals were kindled by it.
{22:10} He bowed the heavens also, and came down;
Thick darkness was under his feet.
{22:11} He rode on a cherub, and did fly;
Yes, he was seen on the wings of the wind.
{22:12} He made darkness pavilions round about him,
Gathering of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
{22:13} At the brightness before him
Coals of fire were kindled.
{22:14} Yahweh thundered from heaven,
The Most High uttered his voice.
{22:15} He sent out arrows, and scattered them;
Lightning, and confused them.
{22:16} Then the channels of the sea appeared,
The foundations of the world were laid bare,
By the rebuke of Yahweh,
At the blast of the breath of his nostrils.
{22:17} He sent from on high, he took me;
He drew me out of many waters;
{22:18} He delivered me from my strong enemy,
From those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.
{22:19} They came on me in the day of my calamity;
But Yahweh was my stay.
{22:20} He brought me forth also into a large place;
He delivered me, because he delighted in me.
{22:21} Yahweh rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me.
{22:22} For I have kept the ways of Yahweh,
And have not wickedly departed from my God.
{22:23} For all his ordinances were before me;
As for his statutes, I did not depart from them.
{22:24} I was also perfect toward him;
I kept myself from my iniquity.
{22:25} Therefore has Yahweh recompensed me according to my
      righteousness,
According to my cleanness in his eyesight.
{22:26} With the merciful you will show yourself merciful;
With the perfect man you will show yourself perfect;
{22:27} With the pure you will show yourself pure;
With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd.
{22:28} The afflicted people you will save;
But your eyes are on the haughty, that you may bring them down.
{22:29} For you are my lamp, Yahweh;
Yahweh will lighten my darkness.
{22:30} For by you I run on a troop;
By my God do I leap over a wall.
{22:31} As for God, his way is perfect:
The word of Yahweh is tried;
He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.
{22:32} For who is God, save Yahweh?
Who is a rock, save our God?
{22:33} God is my strong fortress;
He guides the perfect in his way.
{22:34} He makes his feet like hinds' [feet],
Sets me on my high places.
{22:35} He teaches my hands to war,
So that my arms do bend a bow of brass.
{22:36} You have also given me the shield of your salvation;
Your gentleness has made me great.
{22:37} You have enlarged my steps under me;
My feet have not slipped.
{22:38} I have pursued my enemies, and destroyed them;
Neither did I turn again until they were consumed.
{22:39} I have consumed them, and struck them through, so that they
      can't arise:
Yes, they are fallen under my feet.
{22:40} For you have girded me with strength to the battle;
You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.
{22:41} You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me,
That I might cut off those who hate me.
{22:42} They looked, but there was none to save;
Even to Yahweh, but he didn't answer them.
{22:43} Then did I beat them small as the dust of the earth,
I did crush them as the mire of the streets, and did spread them abroad.
{22:44} You also have delivered me from the strivings of my people;
You have kept me to be the head of the nations:
A people whom I have not known shall serve me.
{22:45} The foreigners shall submit themselves to me:
As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me.
{22:46} The foreigners shall fade away,
Shall come trembling out of their close places.
{22:47} Yahweh lives; Blessed be my rock;
Exalted be God, the rock of my salvation,
{22:48} Even the God who executes vengeance for me,
Who brings down peoples under me,
{22:49} Who brings me forth from my enemies:
Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me;
You deliver me from the violent man.
{22:50} Therefore I will give thanks to you, Yahweh, among the nations,
Will sing praises to your name.
{22:51} Great deliverance gives he to his king,
Shows loving kindness to his anointed,
To David and to his seed, forevermore.

   {23:1} Now these are the last words of David.
David the son of Jesse says,
The man who was raised on high says,
The anointed of the God of Jacob,
The sweet psalmist of Israel:
{23:2} The Spirit of Yahweh spoke by me,
His word was on my tongue.
{23:3} The God of Israel said,
The Rock of Israel spoke to me:
One who rules over men righteously,
Who rules in the fear of God,
{23:4} [He shall be] as the light of the morning, when the sun rises,
A morning without clouds,
[When] the tender grass [springs] out of the earth,
Through clear shining after rain.
{23:5} Most assuredly my house is not so with God;
Yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant,
Ordered in all things, and sure:
For it is all my salvation, and all [my] desire,
Although he doesn't make it grow.
{23:6} But the ungodly shall be all of them as thorns to be thrust away,
Because they can't be taken with the hand
{23:7} But the man who touches them
Must be armed with iron and the staff of a spear:
They shall be utterly burned with fire in [their] place

   {23:8} These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb
Basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the captains; the same was Adino
the Eznite, against eight hundred slain at one time. {23:9} After him
was Eleazar the son of Dodai the son of an Ahohite, one of the three
mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines who were there
gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away.
{23:10} He arose, and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary,
and his hand froze to the sword; and Yahweh worked a great victory that
day; and the people returned after him only to take spoil. {23:11}
After him was Shammah the son of Agee a Hararite. The Philistines were
gathered together into a troop, where was a plot of ground full of
lentils; and the people fled from the Philistines. {23:12} But he stood
in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and killed the Philistines;
and Yahweh worked a great victory. {23:13} Three of the thirty chief
men went down, and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of
Adullam; and the troop of the Philistines was encamped in the valley of
Rephaim. {23:14} David was then in the stronghold; and the garrison of
the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. {23:15} David longed, and said,
Oh that one would give me water to drink of the well of Bethlehem,
which is by the gate! {23:16} The three mighty men broke through the
army of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem,
that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but he
would not drink of it, but poured it out to Yahweh. {23:17} He said, Be
it far from me, Yahweh, that I should do this: [shall I drink] the
blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he
would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men. {23:18}
Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the
three. He lifted up his spear against three hundred and killed them,
and had a name among the three. {23:19} Wasn't he most honorable of the
three? therefore he was made their captain: however he didn't attain to
the [first] three. {23:20} Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a
valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, he killed the two
[sons of] Ariel of Moab: he went down also and killed a lion in the
midst of a pit in time of snow. {23:21} He killed an Egyptian, a goodly
man: and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him
with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and
killed him with his own spear. {23:22} These things did Benaiah the son
of Jehoiada, and had a name among the three mighty men. {23:23} He was
more honorable than the thirty, but he didn't attain to the [first]
three. David set him over his guard. {23:24} Asahel the brother of Joab
was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, {23:25}
Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, {23:26} Helez the Paltite,
Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, {23:27} Abiezer the Anathothite,
Mebunnai the Hushathite, {23:28} Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the
Netophathite, {23:29} Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai
the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin, {23:30} Benaiah
a Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash. {23:31} Abialbon the
Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, {23:32} Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the
sons of Jashen, Jonathan, {23:33} Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son
of Sharar the Ararite, {23:34} Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of
the Maacathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, {23:35} Hezro
the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, {23:36} Igal the son of Nathan of
Zobah, Bani the Gadite, {23:37} Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the
Beerothite, armor bearers to Joab the son of Zeruiah, {23:38} Ira the
Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, {23:39} Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in
all.

   {24:1} Again the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he
moved David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah. {24:2}
The king said to Joab the captain of the army, who was with him, Go now
back and forth through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to
Beersheba, and number you the people, that I may know the sum of the
people. {24:3} Joab said to the king, Now Yahweh your God add to the
people, however many they may be, one hundred times; and may the eyes
of my lord the king see it: but why does my lord the king delight in
this thing? {24:4} Notwithstanding, the king's word prevailed against
Joab, and against the captains of the army. Joab and the captains of
the army went out from the presence of the king, to number the people
of Israel. {24:5} They passed over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer,
on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of
Gad, and to Jazer: {24:6} then they came to Gilead, and to the land of
Tahtim Hodshi; and they came to Dan Jaan, and round about to Sidon,
{24:7} and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the
Hivites, and of the Canaanites; and they went out to the south of
Judah, at Beersheba. {24:8} So when they had gone back and forth
through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months
and twenty days. {24:9} Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the
people to the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand
valiant men who drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred
thousand men. {24:10} David's heart struck him after that he had
numbered the people. David said to Yahweh, I have sinned greatly in
that which I have done: but now, Yahweh, put away, I beg you, the
iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly. {24:11} When
David rose up in the morning, the word of Yahweh came to the prophet
Gad, David's seer, saying, {24:12} Go and speak to David, Thus says
Yahweh, I offer you three things: choose you one of them, that I may do
it to you. {24:13} So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him,
Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? or will you flee
three months before your foes while they pursue you? or shall there be
three days' pestilence in your land? now advise you, and consider what
answer I shall return to him who sent me. {24:14} David said to Gad, I
am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of Yahweh; for his
mercies are great; and let me not fall into the hand of man. {24:15} So
Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the time
appointed; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba
seventy thousand men. {24:16} When the angel stretched out his hand
toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh repented him of the evil, and
said to the angel who destroyed the people, It is enough; now stay your
hand. The angel of Yahweh was by the threshing floor of Araunah the
Jebusite. {24:17} David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who
struck the people, and said, Behold, I have sinned, and I have done
perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand
be against me, and against my father's house. {24:18} Gad came that day
to David, and said to him, Go up, rear an altar to Yahweh in the
threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. {24:19} David went up
according to the saying of Gad, as Yahweh commanded. {24:20} Araunah
looked forth, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him:
and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face
to the ground. {24:21} Araunah said, Why is my lord the king come to
his servant? David said, To buy the threshing floor of you, to build an
altar to Yahweh, that the plague may be stayed from the people. {24:22}
Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what
seems good to him: behold, the oxen for the burnt offering, and the
threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood: {24:23}
all this, king, does Araunah give to the king. Araunah said to the
king, Yahweh your God accept you. {24:24} The king said to Araunah, No;
but I will most assuredly buy it of you at a price. Neither will I
offer burnt-offerings to Yahweh my God which cost me nothing. So David
bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
{24:25} David built there an altar to Yahweh, and offered burnt
offerings and peace-offerings. So Yahweh was entreated for the land,
and the plague was stayed from Israel.

   

   

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