1:1 Now after the death of Saul, when David, having come
back
from the destruction
of the Amalekites, had been in Ziklag for
two days;
1:2 On the third day a man came from Saul's tents, with his
clothing out of order
and earth on his head: and when he came
to David, he went
down on the earth and gave him honour.
1:3 And David said to him, Where have you come from? And he
said, I have come in
flight from the tents of Israel.
1:4 And David said to him, How did things go? Give me the
news.
And in answer he
said, The people have gone in flight from the
fight, and a great
number of them are dead; and Saul and his
son Jonathan are
dead.
1:5 And David said to the young man who gave him the news,
Why
are you certain that
Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?
1:6 And the young man said, I came by chance to Mount
Gilboa,
and I saw Saul
supporting himself on his spear; and the
war-carriages and
horsemen overtook him.
1:7 And looking back, he saw me and gave a cry to me. And
answering him I said,
Here am I.
1:8 And he said to me, Who are you? And I said, I am an
Amalekite.
1:9 Then he said to me, Come here to my side, and put me to
death, for the pain
of death has me in its grip but my life is
still strong in me.
1:10 So I put my foot on him and gave him his death-blow,
because I was certain
that he would not go on living after his
fall: and I took the
crown from his head and the band from his
arm, and I have them
here for my lord.
1:11 Then David gave way to bitter grief, and so did all the
men
who were with him:
1:12 And till evening they gave themselves to sorrow and
weeping, and took no
food, weeping for Saul and for Jonathan,
his son, and for the
people of the Lord and for the men of
Israel; because they
had come to their end by the sword.
1:13 And David said to the young man who had given him the
news,
Where do you come
from? And he said, I am the son of a man from
a strange land; I am
an Amalekite.
1:14 And David said to him, Had you no fear of stretching
out
your hand to put to
death the one marked with the holy oil?
1:15 And David sent for one of his young men and said, Go
near
and put an end to
him. And he put him to death.
1:16 And David said to him, May your blood be on your head;
for
your mouth has given
witness against you, saying, I have put to
death the man marked
with the holy oil.
1:17 Then David made this song of grief for Saul and
Jonathan,
his son:
1:18 (It is recorded in the book of Jashar for teaching to
the
sons of Judah) and he
said:
1:19 The glory, O Israel, is dead on your high places! How
have
the great ones been
made low!
1:20 Give no news of it in Gath, let it not be said in the
streets of Ashkelon;
or the daughters of the Philistines will
be glad, the
daughters of men without circumcision will be
uplifted in joy.
1:21 O mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain on
you,
you fields of death:
for there the arms of the strong have been
shamed, the arms of
Saul, as if he had not been marked with the
holy oil.
1:22 From the blood of the dead, from the fat of the strong,
the
bow of Jonathan was
not turned back, the sword of Saul did not
come back unused.
1:23 Saul and Jonathan were loved and pleasing; in their
lives
and in their death
they were not parted; they went more quickly
than eagles, they
were stronger than lions.
1:24 O daughters of Israel, have sorrow for Saul, by whom
you
were delicately
clothed in robes of red, with ornaments of gold
on your dresses.
1:25 How have the great ones been made low in the fight!
Jonathan is dead on
your high places.
1:26 I am full of grief for you, my brother Jonathan: very
dear
have you been to me:
your love for me was a wonder, greater
than the love of
women.
1:27 How have the great ones been made low, and the arms of
war
broken!
2:1 Now after this, David, questioning the Lord, said, Am I
to
go up into any of the
towns of Judah? And the Lord said to him,
Go up. And David
said, Where am I to go? And he said, To
Hebron.
2:2 So David went there, taking with him his two wives,
Ahinoam
of Jezreel, and
Abigail, the wife of Nabal of Carmel.
2:3 And David took all his men with him, every man with his
family: and they were
living in the towns round Hebron.
2:4 And the men of Judah came there, and with the holy oil
made
David king over the
people of Judah. And word came to David
that it was the men
of Jabesh-gilead who put Saul's body in its
last resting-place.
2:5 And David sent to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to
them,
May the Lord give you
his blessing, because you have done this
kind act to Saul your
lord, and have put his body to rest!
2:6 May the Lord be good and true to you: and I myself will
see
that your kind act is
rewarded, because you have done this
thing.
2:7 Then let your hands be strong, and have no fear: though
Saul
your lord is dead,
the people of Judah have made me their king.
2:8 Now Abner, the son of Ner, captain of Saul's army, had
taken
Saul's son
Ish-bosheth over to Mahanaim,
2:9 And made him king over Gilead and the Asherites and over
Jezreel and Ephraim
and Benjamin, that is, over all Israel.
2:10 (Saul's son Ish-bosheth was forty years old when he
became
king over Israel, and
he was ruler for two years.) But Judah
was on the side of
David.
2:11 And the time when David was king in Hebron over the
people
of Judah was seven
years and six months.
2:12 And Abner, the son of Ner, with the servants of Saul's
son
Ish-bosheth, went out
from Mahanaim to Gibeon.
2:13 And Joab, the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of
David,
went out and came
face to face with them by the pool of Gibeon;
and they took up
their position, facing one another on opposite
sides of the pool.
2:14 And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men give a test
of
their strength before
us. And Joab said, Let them do so.
2:15 So they got up and went over by number: twelve for
Benjamin
and Ish-bosheth and
twelve of the servants of David.
2:16 And every one got the other by the head, driving his
sword
into the other's
side, so they all went down together: and that
place was named the
Field of Sides, and it is in Gibeon.
2:17 And there was hard fighting that day; and Abner and the
men
of Israel gave way
before the servants of David.
2:18 There were three sons of Zeruiah there, Joab and
Abishai
and Asahel: and
Asahel was as quick-footed as a roe of the
fields.
2:19 Asahel went running after Abner, not turning to the
right
or to the left.
2:20 Then Abner, looking back, said, Is it you, Asahel? And
he
said, It is I.
2:21 And Abner said, Then go to the right or to the left and
put
your hands on one of
the fighting-men and take his arms. But
Asahel would not be
turned away from going after Abner.
2:22 Then again Abner said to Asahel, Go to one side, do not
keep on coming after
me: why will you make me put an end to
you? for then I will
be shamed before your brother Joab.
2:23 But still he did not go to one side: so Abner gave him
a
back blow in the
stomach with his spear, so that the spear came
out at his back; and
he went down on the earth, wounded to
death: and all those
who came to the place where Asahel went
down dead, came to a
stop.
2:24 But Joab and Abishai went after Abner: and the sun went
down when they came
to the hill of Ammah, which is to the east
of the road through
the waste land of Geba.
2:25 And the men of Benjamin came together after Abner in
one
band, and took their
places on the top of a hill.
2:26 Then crying out to Joab, Abner said, Are fighting and
destruction to go on
for ever? do you not see that the end will
only be bitter? how
long will it be before you send the people
back and make them
give up attacking their countrymen?
2:27 And Joab said, By the living God, if you had not given
the
word, the people
would have gone on attacking their countrymen
till the morning.
2:28 So Joab had a horn sounded, and all the people came to
a
stop, and gave up
going after Israel and fighting them.
2:29 And all that night Abner and his men went through the
Arabah; they went
over Jordan and through all Bithron and came
to Mahanaim.
2:30 And Joab came back from fighting Abner: and when he had
got
all his men together,
it was seen that nineteen of David's men,
in addition to
Asahel, were not with them.
2:31 But David's men had put to death three hundred and
sixty of
the men of Benjamin
and of Abner's men
2:32 And they took Asahel's body and put it in the last
resting-place of his
father in Beth-lehem. And Joab and his
men, travelling all
night, came to Hebron at dawn.
3:1 Now there was a long war between Saul's people and
David's
people; and David
became stronger and stronger, but those on
Saul's side became
more and more feeble.
3:2 While David was in Hebron he became the father of sons:
the
oldest was Amnon, son
of Ahinoam of Jezreel;
3:3 And the second, Chileab, whose mother was Abigail, the
wife
of Nabal the
Carmelite; and the third, Absalom, 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, whose mother was David's wife
Eglah.
These were the sons
of David, whose birth took place in Hebron.
3:6 Now while there was war between Saul's people and
David's
people, Abner was
making himself strong among the supporters of
Saul.
3:7 Now Saul had among his wives a woman named Rizpah, the
daughter of Aiah: and
Ish-bosheth said to Abner, Why have you
taken my father's
wife?
3:8 And Abner was very angry at the words of Ish-bosheth,
and he
said, Am I a dog's
head of Judah? I am this day doing all in my
power for the cause
of your father Saul and for his brothers
and his friends, and
have not given you up into the hands of
David, and now you
say I have done wrong with a woman.
3:9 May God's punishment be on Abner, if I do not for David
as
the Lord in his oath
has said,
3:10 And if I do not take away the kingdom from the family
of
Saul and make David
ruler over Israel and Judah from Dan as far
as Beer-sheba!
3:11 And so great was Ish-bosheth's fear of Abner that he
was
not able to say a
word in answer.
3:12 And Abner sent men to David at Hebron, saying, Make an
agreement with me,
and I will give you my support in getting
all Israel on your
side.
3:13 And he said, It is well; I will make an agreement with
you,
but on one condition,
which is, that when you come before me,
Saul's daughter
Michal is to come with you; till she comes you
will not see my face.
3:14 And David sent men to Saul's son Ish-bosheth, saying,
Give
me back Michal, my
wife, whom I made mine for the price of the
private parts of a
hundred Philistines.
3:15 So Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband
Paltiel,
the son of Laish.
3:16 And her husband went with her as far as Bahurim,
weeping
while he went. Then
Abner said to him, Go back. And he went
back.
3:17 Then Abner had a talk with the chief men of Israel,
saying,
In the past it was
your desire to make David your king: so now,
do it:
3:18 For the Lord has said of David, By the hand of my
servant
David I will make my
people Israel safe from the Philistines,
and from all who are
against them.
3:19 And Abner said the same things to Benjamin: and he went
to
David in Hebron to
make clear to him what seemed good to Israel
and to all the people
of Benjamin.
3:20 So Abner, with twenty men, came to Hebron, to David.
And
David made a feast
for Abner and the men who were with him.
3:21 And Abner said to David, Now I will go, and make all
Israel
come to my lord the
king, so that they may make an agreement
with you, and your
kingdom may be as wide as your heart's
desire. Then David
sent Abner away and he went in peace.
3:22 Now the servants of David and Joab had been out
attacking a
band of armed men,
and they came back with a great store of
goods taken in the
fight: but Abner was no longer in Hebron
with David, for he
had sent him away and he had gone in peace.
3:23 When Joab and his men came, news was given them that
Abner,
the son of Ner, had
come to the king, who had let him go away
again in peace.
3:24 Then Joab came to the king, and said, What have you
done?
when Abner came to
you why did you send him away and let him
go?
3:25 Is it not clear to you that Abner, the son of Ner, came
with deceit to get
knowledge of your going out and your coming
in and of all you are
doing?
3:26 And when Joab had come out from David, he sent men
after
Abner, and they
overtook him at the water-spring of Sirah, and
made him come back
with them: but David had no knowledge of it.
3:27 And when Abner was back in Hebron, Joab took him on one
side by the doorway
of the town to have a word with him
quietly, and there he
gave him a wound in the stomach, causing
his death in payment
for the death of his brother Asahel.
3:28 And when David had word of it he said, May I and my
kingdom
be clear for ever in
the eyes of the Lord from the blood of
Abner, the son of
Ner:
3:29 May it come on the head of Joab and all his father's
family: among the men
of Joab's family may there ever be some
who are diseased or
lepers, or who do the work of women, or are
put to the sword, or
are wasted from need of food!
3:30 So Joab and Abishai his brother put Abner to death,
because
he had put to death
their brother Asahel in the fight at
Gibeon.
3:31 And David said to Joab and all the people who were with
him, Go in grief and
put haircloth about you, in sorrow for
Abner. And King David
went after the dead body.
3:32 And they put Abner's body to rest in Hebron; and the
king
and all the people
were weeping loudly by the resting-place of
Abner's body.
3:33 And the king made a song of grief for Abner and said,
Was
the death of Abner to
be like the death of a foolish man?
3:34 Your hands were free, your feet were not chained: like
the
downfall of a man
before evil men, so was your fall. And the
weeping of the people
over him went on again.
3:35 And the people came to make David take food, while it
was
still day, but David
with an oath said, May God's punishment be
on me if I take a
taste of bread or any other thing till the
sun has gone down!
3:36 And all the people took note of it and were pleased:
like
everything the king
did, it was pleasing to the people.
3:37 So it was clear to Israel and to all the people on that
day
that the king was not
responsible for the death of Abner, the
son of Ner.
3:38 And the king said to his servants, Do you not see that
a
chief and a great man
has come to his end today in Israel?
3:39 While I, though I am crowned king, have little
strength,
and these men, the
sons of Zeruiah, are out of my control: may
the Lord give to the
evil-doer the reward of his evil-doing!
4:1 And when Saul's son Ish-bosheth had news that Abner was
dead
in Hebron, his hands
became feeble, and all the Israelites were
troubled.
4:2 And Saul's son had two men, captains of bands, one named
Baanah and the other
Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of
the tribe of
Benjamin; (for Beeroth was at one time taken to be
part of Benjamin:
4:3 But the people of Beeroth had gone in flight to Gittaim,
where they have been
living to this day.)
4:4 Now Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son whose feet were
damaged.
He was five years old
when news of the death of Saul and
Jonathan came from
Jezreel, and the woman who took care of him
took him up and went
in flight: and while she was getting him
away as quickly as
she was able, he had a fall and his feet
were damaged. His
name was Mephibosheth.
4:5 And Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the
Beerothite,
went out and came to
the house of Ish-bosheth in the heat of
the day, when he was
resting in the middle of the day. Now the
woman who kept the
door was cleaning grain, and sleep overcame
her.
4:6 And Rechab and his brother Baanah got in without being
seen.
4:7 And when they came into the house, Ish-bosheth was
stretched
on his bed in his
bedroom; and they made an attack on him and
put him to death,
and, cutting off his head, they took it with
them and went by the
road through the Arabah all night.
4:8 And they took the head of Ish-bosheth to David in
Hebron,
and said to the king,
Here is the head of Ish-bosheth, the son
of Saul your hater,
who would have taken your life; the Lord
has taken payment for
the wrongs of my lord the king from Saul
and his seed today.
4:9 And David made answer to Rechab and his brother Baanah,
the
sons of Rimmon the
Beerothite, and said to them, By the living
Lord, who has kept me
safe from all my trouble,
4:10 When one came to me with the news of Saul's death, in
the
belief that it would
be good news, I took him and put him to
death in Ziklag,
which was the reward I gave him for his news:
4:11 How much more, when evil men have put an upright person
to
death, in his house,
sleeping on his bed, will I take payment
from you for his
blood, and have you cut off from the earth?
4:12 And David gave orders to his young men and they put
them to
death, cutting off
their hands and their feet and hanging them
up by the side of the
pool in Hebron. But they took the head of
Ish-bosheth and put
it in its last resting-place with Abner's
body in Hebron.
5:1 Then all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron
and
said, Truly, we are
your bone and your flesh.
5:2 In the past when Saul was king over us, it was you who
went
at the head of Israel
when they went out or came in: and the
Lord said to you, You
are to be the keeper of my people Israel
and their ruler.
5:3 So all the responsible men of Israel came to the king at
Hebron; and King
David made an agreement with them in Hebron
before the Lord: and
they put the holy oil on David and made
him king over Israel.
5:4 David was thirty years old when he became king, and he
was
king for forty years,
5:5 Ruling over Judah in Hebron for seven years and six
months,
and in Jerusalem,
over all Israel and Judah, for thirty-three
years.
5:6 And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the
Jebusites, the people
of the land: and they said to David, You
will not come in
here, but the blind and the feeble-footed will
keep you out; for
they said, David will not be able to come in
here.
5:7 But David took the strong place of Zion, which is the
town
of David.
5:8 And that day David said, Whoever makes an attack on the
Jebusites, let him go
up by the water-pipe, and put to death
all the blind and
feeble-footed who are hated by David. And
this is why they say,
The blind and feeble-footed may not come
into the house.
5:9 So David took the strong tower for his living-place,
naming
it the town of David.
And David took in hand the building of
the town all round,
starting from the Millo.
5:10 And David became greater and greater; for the Lord, the
God
of armies, was with
him.
5:11 And Hiram, king of Tyre, sent men to David, with
cedar-trees and
woodworkers and stoneworkers: and they made
David a house.
5:12 And David saw that the Lord had made his position safe
as
king over Israel, and
that he had made his kingdom great
because of his people
Israel.
5:13 And David took more women and wives in Jerusalem, after
he
had come from Hebron:
and he had more sons and daughters.
5:14 These are the names of those whose birth took place 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 And when the Philistines had news that David had been
made
king over Israel,
they all went up in search of David; and
David, hearing of it,
went down to the strong place.
5:18 And when the Philistines came, they went in every
direction
in the valley of
Rephaim.
5:19 And David, desiring directions from the Lord, said, Am
I to
go up against the
Philistines? will you give them up into my
hands? And the Lord
said, Go up, for I will certainly give up
the Philistines into
your hands.
5:20 And David went to Baal-perazim, and overcame them
there;
and he said, The Lord
has let the forces fighting against me be
broken before me as a
wall is broken by rushing waters. So that
place was named
Baal-perazim.
5:21 And the Philistines, when they went in flight, did not
take
their images with
them, and David and his men took them away.
5:22 And the Philistines came up again, and went in every
direction in the
valley of Rephaim.
5:23 And when David went for directions to the Lord, he
said,
You are not to go up
against them in front; but make a circle
round them from the
back and come on them opposite the
spice-trees.
5:24 Then at the sound of footsteps in the tops of the
trees, go
forward quickly, for
the Lord has gone out before you to
overcome the army of
the Philistines.
5:25 And David did as the Lord had said; and he overcame the
Philistines,
attacking them from Gibeon to near Gezer.
6:1 And David got together all the fighting-men of Israel to
the
number of thirty
thousand;
6:2 And David, and all the people who were with him, went to
Baal of Judah to get
the ark of God, over which the holy name
is named, the name of
the Lord of armies, whose place is
between the winged
ones.
6:3 And they put the ark of God on a new cart and took it
out of
the house of Abinadab
which was on the hill: and Uzzah and
Ahio, the sons of
Abinadab, were the drivers of the cart.
6:4 And Uzzah went by the side of the ark, while Ahio went
before it.
6:5 And David and all the men of Israel made melody before
the
Lord with all their
power, with songs and with corded
instruments and
instruments of brass.
6:6 And when they came to Nacon's grain-floor, Uzzah put his
hand on the ark of
God to keep it safe in its place, for the
oxen were out of
control.
6:7 And the wrath of the Lord, burning against Uzzah, sent
destruction on him
because he had put his hand on the ark, and
death came to him
there by the ark of God.
6:8 And David was angry because of the Lord's outburst of
wrath
against Uzzah: and he
gave that place the name Perez-uzzah,
which is its name to
this day.
6:9 And such was David's fear of the Lord that day, that he
said, How may I let
the ark of God come to me?
6:10 So David did not let the ark of the Lord come back to
him
to the town of David:
but had it turned away and put into the
house of Obed-edom
the Gittite.
6:11 And the ark of the Lord was in the house of Obed-edom
the
Gittite for three
months: and the Lord sent a blessing on
Obed-edom and all his
family.
6:12 And they said to King David, The blessing of the Lord
is on
the family of
Obed-edom and on all he has, because of the ark
of God. And David
went and took the ark of God from the house
of Obed-edom into the
town of David with joy.
6:13 And when those who were lifting the ark of the Lord had
gone six steps, he
made an offering of an ox and a fat young
beast.
6:14 And David, clothed in a linen ephod, was dancing before
the
Lord with all his strength.
6:15 So David and all the men of Israel took up the ark of
the
Lord with cries of
joy and sounding of horns.
6:16 And when the ark of the Lord came into the town of
David,
Michal, Saul's
daughter, looking out of the window, saw King
David dancing and
jumping before the Lord; and to her mind he
seemed foolish.
6:17 And they took in the ark of the Lord, and put it in its
place inside the tent
which David had put up for it: and David
made burned offerings
and peace-offerings to the Lord.
6:18 And after David had made the burned offerings and the
peace-offerings, he
gave the people a blessing in the name of
the Lord of armies.
6:19 And he gave to every man and woman among all the
people,
among all the masses
of Israel, a cake of bread and a measure
of wine and a cake of
dry grapes. Then all the people went
away, every man to
his house.
6:20 Then David came back to give a blessing to his family.
And
Michal, Saul's
daughter, came out to him and said, How full of
glory was the king of
Israel today, who let himself be seen
uncovered by his
servant-girls like a foolish person uncovering
himself without
shame!
6:21 And David said to Michal, I was dancing before the
Lord,
who put me over your
father and all his sons, to make me a
ruler over the people
of the Lord, over his people Israel: and
I will go on playing
before the Lord;
6:22 And I will do even worse than this, and make myself
even
lower in your eyes:
but the servant-girls of whom you were
talking will give me
honour.
6:23 And Michal, Saul's daughter, had no child till the day
of
her death.
7:1 Now when the king was living in his house, and the Lord
had
given him rest from
war on every side;
7:2 The king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I am
living in
a house of cedar, but
the ark of God is housed inside the
curtains of a tent.
7:3 And Nathan said to the king, Go and do whatever is in
your
heart; for the Lord
is with you.
7:4 Now that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan,
saying,
7:5 Go and say to my servant David, The Lord says, Are you
to be
the builder of a
house, a living-place for me?
7:6 For from the day when I took the children of Israel up
out
of Egypt till this
day, I have had no house, but have gone from
place to place in a
tent.
7:7 In all the places where I went with all the children of
Israel, did I ever
say to any of the judges of Israel, to whom
I gave the care of my
people Israel, Why have you not made me a
house of cedar?
7:8 Then say these words to my servant David, The Lord of
armies
says, I took you from
the fields, from keeping the sheep, so
that you might be a
ruler over my people, over my people
Israel:
7:9 And I have been with you wherever you went, cutting off
before you all those
who were against you; and I will make your
name great, like the
name of the greatest ones of the earth.
7:10 And I will make a resting-place for my people Israel,
planting them there,
so that they may be living in the place
which is theirs, and
never again be moved; and never again will
they be troubled by
evil men as they were at the first,
7:11 From the time when I put judges over my people Israel;
and
I will give you peace
from all who are against you. And the
Lord says to you that
he will make you the head of a line of
kings.
7:12 And when the time comes for you to go to rest with your
fathers, I will put
in your place your seed after you, the
offspring of your
body, and I will make his kingdom strong.
7:13 He will be the builder of a house for my name, and I
will
make the seat of his
authority certain for ever.
7:14 I will be to him a father and he will be to me a son:
if he
does wrong, I will
give him punishment with the rod of men and
with the blows of the
children of men;
7:15 But my mercy will not be taken away from him, as I took
it
from him who was
before you.
7:16 And your family and your kingdom will keep their place
before me for ever:
the seat of your authority will never be
overturned.
7:17 So Nathan gave David an account of all these words and
this
vision.
7:18 Then David the king went in and took his seat before
the
Lord, and said, Who
am I, O Lord God, and what is my family,
that you have been my
guide till now?
7:19 And this was only a small thing to you, O Lord God; but
your words have even
been about the far-off future of your
servant's family, O
Lord God!
7:20 What more may David say to you? for you have knowledge
of
your servant, O Lord
God.
7:21 Because of your word and from your heart, you have done
all
this great work, and
let your servant see it.
7:22 Truly you are great, O Lord God: there is no one like
you
and no other God but
you, as is clear from everything which has
come to our ears.
7:23 And what other nation in the earth, like your people
Israel, did a god go
out to take for himself, to be his people,
and to make a name
for himself, and to do great and strange
things for them,
driving out a nation and its gods from before
his people?
7:24 But you took and made strong for yourself your people
Israel, to be your
people for ever; and you, Lord, became their
God.
7:25 And now, O Lord God, may the word which you have said
about
your servant and
about his family, be made certain for ever,
and may you do as you
have said!
7:26 And let your name be made great for ever, and let men
say,
The Lord of armies is
God over Israel: and let the family of
David your servant be
made strong before you!
7:27 For you, O Lord of armies, the God of Israel, have
clearly
said to your servant,
I will make you the head of a family of
kings: and so it has
come into your servant's heart to make
this prayer to you.
7:28 And now, O Lord God, you are God and your words are
true
and you have said you
will give your servant this good thing;
7:29 So may it be your pleasure to give your blessing to the
family of your
servant, so that it may go on for ever before
you: (for you, O Lord
God, have said it,) and may your blessing
be on your servant's
family line for ever!
8:1 And it came about after this that David made an attack
on
the Philistines and
overcame them; and David took the authority
of the mother-town
from the hands of the Philistines.
8:2 And he overcame the Moabites, and he had them measured
with
a line when they were
stretched out on the earth; marking out
two lines for death
and one full line for life. So the Moabites
became servants to
David and gave him offerings.
8:3 And David overcame Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of
Zobah, when he went
to make his power seen by the River.
8:4 And David took from him one thousand, seven hundred
horsemen
and twenty thousand
footmen: and David had the leg-muscles of
the horses cut, only
keeping enough of them for a hundred
war-carriages.
8:5 And when the Aramaeans of Damascus came to the help of
Hadadezer, king of
Zobah, David put to the sword twenty-two
thousand of the
Aramaeans.
8:6 And David put armed forces in Aram of Damascus: and the
Aramaeans became
servants to David and gave him offerings. And
the Lord made David
overcome wherever he went.
8:7 And David took their gold body-covers from the servants
of
Hadadezer and took
them to Jerusalem.
8:8 And from Tebah and Berothai, towns of Hadadezer, King
David
took a great store of
brass.
8:9 And when Tou, king of Hamath, had news that David had
overcome all the army
of Hadadezer,
8:10 He sent his son Hadoram to David, with words of peace
and
blessing, because he
had overcome Hadadezer in the fight, for
Hadadezer had wars
with Tou; and Hadoram took with him vessels
of silver and gold
and brass:
8:11 These King David made holy to the Lord, together with
the
silver and gold which
he had taken from the nations he had
overcome--
8:12 The nations of Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon
and
the Philistines and
the Amalekites and the goods he had taken
from Hadadezer, the
son of Rehob, king of Zobah.
8:13 And David got great honour for himself, when he came
back,
by the destruction of
Edom in the valley of Salt, to the number
of eighteen thousand men.
8:14 And he put armed forces in Edom; all through Edom he
had
armed forces
stationed, and all the Edomites became servants to
David. And the Lord
made David overcome wherever he went.
8:15 And David was king over all Israel, judging and giving
right decisions for
all his people.
8:16 And Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the army;
and
Jehoshaphat, the son
of Ahilud, was keeper of the records;
8:17 And Zadok and Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, the son
of
Ahitub, were priests;
and Seraiah was the scribe;
8:18 And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was over the
Cherethites
and the Pelethites;
and David's sons were priests.
9:1 And David said, Is there still anyone of Saul's family
living, so that I may
be a friend to him, because of Jonathan?
9:2 Now there was of Saul's people a servant named Ziba, and
they sent him to
David; and the king said to him, Are you Ziba?
And he said, I am.
9:3 And the king said, Is there anyone of Saul's family
still
living, to whom I may
be a friend in God's name? And Ziba said,
There is a son of
Jonathan, whose feet are damaged.
9:4 And the king said to him, Where is he? And Ziba said to
the
king, He is in the
house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, in
Lo-debar.
9:5 Then King David sent, and had him taken from Lo-debar,
from
the house of Machir,
the son of Ammiel.
9:6 And Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, came to David,
and
falling down on his
face, gave him honour. And David said,
Mephibosheth. And
answering he said, Your servant is here.
9:7 And David said to him, Have no fear: for truly I will be
good to you, because
of your father Jonathan, and I will give
back to you all the
land which was Saul's; and you will have a
place at my table at
all times.
9:8 And he went down on his face before the king, and said,
What
is your servant, for
you to take note of a dead dog such as I
am?
9:9 Then the king sent for Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to
him, All the property
of Saul and of his family I have given to
your master's son.
9:10 And you and your sons and your servants are to take
care of
the land for him, and
get in the fruit of it, so that your
master's son may have
food: but Mephibosheth, your master's
son, will have a
place at my table at all times. Now Ziba had
fifteen sons and
twenty servants.
9:11 Then Ziba said to the king, Every order which you have
given to your servant
will be done. As for Mephibosheth, he had
a place at David's
table, like one of the king's sons.
9:12 And Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica. And all
the
people living in the
house of Ziba were servants to
Mephibosheth.
9:13 So Mephibosheth went on living in Jerusalem; for he
took
all his meals at the
king's table; and he had not the use of
his feet.
10:1 Now after this, death came to the king of the children
of
Ammon, and Hanun, his
son, became king in his place.
10:2 And David said, I will be a friend to Hanun, the son of
Nahash, as his father
was a friend to me. So David sent his
servants, to give him
words of comfort on account of his
father. And David's
servants came into the land of the children
of Ammon.
10:3 But the chiefs of the children of Ammon said to Hanun
their
lord, Does it seem to
you that David is honouring your father
by sending comforters
to you? has he not sent his servants to
go through the town
and make secret observation of it, and
overcome it?
10:4 So Hanun took David's servants, and after cutting off
half
the hair on their
chins, and cutting off the skirts of their
robes up to the
middle, he sent them away.
10:5 When David had news of it, he sent men out with the
purpose
of meeting them on
their way, for the men were greatly shamed:
and the king said, Go
to Jericho till your hair is long again,
and then come back.
10:6 And when the children of Ammon saw that they had made
themselves hated by
David, they sent to the Aramaeans of
Beth-rehob and Zobah,
and got for payment twenty thousand
footmen, and they got
from the king of Maacah a thousand men,
and from Tob twelve
thousand.
10:7 And hearing of this, David sent Joab and all the army
and
the best
fighting-men.
10:8 And the children of Ammon came out and put their forces
in
position at the way
into the town: and the Aramaeans of Zobah
and of Rehob, with
the men of Tob and Maacah, were by
themselves in the
field.
10:9 Now when Joab saw that their forces were in position
against him in front
and at his back, he took the best of the
men of Israel and put
them in line against the Aramaeans;
10:10 And the rest of the people he put in position against
the
children of Ammon,
with Abishai, his brother, at their head.
10:11 And he said, If the Aramaeans are stronger and get the
better of me, then
you are to come to my help; but if the
children of Ammon get
the better of you, I will come to your
help.
10:12 Take heart, and let us be strong for our people and
for
the towns of our God,
and may the Lord do what seems good to
him.
10:13 Then Joab and the people with him went forward to the
fight against the
Aramaeans, and they went in flight before
him.
10:14 And when the children of Ammon saw the flight of the
Aramaeans, they
themselves went in flight from Abishai, and
came into the town.
So Joab went back from fighting the
children of Ammon and
came to Jerusalem.
10:15 And when the Aramaeans saw that Israel had overcome
them,
they got themselves
together.
10:16 And Hadadezer sent for the Aramaeans who were on the
other
side of the River:
and they came to Helam, with Shobach, the
captain of
Hadadezer's army, at their head.
10:17 And word of this was given to David: and he got all
Israel
together and went
over Jordan and came to Helam. And the
Aramaeans put their
forces in position against David, and made
an attack on him.
10:18 And the Aramaeans went in flight before Israel; and
David
put to the sword the
men of seven hundred Aramaean
war-carriages and
forty thousand footmen, and Shobach, the
captain of the army,
was wounded, and came to his death there.
10:19 And when all the kings who were servants of Hadadezer
saw
that they were
overcome by Israel, they made peace with Israel
and became their
servants. So the Aramaeans, in fear, gave no
more help to the
children of Ammon.
11:1 Now in the spring, at the time when kings go out to
war,
David sent Joab and
his servants and all Israel with him; and
they made waste the
land of the children of Ammon, and took up
their position before
Rabbah, shutting it in. But David was
still at Jerusalem.
11:2 Now one evening, David got up from his bed, and while
he
was walking on the
roof of the king's house, he saw from there
a woman bathing; and
the woman was very beautiful.
11:3 And David sent to get knowledge who the woman was. And
one
said, Is this not
Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam and wife of
Uriah the Hittite?
11:4 And David sent and took her; and she came to him, and
he
took her to his bed:
(for she had been made clean;) then she
went back to her
house.
11:5 And the woman became with child; and she sent word to
David
that she was with
child.
11:6 And David sent to Joab saying, Send Uriah the Hittite
to
me. And Joab sent
Uriah to David.
11:7 And when Uriah came to him, David put questions to him
about how Joab and
the people were, and how the war was going.
11:8 And David said to Uriah, Go down to your house and let
your
feet be washed. And
Uriah went away from the king's house, and
an offering from the
king was sent after him.
11:9 But Uriah took his rest at the door of the king's house,
with all the servants
of his lord, and did not go down to his
house.
11:10 And when word was given to David that Uriah had not
gone
down to his house,
David said to Uriah, Have you not come from
a journey? why did
you not go down to your house?
11:11 And Uriah said to David, Israel and Judah with the ark
are
living in tents, and
my lord Joab and the other servants of my
lord are sleeping in
the open field; and am I to go to my house
and take food and
drink, and go to bed with my wife? By the
living Lord, and by
the life of your soul, I will not do such a
thing.
11:12 And David said to Uriah, Be here today, and after that
I
will let you go. So
Uriah was in Jerusalem that day and the day
after.
11:13 And when David sent for him, he took meat and drink
with
him, and David made
him the worse for drink: and when evening
came, he went to rest
on his bed with the servants of his lord,
but he did not go
down to his house.
11:14 Now in the morning, David gave Uriah a letter to take
to
Joab.
11:15 And in the letter he said, Take care to put Uriah in
the
very front of the
line, where the fighting is most violent, and
go back from him, so
that he may be overcome and put to death.
11:16 So while Joab was watching the town, he put Uriah in
the
place where it was
clear to him the best fighters were.
11:17 And the men of the town went out and had a fight with
Joab: and a number of
David's men came to their death in the
fight, and with them
Uriah the Hittite.
11:18 Then Joab sent David news of everything which had
taken
place in the war:
11:19 And he gave orders to the man who took the news,
saying,
After you have given
the king all the news about the war,
11:20 If the king is angry and says, Why did you go so near
the
town for the fight?
was it not certain that their archers would
be on the wall?
11:21 Who put Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, to death? did
not
a woman send a great
stone down on him from the wall, putting
him to death at
Thebez? why did you go so near the wall? Then
say to him, Your
servant Uriah the Hittite is among the dead.
11:22 So the man went, and came to David, and gave him all
the
news which Joab had
sent him to give; then David was angry with
Joab and said, Why
did you go so near the town for the fight?
was it not certain
that their archers would be on the wall? who
put Abimelech, the
son of Jerubbaal, to death? did not a woman
send a great stone
down on him from the wall, putting him to
death at Thebez? why
did you go so near the wall?
11:23 And the man said to David, Truly the men got the
better of
us, and came out
against us into the open country, but we sent
them back to the very
doors of the town.
11:24 And the archers sent their arrows at your servants
from
the wall, and some of
the king's servants are dead, and among
them is your servant
Uriah the Hittite.
11:25 Then David said to the man, Go and say to Joab, Do not
let
this be a grief to
you; for one man may come to his death by
the sword like
another: put up an even stronger fight against
the town, and take
it: and do you put heart into him.
11:26 And when the wife of Uriah had news that her husband
was
dead, she gave
herself up to weeping for him.
11:27 And when the days of weeping were past, David sent for
her, and took her
into his house, and she became his wife and
gave him a son. But
the Lord was not pleased with the thing
David had done.
12:1 And the Lord sent Nathan to David. And Nathan came to
him
and said, There were
two men in the same town: one a man of
great wealth, and the
other a poor man.
12:2 The man of wealth had great numbers of flocks and
herds;
12:3 But the poor man had only one little she-lamb, which he
had
got and taken care
of: from its birth it had been with him like
one of his children;
his meat was its food, and from his cup it
took its drink,
resting in his arms, and it was like a daughter
to him.
12:4 Now a traveller came to the house of the man of wealth,
but
he would not take
anything from his flock or his herd to make a
meal for the
traveller who had come to him, but he took the
poor man's lamb and
made it ready for the man who had come.
12:5 And David was full of wrath against that man; and he
said
to Nathan, By the
living Lord, death is the right punishment
for the man who has
done this:
12:6 And he will have to give back four times the value of
the
lamb, because he has
done this and because he had no pity.
12:7 And Nathan said to David, You are that man. The Lord
God of
Israel says, I made
you king over Israel, putting holy oil on
you, and I kept you
safe from the hands of Saul;
12:8 I gave you your master's daughter and your master's
wives
for yourself, and I
gave you the daughters of Israel and Judah;
and if that had not
been enough, I would have given you such
and such things.
12:9 Why then have you had no respect for the word of the
Lord,
doing what is evil in
his eyes? You have put Uriah the Hittite
to death with the
sword, and have taken his wife to be your
wife; you have put
him to death with the sword of the children
of Ammon.
12:10 So now the sword will never be turned away from your
family; because you
have had no respect for me, and have taken
the wife of Uriah the
Hittite to be your wife.
12:11 The Lord says, From those of your family I will send
evil
against you, and
before your very eyes I will take your wives
and give them to your
neighbour, and he will take your wives to
his bed by the light
of this sun.
12:12 You did it secretly; but I will do this thing before
all
Israel and in the
light of the sun.
12:13 And David said to Nathan, Great is my sin against the
Lord. And Nathan said
to David, The Lord has put away your sin;
death will not come
on you.
12:14 But still, because you have had no respect for the
Lord,
death will certainly
overtake the child who has newly come to
birth.
12:15 Then Nathan went back to his house. And the hand of
the
Lord was on David's
son, the child of Uriah's wife, and it
became very ill.
12:16 So David made prayer to God for the child; and he took
no
food day after day,
and went in and, stretching himself out on
the earth, was there
all night.
12:17 And the chief men of his house got up and went to his
side
to make him get up
from the earth, but he would not; and he
would not take food
with them.
12:18 And then on the seventh day the child's death took
place.
And David's servants
were in fear of giving him the news of the
child's death: for
they said, Truly, while the child was still
living he gave no
attention when we said anything to him: what
will he do to himself
if we give him word that the child is
dead?
12:19 But when David saw that his servants were talking
together
quietly, he was
certain that the child was dead: and he said to
his servants, Is the
child dead? and they said, He is.
12:20 Then David got up from the earth, and after washing
and
rubbing himself with
oil and changing his clothing, he went
into the house of the
Lord and gave worship: then he went back
to his house, and at
his order they put food before him and he
had a meal.
12:21 Then his servants said to him, Why have you been
acting in
this way? you were
weeping and going without food while the
child was still
living; but when the child was dead, you got up
and had a meal.
12:22 And he said, While the child was still living I went
without food and gave
myself up to weeping: for I said, Who is
able to say that the
Lord will not have mercy on me and give
the child life?
12:23 But now that the child is dead there is no reason for
me
to go without food;
am I able to make him come back to life? I
will go to him, but
he will never come back to me.
12:24 And David gave comfort to his wife Bath-sheba, and he
went
in to her and had
connection with her: and she had a son to
whom she gave the
name Solomon. And he was dear to the Lord.
12:25 And he sent word by Nathan the prophet, who gave him
the
name Jedidiah, by the
word of the Lord.
12:26 Now Joab was fighting against Rabbah, in the land of
the
children of Ammon,
and he took the water-town.
12:27 And Joab sent men to David, saying, I have made war
against Rabbah and
have taken the water-town.
12:28 So now, get the rest of the people together, and put
them
in position against
the town and take it, for if I take it, it
will be named after
my name.
12:29 Then David got all the people together and went to
Rabbah
and made war on it
and took it.
12:30 And he took the crown of Milcom from his head; the
weight
of it was a talent of
gold, and in it were stones of great
price; and it was put
on David's head. And he took a great
store of goods from
the town.
12:31 And he took the people out of the town and put them to
work with
wood-cutting instruments, and iron grain-crushers,
and iron axes, and at
brick-making: this he did to all the
towns of the children
of Ammon. Then David and all the people
went back to
Jerusalem.
13:1 Now after this, it came about that Absalom, David's
son,
had a beautiful
sister, whose name was Tamar; and David's son
Amnon was in love
with her.
13:2 And he was so deeply in love that he became ill because
of
his sister Tamar; for
she was a virgin, and so 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 wise man.
13:4 And he said to him, O son of the king, why are you
getting
thinner day by day?
will you not say what your trouble is? And
Amnon said to him, I
am in love with Tamar, my brother
Absalom's sister.
13:5 Then Jonadab said to him, Go to your bed, and let it
seem
that you are ill: and
when your father comes to see you, say to
him, Let my sister
Tamar come and give me bread, and get the
food ready before my
eyes, so that I may see it and take it
from her hand.
13:6 So Amnon went to bed and made himself seem ill: and
when
the king came to see
him, Amnon said to the king, Please let my
sister Tamar come and
make me one or two cakes before my eyes,
so that I may take
food from her hand.
13:7 Then David sent to the house for Tamar and said, Go now
to
your brother Amnon's
house and get a meal for him.
13:8 So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house; and he was
in
bed. And she took
paste and made cakes before his eyes, cooking
them over the fire.
13:9 And she took the cooking-pot, and put the cakes before
him,
but he would not take
them. And Amnon said, Let everyone go
away from me. So they
all went out.
13:10 Then Amnon said to Tamar, Take the food and come into
my
bedroom, so that I
may take it from your hand. So Tamar took
the cakes she had
made and went with them into her brother
Amnon's bedroom.
13:11 And when she took them to give them to him, he put his
arms round her and
said, Come to bed, my sister.
13:12 And answering him, she said, O my brother, do not put
shame on me; it is
not right for such a thing to be done in
Israel: do not this evil
thing.
13:13 What will become of me in my shame? and as for you,
you
will be looked down
on with disgust by all Israel. Now then, go
and make your request
to the king, for he will not keep me from
you.
13:14 But he would not give attention to what she said: but
being stronger than
she, he took her by force, and had
connection with her.
13:15 Then Amnon was full of hate for her, hating her with a
hate greater than his
earlier love for her. And he said to her,
Get up and be gone.
13:16 And she said to him, Not so, my brother, for this
great
wrong in sending me
away is worse than what you did to me
before. But he gave
no attention to her.
13:17 Then he gave a cry to the servant who was waiting on
him
and said, Put this
woman out, and let the door be locked after
her.
13:18 Now she had on a long robe, such as in past times the
king's virgin
daughters were dressed in. Then the servant put
her out, locking the
door after her.
13:19 And Tamar, in her grief, put dust on her head; and she
put
her hand on her head
and went away crying loudly.
13:20 And her brother Absalom said to her, Has your brother
Amnon been with you?
but now, let there be an end to your
crying, my sister: he
is your brother, do not take this thing
to heart. So Tamar
went on living uncomforted in her brother's
house.
13:21 But when King David had news of all these things he
was
very angry; but he
did not make trouble for Amnon his son, for
he was dear to David,
being his oldest son.
13:22 But Absalom said nothing to his brother Amnon, good or
bad: for he was full
of hate for him, because he had taken his
sister Tamar by
force.
13:23 Now after two full years, Absalom had men cutting the
wool
of his sheep in
Baal-hazor, which is near Ephraim: and he sent
for all the king's
sons to come to his feast.
13:24 And Absalom came to the king and said, See now, your
servant is cutting
the wool of his sheep; will the king and his
servants be pleased
to come?
13:25 And the king said to Absalom, No, my son, let us not
all
go, or the number
will be over-great for you. And he made his
request again, but he
would not go, but he gave him his
blessing.
13:26 Then Absalom said, If you will not go, then let my
brother
Amnon go with us. And
the king said to him, Is there any reason
for him to go with
you?
13:27 But Absalom went on requesting him till he let Amnon
and
all the king's sons
go with him. And Absalom made a great feast
like a feast for a
king.
13:28 Now Absalom had given orders to his servants, saying,
Now
take note when
Amnon's heart is glad with wine; and when I say
to you, Make an
attack on Amnon, then put him to death without
fear: have I not
given you orders? be strong and without fear.
13:29 So Absalom's servants did to Amnon as Absalom had
given
them orders. Then all
the king's sons got up, and every man got
on his beast and went
in flight.
13:30 Now while they were on their way, news was given to
David
that Absalom had put
to death all the sons of the king and that
not one of them was
still living.
13:31 Then the king got up in great grief, stretching
himself
out on the earth: and
all his servants were by his side, with
their clothing
parted.
13:32 And Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother,
said,
Let not my lord have
the idea that all the sons of the king
have been put to
death; for only Amnon is dead: this has been
purposed by Absalom
from the day when he took his sister Tamar
by force.
13:33 So now, let not my lord the king take this thing to
heart,
with the idea that
all the king's sons are dead: for only Amnon
is dead.
13:34 But Absalom went in flight. And the young man who kept
the
watch, lifting up his
eyes, saw that a great band of people was
coming down the slope
by the way of the Horons; and the
watchman came and
gave word to the king, saying, I saw men
coming down by the
way of the Horons, from the hillside.
13:35 And Jonadab said to the king, See, the king's sons are
coming; as your servant
said, so it is.
13:36 And while he was talking, the king's sons came, with
weeping and loud
cries: and the king and all his servants were
weeping bitterly.
13:37 So Absalom went in flight and came to Talmai, the son
of
Ammihud, the king of
Geshur, where he was for three years.
13:38 And the king was sorrowing for his son all the time.
13:39 And the heart of David was wasted with desire for
Absalom:
for he was comforted
for the death of Amnon.
14:1 Now it was clear to Joab, the son of Zeruiah, that the
king's heart was
turning to Absalom.
14:2 And Joab sent to Tekoa and got from there a wise woman,
and
said to her, Now make
yourself seem like one given up to grief,
and put on the
clothing of sorrow, not using any sweet oil for
your body, but looking
like one who for a long time has been
weeping for the dead:
14:3 And come to the king and say these words to him. So
Joab
gave her words to
say.
14:4 And the woman of Tekoa came to the king, and falling on
her
face, gave him honour
and said, Give me help, O king.
14:5 And the king said to her, What is your trouble? And her
answer was, Truly I
am a widow, and my husband is dead.
14:6 And I had two sons, and the two of them had a fight in
the
field, and there was
no one to come between them, and one with
a blow put the other
to death.
14:7 And now all the family is turned against me, your
servant,
saying, Give up him
who was the cause of his brother's death,
so that we may put
him to death in payment for the life of his
brother, whose life
he took; and we will put an end to the one
who will get the
heritage: so they will put out my last burning
coal, and my husband
will have no name or offspring on the face
of the earth.
14:8 And the king said to the woman, Go to your house and I
will
give orders about
this.
14:9 And the woman of Tekoa said to the king, My lord, O
king,
may the sin be on me
and on my family, and may the king and the
seat of his kingdom
be clear of sin!
14:10 And the king said, If anyone says anything to you,
make
him come to me, and
he will do you no more damage.
14:11 Then she said, Let the king keep in mind the Lord your
God, so that he who
gives punishment for blood may be kept back
from further
destruction and that no one may send death on my
son. And he said, By
the living Lord, not a hair of your son's
head will come to the
earth.
14:12 Then the woman said, Will the king let his servant say
one
word more? And he
said, Say on.
14:13 And the woman said, Why have you had such a thought
about
the people of God?
(for in saying these very words the king has
put himself in the
wrong because he has not taken back the one
whom he sent far
away.)
14:14 For death comes to us all, and we are like water
drained
out on the earth,
which it is not possible to take up again;
and God will not take
away the life of the man whose purpose is
that he who has been
sent away may not be completely cut off
from him.
14:15 And now it is my fear of the people which has made me
come
to say these words to
my lord the king: and your servant said,
I will put my cause
before the king, and it may be that he will
give effect to my
request.
14:16 For the king will give ear, and take his servant out
of
the power of the man
whose purpose is the destruction of me and
my son together from
the heritage of God.
14:17 Then your servant said, May the word of my lord the
king
give me peace! for my
lord the king is as the angel of God in
his hearing of good
and bad: and may the Lord your God be with
you!
14:18 Then the king said to the woman, Now give me an answer
to
the question I am
going to put to you; keep nothing back. And
the woman said, Let
my lord the king say on.
14:19 And the king said, Is not the hand of Joab with you in
all
this? And the woman
in answer said, By the life of your soul,
my lord the king, it
is not possible for anyone to go to the
right hand or to the
left from anything said by the king: your
servant Joab gave me
orders, and put all these words in my
mouth:
14:20 This he did, hoping that the face of this business
might
be changed: and my
lord is wise, with the wisdom of the angel
of God, having
knowledge of everything on earth.
14:21 And the king said to Joab, See now, I will do this
thing:
go then and Come back
with the young man Absalom.
14:22 Then Joab, falling down on his face on the earth, gave
the
king honour and
blessing; and Joab said, Today it is clear to
your servant that I
have grace in your eyes, my lord king,
because the king has
given effect to the request of his
servant.
14:23 So Joab got up and went to Geshur and came back again
to
Jerusalem with
Absalom.
14:24 And the king said, Let him go to his house, but let
him
not see my face. So
Absalom went back to his house and did not
see the face of the
king.
14:25 Now in all Israel there was no one so greatly to be
praised for his
beautiful form as Absalom: from his feet to the
crown of his head he
was completely beautiful.
14:26 And when he had his hair cut, (which he did at the end
of
every year, because
of the weight of his hair;) the weight of
the hair was two
hundred shekels by the king's weight.
14:27 And Absalom was the father of three sons and of one
daughter named Tamar,
who was very beautiful.
14:28 For two full years Absalom was living in Jerusalem
without
ever seeing the face
of the king.
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 So he said to his servants, See, Joab's field is near
mine, and he has
barley in it; go and put it on fire. And
Absalom's servants
put the field on fire.
14:31 Then Joab came to Absalom in his house and said to
him,
Why have your
servants put my field on fire?
14:32 And Absalom's answer was, See, I sent to you saying,
Come
here, so that I may
send you to the king to say, Why have I
come back from
Geshur? it would be better for me to be there
still: let me now see
the king's face, and if there is any sin
in me, let him put me
to death.
14:33 So Joab went to the king and said these words to him:
and
when the king had
sent for him, Absalom came, and went down on
his face on the earth
before the king: and the king gave him a
kiss.
15:1 Now after this, Absalom got for himself a carriage and
horses, and fifty
runners to go before him.
15:2 And Absalom got up early, morning after morning, and
took
his place at the side
of the public meeting-place: and when any
man had a cause which
had to come to the king to be judged,
then Absalom, crying
out to him, said, What is your town? and
he would say, Your
servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.
15:3 And Absalom would say to him, See, your cause is true
and
right; but no man has
been named by the king to give you a
hearing.
15:4 And more than this, Absalom said, If only I was made
judge
in the land, so that
every man who has any cause or question
might come to me, and
I would give a right decision for him!
15:5 And if any man came near to give him honour, he took
him by
the hand and gave him
a kiss.
15:6 And this Absalom did to everyone in Israel who came to
the
king to have his
cause judged: so Absalom, like a thief, took
away the hearts of the
men of Israel.
15:7 Now at the end of four years, Absalom said to the king,
Let
me go to Hebron and
give effect to the oath which I made to the
Lord:
15:8 For while I was living in Geshur in Aram, your servant
made
an oath, saying, If
ever the Lord lets me come back to
Jerusalem, I will
give him worship in Hebron.
15:9 And the king said to him, Go in peace. So he got up and
went to Hebron.
15:10 But Absalom at the same time sent watchers through all
the
tribes of Israel to
say, At the sound of the horn you are to
say, Absalom is king
in Hebron.
15:11 And with Absalom, at his request, went two hundred men
from Jerusalem, who
were completely unconscious of his designs.
15:12 And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, one of
David's helpers, from
Giloh his town, while he was making the
offerings. And the
design against David became strong, for more
and more people were
joined to Absalom.
15:13 And one came to David and said, The hearts of the men
of
Israel have gone
after Absalom.
15:14 And David said to all his servants who were with him
at
Jerusalem, Come, let
us go in flight, or not one of us will be
safe from Absalom:
let us go without loss of time, or he will
overtake us quickly
and send evil on us, and put the town to
the sword.
15:15 And the king's servants said to the king, See, your
servants are ready to
do whatever the king says is to be done.
15:16 So the king went out, taking with him all the people
of
his house, but for
ten of his women, who were to take care of
the house.
15:17 And the king went out, and all his servants went after
him, and made a stop
at the Far House.
15:18 And all the people went on by his side; and all the
Cherethites and all
the Pelethites and all the men of Ittai of
Gath, six hundred men
who came after him from Gath, went on
before the king.
15:19 Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, Why are you
coming with us? go
back and keep with the king: for you are a
man of another
country, you are far from the land of your
birth.
15:20 It was only yesterday you came to us; why then am I to
make you go up and
down with us? for I have to go where I may;
go back then, and
take your countrymen with you, and may the
Lord's mercy and good
faith be with you.
15:21 And Ittai the Gittite in answer said, By the living
Lord,
and by the life of my
lord the king, in whatever place my lord
the king may be, for
life or death, there will your servant be.
15:22 And David said to Ittai, Go forward, then. And Ittai
the
Gittite went on, with
all his men and all the little ones he
had with him.
15:23 And there was great weeping in all the country when
all
the people went
through; and the king himself was waiting in
the Kidron valley and
all the people went by him in the
direction of the
olive-tree on the edge of the waste land.
15:24 Then Zadok came, and Abiathar, and with them the ark
of
God's agreement: and
they put down the ark of God, till all the
people from the town
had gone by.
15:25 And the king said to Zadok, Take the ark of God back
into
the town: if I have
grace in the eyes of the Lord, he will let
me come back and see
it and his House again:
15:26 But if he says, I have no delight in you: then, here I
am;
let him do to me what
seems good to him.
15:27 The king said further to Zadok the priest, See, you
and
Abiathar are to go
back to the town in peace, with your two
sons, Ahimaaz, your
son, and Jonathan, the son of Abiathar.
15:28 See, I will be waiting at the way across the river, in
the
waste land, till I
get news from you.
15:29 So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to
Jerusalem, and did
not go away from there.
15:30 And David went up the slopes of the Mount of Olives
weeping all the way,
with his head covered and no shoes on his
feet: and all the
people who were with him, covering their
heads, went up
weeping.
15:31 And word came to David, saying, Ahithophel is among
those
who are joined to
Absalom. And David said, O Lord, let the
wisdom of Ahithophel
be made foolish.
15:32 Now when David had come to the top of the slope, where
they gave worship to
God, Hushai the Archite came to him in
great grief with dust
on his head:
15:33 David said to him, If you go on with me, you will be a
trouble to me:
15:34 But if you go back to the town and say to Absalom, I
will
be your servant, O
king; as in the past I have been your
father's servant, so
now I will be yours: then you will be able
to keep Ahithophel's
designs against me from being put into
effect.
15:35 And have you not there Zadok and Abiathar the priests?
so
whatever comes to
your ears from the king's house, give word of
it to Zadok and
Abiathar the priests.
15:36 See, they have with them their two sons, Ahimaaz,
Zadok's
son, and Jonathan,
the son of Abiathar; by them you may send
word to me of
everything which comes to your ears.
15:37 So Hushai, David's friend, went into the town, and
Absalom
came to Jerusalem.
16:1 And when David had gone a little way past the top of
the
slope, Ziba, the
servant of Mephibosheth, came to him, with two
asses on which were
two hundred cakes of bread and a hundred
stems of dry grapes
and a hundred summer fruits and a skin of
wine.
16:2 And David said to Ziba, What is your reason for this? And
Ziba said, The asses
are for the use of the king's people, and
the bread and the
fruit are food for the young men; and the
wine is for drink for
those who are overcome by weariness in
the waste land.
16:3 And the king said, And where is your master's son? And
Ziba
said, He is still at
Jerusalem: for he said, Today Israel will
give back to me the
kingdom of my father.
16:4 Then the king said to Ziba, Truly everything which was
Mephibosheth's is
yours. And Ziba said, I give honour to my
lord, may I have
grace in your eyes, my lord, O king!
16:5 And when King David came to Bahurim, a man of Saul's
family
named Shimei, the son
of Gera, came out from there, calling
curses after him.
16:6 And he sent stones at David and at all the king's
servants
and at all the people
and at all the men of war by his side, on
the right hand and on
the left.
16:7 And Shimei said, with curses, Be gone, be gone, you man
of
blood, you
good-for-nothing:
16:8 The Lord has sent punishment on you for all the blood
of
the family of Saul,
whose kingdom you have taken; and the Lord
has given the kingdom
to Absalom, your son: now you yourself
are taken in your
evil, because you are a man of blood.
16:9 Then Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, said to the king, Is
this
dead dog to go on
cursing my lord the king? let me go over and
take off his head.
16:10 And the king said, What have I to do with you, you
sons of
Zeruiah? Let him go
on cursing, for the Lord has said, Put a
curse on David, and
who then may say, Why have you done so?
16:11 And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, You
see
how my son, the
offspring of my body, has made designs against
my life: how much
more then may this Benjamite do so? Let him
be, and let him go on
cursing; for the Lord has given him
orders.
16:12 It may be that the Lord will take note of my wrongs,
and
give me back good in
answer to his cursing of me today.
16:13 So David and his men went on their way: and Shimei
went by
the hillside parallel
with them, cursing and sending stones and
dust at him.
16:14 And the king and his people came tired to Jordan, and
took
their rest there.
16:15 And Absalom and the men of Israel came to Jerusalem,
and
Ahithophel was with
him.
16:16 Then Hushai the Archite, David's friend, came to Absalom
and said, Long life
to the king, long life to the king!
16:17 And Absalom said, Is this your love for your friend?
why
did you not go with
your friend?
16:18 And Hushai said to Absalom, Not so; I am for that man
whom
the Lord and this
people and all the men of Israel have taken
as king, and I will
take my place with him.
16:19 And more than this! where is my place as a servant? is
it
not before his son?
as I have been your father's servant, so
will I be yours.
16:20 Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, Give your opinion
now,
what are we to do?
16:21 And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go in to your father's
women who are here
looking after his house; then all Israel
will have the news
that you are hated by your father, and the
hands of your
supporters will be strong.
16:22 So they put up the tent for Absalom on the top of the
house, and Absalom
went in to his father's women before the
eyes of all Israel.
16:23 In those days the opinions of Ahithophel were valued
as
highly as if through
him a man might get direction from God; so
were they valued by
David as much as by Absalom.
17:1 Then Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me take out twelve
thousand men and this
very night I will go after David:
17:2 And I will come up with him when he is tired and
feeble,
and make him full of
fear: and all the people with him will go
in flight; and I will
make an attack on the king only:
17:3 And I will make all the people come back to you as a
bride
comes back to her
husband: it is the life of only one man you
are going after; so
all the people will be at peace.
17:4 And the saying was pleasing to Absalom and to the
responsible men of
Israel.
17:5 Then Absalom said, Now send for Hushai the Archite, and
let
us give ear to what
he has to say.
17:6 And when Hushai came, Absalom said to him, This is what
Ahithophel has said:
are we to do as he says? if not, what is
your suggestion?
17:7 And Hushai said to Absalom, Ahithophel's idea is not a
good
one at this time.
17:8 Hushai said further, You have knowledge of your father
and
his men, that they
are men of war, and that their feelings are
bitter, like those of
a bear in the field whose young ones have
been taken from her:
and your father is a man of war, and will
not take his night's
rest with the people;
17:9 But he will certainly have taken cover now in some hole
or
secret place; and if
some of our people, at the first attack,
are overcome, then
any hearing of it will say, There is
destruction among the
people who are on Absalom's side.
17:10 Then even the strongest, whose heart is like the heart
of
a lion, will become
like water; for all Israel is conscious
that your father is a
man of war, and those who are with him
are strong and
without fear.
17:11 But my suggestion is that all Israel, from Dan as far
as
Beer-sheba, comes
together to you, a great army like the sands
of the sea in number;
and that you yourself go out among them.
17:12 Then we will come on him in some place, wherever he
may
be, falling on him as
the dew comes on the earth: and of him
and all the men who
are with him not one will get away with his
life.
17:13 And if he has gone into some town, then let all Israel
take strong cords to
that town, and we will have it pulled into
the valley, till not
one small stone is to be seen there.
17:14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, Hushai's
suggestion is better
than that of Ahithophel. For it was the
purpose of the Lord
to make the wise designs of Ahithophel
without effect, so
that the Lord might send evil on Absalom.
17:15 Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests,
This
is the suggestion
made by Ahithophel to Absalom and the
responsible men of
Israel, and this is what I said to them.
17:16 So now send the news quickly to David, and say, Do not
take your night's
rest by the way across the river to the waste
land, but be certain
to go over; or the king and all the people
with him will come to
destruction.
17:17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting by En-rogel; and
a
servant-girl went
from time to time and gave them news and they
went with the news to
King David, for it was not wise for them
to let themselves be
seen coming into the town.
17:18 But a boy saw them, and gave word of it to Absalom: so
the
two of them went away
quickly, and came to the house of a man
in Bahurim who had a
water-hole in his garden, and they went
down into it.
17:19 And a woman put a cover over the hole, and put crushed
grain on top of it,
and no one had any knowledge of it.
17:20 And Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house
and
said, Where are
Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said to
them, They have gone
from here to the stream. And after
searching for them,
and seeing nothing of them, they went back
to Jerusalem.
17:21 Then after the servants had gone away, they came up
out of
the water-hole and
went to give King David the news; and they
said, Get up and go
quickly over the water, for such and such
are Ahithophel's
designs against you.
17:22 So David and all the people who were with him went up
over
Jordan: when dawn
came, every one of them had gone over Jordan.
17:23 Now when Ahithophel saw that his suggestion was not
acted
on, he got his ass
ready, and went back to his house, to the
town where he came
from, and having put his house in order, he
put himself to death
by hanging; so he came to his end and was
put in the
resting-place of his father.
17:24 And David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom, with all the
men
of Israel, went over
Jordan.
17:25 And Absalom put Amasa at the head of the army in place
of
Joab. Now Amasa was
the son of a man named Ithra the
Ishmaelite, who had
been the lover of Abigail, the daughter of
Jesse, sister of
Zeruiah, Joab's mother.
17:26 And Israel and Absalom put up their tents in the land
of
Gilead.
17:27 Now when David had come to Mahanaim, Shobi, the son of
Nahash of Rabbah, the
Ammonite, and Machir, the son of Ammiel
of Lo-debar, and
Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,
17:28 Came with beds and basins and pots, and grain and
meal,
and all sorts of dry
foods,
17:29 And honey and butter and sheep and milk-cheeses, for
David
and his people: for
they said, This people is in the waste
land, needing food
and drink and rest.
18:1 And David had the people who were with him numbered,
and he
put over them
captains of thousands and captains of hundreds.
18:2 And David sent the people out, a third of them under
the
orders of Joab, and a
third under the orders of Abishai, son of
Zeruiah, Joab's
brother, and a third under Ittai the Gittite.
And the king said to
the people, And I myself will certainly go
out with you.
18:3 But the people said, It is better for you not to go
out:
for if we are put to
flight, they will not give a thought to
us, and if death
overtakes half of us, it will be nothing to
them: but you are of
more value than ten thousand of us: so it
is better for you to
be ready to come to our help from this
town.
18:4 And the king said to them, I will do whatever seems
best to
you. So the king took
his place by the door of the town, and
all the people went
out by hundreds and by thousands.
18:5 And the king gave orders to Joab and Abishai and Ittai,
saying, Because of
me, be gentle to the young man Absalom. And
this order about
Absalom was given in the hearing of all the
people.
18:6 So the people went out into the field against Israel,
and
the fight took place
in the woods of Ephraim.
18:7 And the people of Israel were overcome there by the
servants of David,
and there was a great destruction that day,
and twenty thousand
men were put to the sword.
18:8 And the fighting went on over all the face of the
country:
and the woods were
responsible for more deaths than the sword.
18:9 And Absalom came across some of David's men. And
Absalom
was seated on his
mule, and the mule went under the thick
branches of a great
tree, and his head became fixed in the tree
and he was lifted up
between earth and heaven, and the beast
under him went on.
18:10 And a certain man saw it and said to Joab, I saw
Absalom
hanging in a tree.
18:11 And Joab said to the man who had given him the news,
If
you saw this, why did
you not put your sword through him, and I
would have given you
ten bits of silver and a band for your
robe?
18:12 And the man said to Joab, Even if you gave me a
thousand
bits of silver, I
would not put out my hand against the king's
son: for in our
hearing the king gave orders to you and Abishai
and Ittai, saying,
Take care that the young man Absalom is not
touched.
18:13 And if I had falsely put him to death (and nothing may
be
kept secret from the
king), you would have had nothing to do
with me.
18:14 Then Joab said, I would have made it safe for you. And
he
took three spears in
his hand, and put them through Absalom's
heart, while he was
still living, in the branches of the tree.
18:15 And ten young men, servants of Joab, came round
Absalom
and put an end to
him.
18:16 And Joab had the horn sounded, and the people came
back
from going after
Israel, for Joab kept them back.
18:17 And they took Absalom's body and put it into a great
hole
in the wood, and put
a great mass of stones over it: and every
man of Israel went in
flight to his tent.
18:18 Now Absalom, before his death, had put up for himself
a
pillar in the king's
valley, naming it after himself; for he
said, I have no son
to keep my name in memory: and to this day
it is named Absalom's
pillar.
18:19 Then Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, said, Let me go and
give
the king news of how
the Lord has done right in his cause
against those who
took up arms against him.
18:20 And Joab said, You will take no news today; another
day
you may give him the
news, but you will take no news today,
because the king's
son is dead.
18:21 Then Joab said to the Cushite, Go and give the king
word
of what you have
seen. And the Cushite, making a sign of
respect to Joab, went
off running.
18:22 Then Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, said to Joab again,
Whatever may come of
it, let me go after the Cushite. And Joab
said, Why have you a
desire to go, my son, seeing that you will
get no reward for
your news?
18:23 Whatever may come of it, he said, I will go. Then he
said
to him, Go. So
Ahimaaz went running by the lowland road and
overtook the Cushite.
18:24 Now David was seated between the two town doors; and
the
watchman went up to
the roof of the doorways, on the wall, and,
lifting up his eyes,
saw a man running by himself.
18:25 And the watchman gave news of it to the king. And the
king
said, If he is coming
by himself, then he has news. And the man
was travelling
quickly, and came near.
18:26 Then the watchman saw another man running: and crying
out
in the direction of
the door he said, Here is another man
running by himself.
And the king said, He, like the other,
comes with news.
18:27 And the watchman said, It seems to me that the running
of
the first is like the
running of Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok. And
the king said, He is
a good man, and his news will be good.
18:28 And Ahimaaz, crying out to the king, said, It is well.
And
falling down before
the king, with his face to the earth, he
said, May the Lord
your God be praised, who has given up the
men who took up arms
against my lord the king!
18:29 And the king said, Is it well with the young man
Absalom?
And Ahimaaz said in
answer, When Joab sent me, your servant, I
saw a great outcry
going on, but I had no knowledge of what it
was.
18:30 And the king said, Get back and take your place here.
So
turning to one side,
he took his place there.
18:31 And then the Cushite came and said, I have news for my
lord the king: today
the Lord has done right in your cause
against all those who
took up arms against you.
18:32 And the king said to the Cushite, Is the young man
Absalom
safe? And the Cushite
said in answer, May all the king's haters
and those who do evil
against the king, be as that young man
is!
18:33 Then the king was much moved, and went up into the
room
over the door,
weeping, and saying, O my son Absalom, my son,
my son Absalom! if
only my life might have been given for
yours, O Absalom, my
son, my son!
19:1 And word was given to Joab that the king was weeping
and
sorrowing for
Absalom.
19:2 And the salvation of that day was changed to sorrow for
all
the people: for it
was said to the people, The king is in
bitter grief for his
son.
19:3 And the people made their way back to the town quietly
and
secretly, as those
who are shamed go secretly when they go in
flight from the war.
19:4 But the king, covering his face, gave a great cry, O my
son
Absalom, O Absalom,
my son, my son!
19:5 And Joab came into the house to the king and said,
Today
you have put to shame
the faces of all your servants who even
now have kept you and
your sons and your daughters and your
wives and all your
women safe from death;
19:6 For your haters, it seems, are dear to you, and your
friends are hated.
For you have made it clear that captains and
servants are nothing
to you: and now I see that if Absalom was
living and we had all
been dead today, it would have been right
in your eyes.
19:7 So get up now, and go out and say some kind words to
your
servants; for, by the
Lord, I give you my oath, that if you do
not go out, not one
of them will keep with you tonight; and
that will be worse
for you than all the evil which has
overtaken you from
your earliest years.
19:8 Then the king got up and took his seat near the
town-door.
And word was given to
all the people that the king was in the
public place: and all
the people came before the king. Now all
the men of Israel had
gone back in flight to their tents.
19:9 And through all the tribes of Israel the people were
having
arguments, saying,
The king made us safe from the hands of
those who were
against us and made us free from the hands of
the Philistines; and
now he has gone in flight from the land,
because of Absalom.
19:10 And Absalom, whom we made a ruler over us, is dead in
the
fight. So now why do
you say nothing about getting the king
back? And word of
what all Israel was saying came to the king.
19:11 And King David sent word to Zadok and Abiathar, the
priests, Say to the
responsible men of Judah, Why are you the
last to take steps to
get the king back to his house?
19:12 You are my brothers, my bone and my flesh; why are you
the
last to get the king
back again?
19:13 And say to Amasa, Are you not my bone and my flesh?
May
God's punishment be
on me, if I do not make you chief of the
army before me at all
times in place of Joab!
19:14 And the hearts of the men of Judah were moved like one
man; so that they
sent to the king, saying, Come back, with all
your servants.
19:15 So the king came back, and came as far as Jordan. And
Judah came to Gilgal,
meeting the king there, to take him back
with them over
Jordan.
19:16 And Shimei, the son of Gera, the Benjamite from
Bahurim,
got up quickly and
went down with the men of Judah for the
purpose of meeting
King David;
19:17 And with him a thousand men of Benjamin, and Ziba, the
servant of Saul, with
his fifteen sons and twenty servants,
came rushing to
Jordan before the king,
19:18 And kept going across the river to take the people of
the
king's house over,
and to do whatever was desired by the king.
And Shimei, the son
of Gera, went down on his face in the dust
before the king, when
he was about to go over Jordan,
19:19 And said to him, Let me not be judged as a sinner in
your
eyes, O my lord, and
do not keep in mind the wrong I did on the
day when my lord the
king went out of Jerusalem, or take it to
heart.
19:20 For your servant is conscious of his sin: and so, as
you
see, I have come
today, the first of all the sons of Joseph,
for the purpose of
meeting my lord the king.
19:21 But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, said, Is not death
the
right fate for
Shimei, because he has been cursing the one
marked by the holy
oil?
19:22 And David said, What have I to do with you, you sons
of
Zeruiah, that you put
yourselves against me today? is it right
for any man in Israel
to be put to death today? for I am
certain today that I
am king in Israel.
19:23 So the king said to Shimei, You will not be put to
death.
And the king gave him
his oath.
19:24 And Mephibosheth, the son of Saul's son, came down for
the
purpose of meeting
the king; his feet had not been cared for or
his hair cut or his
clothing washed from the day when the king
went away till the
day when he came back in peace.
19:25 Now when he had come from Jerusalem to see the king,
the
king said to him, Why
did you not come with me, Mephibosheth?
19:26 And he said in answer, Because of the deceit of my
servant, my lord
king: for I, your servant, said to him, You
are to make ready an
ass and on it I will go with the king, for
your servant has not
the use of his feet.
19:27 He has given you a false account of me: but my lord
the
king is like the
angel of God: do then whatever seems good to
you.
19:28 For all my father's family were only dead men before
my
lord the king: and
still you put your servant among those whose
place is at the
king's table. What right then have I to say
anything more to the
king?
19:29 And the king said, Say nothing more about these
things. I
say, Let there be a
division of the land between Ziba and you.
19:30 And Mephibosheth said, Let him take it all, now that
my
lord the king has
come back to his house in peace!
19:31 And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim;
and he
went on as far as
Jordan with the king to take him across
Jordan.
19:32 Now Barzillai was a very old man, as much as eighty
years
old: and he had given
the king everything he had need of, while
he was at Mahanaim,
for he was a very great man.
19:33 And the king said to Barzillai, Come over with me, and
I
will take care of you
in Jerusalem.
19:34 And Barzillai said to the king, How much of my life is
still before me, for
me to go up to Jerusalem with the king?
19:35 I am now eighty years old: good and bad are the same
to
me; have meat and
drink any taste for me now? am I able to take
pleasure in the
voices of men or women in song? why then am I
to be a trouble to my
lord the king?
19:36 Your servant's desire was only to take the king over
Jordan; why is the
king to give me such a reward?
19:37 Let your servant now go back again, so that when death
comes to me, it may
be in my town and by the resting-place of
my father and mother.
But here is your servant Chimham: let him
go with my lord the
king, and do for him what seems good to
you.
19:38 And the king said in answer, Let Chimham go over with
me,
and I will do for him
whatever seems good to you: and whatever
your desire is, I
will do it for you.
19:39 Then all the people went over Jordan, and the king
went
over: and the king
gave Barzillai a kiss, with his blessing;
and he went back to
his place.
19:40 So the king went over to Gilgal, and Chimham went with
him: and all the
people of Judah, as well as half the people of
Israel, took the king
on his way.
19:41 Then the men of Israel came to the king and said, Why
have
our countrymen of
Judah taken you away in secret and come over
Jordan with the king
and all his family, because all his people
are David's men?
19:42 And all the men of Judah gave this answer to the men
of
Israel, Because the
king is our near relation: why then are you
angry about this?
have we taken any of the king's food, or has
he given us any
offering?
19:43 And in answer to the men of Judah, the men of Israel
said,
We have ten parts in
the king, and we are the first in order of
birth: why did you
make nothing of us? and were we not the
first to make
suggestions for getting the king back? And the
words of the men of
Judah were more violent than the words of
the men of Israel.
20:1 Now by chance there was present a good-for-nothing
person
named Sheba, the son
of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he, sounding
the horn, said, We
have no part in David, or any interest in
the son of Jesse: let
every man go to his tent, O Israel.
20:2 So all the men of Israel, turning away from David, went
after Sheba, the son
of Bichri: but the men of Judah were true
to their king, going
with him from Jordan as far as Jerusalem.
20:3 And David came to his house at Jerusalem: and the king
took
the ten women to whom
he had given the care of the house, and
had them shut up, and
gave them the necessaries of life, but
did not go near them.
So they were shut up till the day of
their death, living
as widows.
20:4 Then the king said to Amasa, Get all the men of Judah
together, and in
three days be here yourself.
20:5 So Amasa went to get all the men of Judah together, but
he
took longer than the
time David had given him.
20:6 And David said to Abishai, Sheba, the son of Bichri,
will
do us more damage
than Absalom did; so take some of your lord's
servants and go after
him, before he makes himself safe in the
walled towns, and
gets away before our eyes.
20:7 So there went after Abishai, Joab and the Cherethites
and
the Pelethites and
all the fighting-men; they went out of
Jerusalem to overtake
Sheba, the son of Bichri.
20:8 When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon,
Amasa
came face to face
with them. Now Joab had on his war-dress, and
round him a band from
which his sword was hanging in its cover;
and while he was
walking, it came out, falling to the earth.
20:9 And Joab said to Amasa, Is it well, my brother? And
with
his right hand he
took him by the hair of his chin to give him
a kiss.
20:10 But Amasa did not see danger from the sword which was
now
in Joab's left hand,
and Joab put it through his stomach so
that his inside came
out on to the earth, and he did not give
him another blow. So
Joab and his brother Abishai went on after
Sheba, the son of
Bichri.
20:11 And one of Joab's young men, taking his place at
Amasa's
side, said, Whoever
is for Joab and for David, let him go after
Joab!
20:12 And Amasa was stretched out in a pool of blood in the
middle of the
highway. And when the man saw that all the people
were stopping, he
took Amasa out of the highway and put him in
a field, with a cloth
over him, when he saw that everyone who
went by came to a
stop.
20:13 When he had been taken off the road, all the people
went
on after Joab in
search of Sheba, the son of Bichri.
20:14 And Sheba went through all the tribes of Israel, to
Abel
of Beth-maacah; and
all the Bichrites came together and went in
after him.
20:15 And Joab and his men got him shut up in Abel of
Beth-maacah, and put
up an earthwork against the town: and all
Joab's men did their
best to get the wall broken down.
20:16 Then a wise woman got up on the wall, and crying out
from
the town, said, Give
ear, give ear; say now to Joab, Come near,
so that I may have
talk with you.
20:17 And he came near, and the woman said, Are you Joab?
And he
said in answer, I am.
Then she said, Give ear to your servant's
words. And he said, I
am giving ear.
20:18 Then she said, In the old days, there was a saying, Let
them put the question
in Abel and in Dan, saying, Has what was
ordered by men of
good faith in Israel ever come to an end?
20:19 Your purpose is the destruction of a mother-town in
Israel: why would you
put an end to the heritage of the Lord?
20:20 And Joab, answering her, said, Far, far be it from me
to
be a cause of death
or destruction;
20:21 Not so: but a man of the hill-country of Ephraim,
Sheba,
son of Bichri, by
name, has taken up arms against the king,
against David: give
up this man only, and I will go away from
the town. And the
woman said to Joab, His head will be dropped
over the wall to you.
20:22 Then the woman in her wisdom had talk with all the
town.
And they had Sheba's
head cut off and sent out to Joab. And he
had the horn sounded,
and sent them all away from the town,
every man to his
tent. And Joab went back to Jerusalem to the
king.
20:23 Now Joab was over all the army; and Benaiah, the son
of
Jehoiada, was at the
head of the Cherethites and the
Pelethites;
20:24 And Adoram was overseer of the forced work; and
Jehoshaphat, the son
of Ahilud, was the recorder;
20:25 And Sheva was the scribe, and Zadok and Abiathar were
priests;
20:26 And in addition, Ira the Jairite was a priest to
David.
21:1 In the days of David they were short of food for three
years, year after
year; and David went before the Lord for
directions. And the
Lord said, On Saul and on his family there
is blood, because he
put the Gibeonites to death.
21:2 Then the king sent for the Gibeonites; (now the
Gibeonites
were not of the
children of Israel, but were the last of the
Amorites, to whom the
children of Israel had given an oath; but
Saul, in his passion
for the children of Israel and Judah, had
made an attempt on
their lives:)
21:3 So David said to the Gibeonites, What may I do for you?
how
am I to make up to
you for your wrongs, so that you may give a
blessing to the
heritage of the Lord?
21:4 And the Gibeonites said to him, It is not a question of
silver and gold
between us and Saul or his family; and it is
not in our power to
put to death any man in Israel. And he
said, Say, then, what
am I to do for you?
21:5 And they said to the king, As for the man by whom we
were
wasted, and who made
designs against us to have us completely
cut off from the land
of Israel,
21:6 Let seven men of his family be given up to us and we
will
put an end to them by
hanging them before the Lord in Gibeon,
on the hill of the
Lord. And the king said, I will give them.
21:7 But the king did not give up Mephibosheth, the son of
Saul's son Jonathan,
because of the Lord's oath made between
David and Jonathan,
the son of Saul.
21:8 But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons
of
Saul to whom Rizpah,
the daughter of Aiah, had given birth; and
the five sons of
Saul's daughter Merab, whose father was
Adriel, the son of
Barzillai the Meholathite:
21:9 And he gave them up to the Gibeonites, and they put
them to
death, hanging them
on the mountain before the Lord; all seven
came to their end together
in the first days of the
grain-cutting, at the
start of the cutting of the barley.
21:10 And Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, took haircloth,
placing
it on the rock as a
bed for herself, from the start of the
grain-cutting till
rain came down on them from heaven; and she
did not let the birds
of the air come near them by day, or the
beasts of the field
by night.
21:11 And news was given to David of what Rizpah, the
daughter
of Aiah, one of
Saul's wives, had done.
21:12 And David went and took the bones of Saul and his son
Jonathan from the men
of Jabesh-gilead, who had taken them away
secretly from the
public place of Beth-shan, where the
Philistines had put
them, hanging up the bodies there on the
day when they put
Saul to death in Gilboa:
21:13 And he took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan
from
that place; and they
got together the bones of those who had
been put to death by
hanging.
21:14 And they put them with the bones of Saul and his son
Jonathan in the
resting-place of Kish, his father, in Zela in
the country of
Benjamin; they did all the king had given them
orders to do. And
after that, God gave ear to their prayers for
the land.
21:15 And the Philistines went to war again with Israel; and
David went down with
his people, and while they were at Gob
they had a fight with
the Philistines:
21:16 And there came against David one of the offspring of
the
Rephaim, whose spear
was three hundred shekels of brass in
weight, and having a
new sword, he made an attempt to put David
to death.
21:17 But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, came to his help,
and,
turning on the
Philistine, gave him his death-blow. Then
David's men took an
oath, and said, Never again are you to go
out with us to the
fight, so that you may not put out the light
of Israel.
21:18 Now after this there was war with the Philistines
again at
Gob, and Sibbecai the
Hushathite put to death Saph, one of the
offspring of the
Rephaim.
21:19 And again there was war with the Philistines at Gob,
and
Elhanan, the son of
Jair the Beth-lehemite, put to death
Goliath the Gittite,
the stem of whose spear was like a
cloth-worker's rod.
21:20 And again there was war at Gath, where there was a
very
tall man, who had
twenty-four fingers and toes, six fingers on
his hands and six
toes on his feet; he was one of the offspring
of the Rephaim.
21:21 And when he was purposing to put shame on Israel,
Jonathan, the son of
Shimei, David's brother, put him to death.
21:22 These four were of the offspring of the Rephaim in
Gath;
and they came to
their end by the hands of David and his
servants.
22:1 And David made a song to the Lord in these words, on
the
day when the Lord
made him free from the hands of all his
haters, and from the
hand of Saul:
22:2 And he said, The Lord is my Rock, my walled town, and
my
saviour, even mine;
22:3 My God, my Rock, in him will I put my faith; my
breastplate, and the
horn of my salvation, my high tower, and
my safe place; my
saviour, who keeps me safe from the violent
man.
22:4 I will send up my cry to the Lord, who is to be
praised; so
will I be made safe
from those who are against me.
22:5 For the waves of death came round me, and the seas of
evil
put me in fear;
22:6 The cords of hell were round me: the nets of death came
on
me.
22:7 In my trouble my voice went up to the Lord, and my cry
to
my God: my voice came
to his hearing in his holy Temple, and my
prayer came to his
ears.
22:8 Then the earth was moved with a violent shock; the
bases of
heaven were moved and
shaking, because he was angry.
22:9 There went up a smoke from his nose, and a fire of
destruction from his
mouth: coals were lighted by it.
22:10 The heavens were bent, so that he might come down; and
it
was dark under his
feet.
22:11 And he went through the air, seated on a storm-cloud:
going quickly on the
wings of the wind.
22:12 And he made the dark his tent round him, a mass of
waters,
thick clouds of the
skies.
22:13 Before his shining light his dark clouds went past,
raining ice and coals
of fire.
22:14 The Lord made thunder in the heavens, and the voice of
the
Highest was sounding
out.
22:15 And he sent out his arrows, driving them in all
directions; by his
flames of fire they were troubled.
22:16 Then the deep beds of the sea were seen, and the bases
of
the world were
uncovered, because of the Lord's wrath, because
of the breath of his
mouth.
22:17 He sent from on high, he took me, pulling me out of
great
waters.
22:18 He made me free from my strong hater, from those who
were
against me, because
they were stronger than I.
22:19 They came on me in the day of my trouble: but the Lord
was
my support.
22:20 He took me out into a wide place; he was my saviour
because he had
delight in me.
22:21 The Lord gives me the reward of my righteousness,
because
my hands are clean
before him.
22:22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I have not been
turned away in sin
from my God.
22:23 For all his decisions were before me, and I did not
put
away his laws from
me.
22:24 And I was upright before him, and I kept myself from
sin.
22:25 Because of this the Lord has given me the reward of my
righteousness,
because my hands are clean in his eyes.
22:26 On him who has mercy you will have mercy; to the upright
you will be upright;
22:27 He who is holy will see that you are holy; but to the
man
whose way is not
straight you will be a hard judge.
22:28 For you are the saviour of those who are in trouble;
but
your eyes are on men
of pride, to make them low.
22:29 For you are my light, O Lord; and the Lord will make
the
dark bright for me.
22:30 By your help I have made a way through the wall which
was
shutting me in: by
the help of my God I have gone over a wall.
22:31 As for God, his way is all good: the word of the Lord
is
tested; he is a safe
cover for all those who put their faith in
him.
22:32 For who is God but the Lord? and who is a Rock but our
God?
22:33 God puts a strong band about me, guiding me in a
straight
way.
22:34 He makes my feet like roes' feet, and puts me on high
places.
22:35 He makes my hands expert in war, so that a bow of
brass is
bent by my arms.
22:36 You have given me the breastplate of your salvation,
and
your mercy has made
me great.
22:37 You have made my steps wide under me, so that my feet
make
no slip.
22:38 I go after my haters and overtake them; not turning
back
till they are all
overcome.
22:39 I have sent destruction on them and given them wounds,
so
that they are not
able to get up: they are stretched under my
feet.
22:40 For I have been armed by you with strength for the
fight:
you have made low
under me those who came out against me.
22:41 By you their backs are turned in flight, so that my
haters
are cut off.
22:42 They were crying out, but there was no one to come to
their help: even to
the Lord, but he gave them no answer.
22:43 Then they were crushed as small as the dust of the
earth,
stamped down under my
feet like the waste of the streets.
22:44 You have made me free from the fightings of my people;
you
have made me the head
of the nations: a people of whom I had no
knowledge will be my
servants.
22:45 Men of other countries will, with false hearts, put
themselves under my
authority: from the time when my name comes
to their ears, they
will be ruled by me.
22:46 They will be wasted away, they will come out of their
secret places shaking
with fear.
22:47 The Lord is living; praise be to my Rock, and let the
God
of my salvation be
honoured:
22:48 It is God who sends punishment on my haters, and puts
peoples under my
rule.
22:49 He makes me free from my haters: I am lifted up over
those
who come up against
me: you have made me free from the violent
man.
22:50 Because of this I will give you praise, O Lord, among
the
nations, and will
make a song of praise to your name.
22:51 Great salvation does he give to his king; he has mercy
on
the king of his
selection, David, and on his seed for ever.
23:1 Now these are the last words of David. David, the son of
Jesse, says, the man
who was lifted up on high, the man on whom
the God of Jacob put
the holy oil, the loved one of Israel's
songs, says:
23:2 The spirit of the Lord had voice through me, his word
was
on my tongue.
23:3 The God of Israel said, the word of the Rock of Israel
came
to me: When an
upright king is ruling over men, when he is
ruling in the fear of
God,
23:4 It is as the light of the morning, when the sun comes
up, a
morning without
clouds; making young grass come to life from
the earth.
23:5 For is not my house so with God? For he has made with
me an
eternal agreement,
ordered in all things and certain: as for
all my salvation and
all my desire, will he not give it
increase?
23:6 But the evil-doers, all of them, will be like thorns to
be
pushed away, because
they may not be gripped in the hand:
23:7 But anyone touching them has to be armed with iron and
the
rod of a spear; and
they will be burned with fire, every one of
them.
23:8 These are the names of David's men of war: Ishbaal the
Hachmonite, chief of
the three; his axe was lifted up against
eight hundred put to
death at one time.
23:9 After him was Eleazar, the son of Dodai the Ahohite,
one of
the three great
fighters, who was with David in Pas-dammim when
the Philistines came
together there for the fight; and when the
men of Israel had
gone in flight,
23:10 He was with David and went on fighting the Philistines
till his hand became
tired and stiff from gripping his sword:
and that day the Lord
gave a great salvation, and the people
came back after him
only to take the goods of the Philistines.
23:11 After him was Shammah, the son of Ela the Hararite.
And
the Philistines came
together in Lehi, where there was a bit of
land full of seed;
and the people went in flight from the
Philistines.
23:12 But he kept his place in the middle of the bit of
land,
and kept back their
attack and overcame the Philistines: and
the Lord gave a great
salvation.
23:13 And three of the thirty went down at the start of the
grain-cutting, and
they came to David at the strong place of
Adullam; and the band
of Philistines had taken up their
position in the
valley of Rephaim.
23:14 And at that time David had taken cover in the strong
place, and an armed
force of the Philistines was in Beth-lehem.
23:15 And David, moved by a strong desire, said, If only
someone
would give me a drink
of water from the water-hole of
Beth-lehem, by the
doorway into the town!
23:16 And the three men, forcing their way through the
Philistine army, got
water from the water-hole of Beth-lehem,
by the doorway into
the town, and took it back to David: but he
would not take it,
but, draining it out, made an offering of it
to the Lord.
23:17 And he said, Far be it from me, O Lord, to do this;
how
may I take as my
drink the life-blood of men who have put their
lives in danger? So
he would not take it. These things did the
three great men of
war.
23:18 And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah,
was
chief of the thirty.
He put to death three hundred with his
spear, and he got for
himself a name among the thirty.
23:19 Was he not the noblest of the thirty? so he was made
their
captain: but he was
not equal to the first three.
23:20 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, a fighting man of
Kabzeel, had done
great acts; he put to death the two sons of
Ariel of Moab: he
went down into a hole and put a lion to death
in time of snow:
23:21 And he made an attack on an Egyptian, a tall man: and
the
Egyptian had a spear
in his hand; but he went down to him with
a stick, and pulling
the spear out of the hands of the
Egyptian, put him to
death with that same spear.
23:22 These were the acts of Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada,
who
had a great name
among the thirty men of war.
23:23 He was honoured over the rest of the thirty, but he
was
not equal to the
first three. And David put him over the
fighting men who kept
him safe.
23:24 Asahel, the brother of Joab, was one of the thirty;
and
Elhanan, the son of
Dodai, of Beth-lehem,
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, Sibbecai the Hushathite,
23:28 Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite,
23:29 Heldai, the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai, the
son
of Ribai of Gibeah of
the children of Benjamin,
23:30 Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai of the valleys of
Gaash,
23:31 Abiel the Arbathite, Azmaveth of Bahurim,
23:32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite, Jashen the Gunite,
23:33 Jonathan, the son of Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam, the
son
of Sharar the
Hararite,
23:34 Eliphelet, the son of Ahasbai the Maacathite, Eliam,
the
son of Ahithophel the
Gilonite,
23:35 Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Archite,
23:36 Igal, the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite,
23:37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, who had
the
care of the arms of
Joab, son of Zeruiah,
23:38 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,
23:39 Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in number.
24:1 Again the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel,
and
moving David against
them, he said, Go, take the number of
Israel and Judah.
24:2 And the king said to Joab and the captains of the army,
who
were with him, Go now
through all the tribes of Israel, from
Dan as far as
Beer-sheba, and have all the people numbered, so
that I may be certain
of the number of the people.
24:3 And Joab said to the king, Whatever the number of the
people, may the Lord
make it a hundred times as much, and may
the eyes of my lord
the king see it: but why does my lord the
king take pleasure in
doing this thing?
24:4 But the king's order was stronger than Joab and the
captains of the army.
And Joab and the captains of the army
went out from the
king, to take the number of the children of
Israel.
24:5 And they went over Jordan, and starting from Aroer,
from
the town which is in
the middle of the valley, they went in the
direction of the
Gadites, and on to Jazer;
24:6 Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of the
Hittites
under Hermon; and
they came to Dan, and from Dan they came
round to Zidon,
24:7 And to the walled town of Tyre, and to all the towns of
the
Hivites and the
Canaanites: and they went out to the South of
Judah at Beer-sheba.
24:8 So after going through all the land in every direction,
they came to
Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty
days.
24:9 And Joab gave the king the number of all the people:
there
were in Israel eight
hundred thousand fighting men able to take
up arms; and the men
of Judah were five hundred thousand.
24:10 And after the people had been numbered, David's heart
was
troubled. And David
said to the Lord, Great has been my sin in
doing this; but now,
O Lord, be pleased to take away the sin of
your servant, for I
have done very foolishly
24:11 And David got up in the morning; now the word of the
Lord
had come to the
prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,
24:12 Go and say to David, The Lord says, Three things are
offered to you: say
which of them you will have, and I will do
it to you.
24:13 So Gad came to David, and gave him word of this and
said
to him, Are there to
be three years when there is not enough
food in your land? or
will you go in flight from your haters
for three months,
while they go after you? or will you have
three days of violent
disease in your land? take thought and
say what answer I am
to give to him who sent me.
24:14 And David said to Gad, This is a hard decision for me
to
make: let us come
into the hands of the Lord, for great are his
mercies: let me not
come into the hands of men.
24:15 So David made selection of the disease; and the time
was
the days of the
grain-cutting, when the disease came among the
people, causing the
death of seventy thousand men from Dan as
far as Beer-sheba.
24:16 And when the hand of the angel was stretched out in
the
direction of
Jerusalem, for its destruction, the Lord had
regret for the evil,
and said to the angel who was sending
destruction on the
people, It is enough; do no more. And the
angel of the Lord was
by the grain-floor of Araunah the
Jebusite.
24:17 And when David saw the angel who was causing the
destruction of the
people, he said to the Lord, Truly, the sin
is mine; I have done
wrong: but these are only sheep; what have
they done? let your
hand be against me and against my family.
24:18 And that day Gad came to David and said to him, Go up,
and
put up an altar to
the Lord on the grain-floor of Araunah the
Jebusite.
24:19 So David went up, as Gad had said and as the Lord had
given orders.
24:20 And Araunah, looking out, saw the king and his
servants
coming to him: and
Araunah went out, and went down on his face
to the earth before
the king.
24:21 And Araunah said, Why has my lord the king come to his
servant? And David
said, To give you a price for your
grain-floor, so that
I may put up an altar to the Lord, and the
disease may be
stopped among the people.
24:22 And Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take
whatever seems right
to him, and make an offering of it: see,
here are the oxen for
the burned offering, and the
grain-cleaning
instruments and the ox-yokes for wood:
24:23 All this does the servant of my lord the king give to
the
king. And Araunah
said, May the Lord your God be pleased with
your offering!
24:24 And the king said to Araunah, No, but I will give you
a
price for it; I will
not give to the Lord my God burned
offerings for which I
have given nothing. So David got the
grain-floor and the
oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
24:25 And there David put up an altar to the Lord, making
burned
offerings and
peace-offerings. So the Lord gave ear to his
prayer for the land, and the disease came to an end in Israel.