1 {1:1} Now it came to pass after the death of Saul, when
David was returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites,
and David had abode two days in Ziklag; {1:2} It came
even to pass on the third day, that, behold, a man came out
of the camp from Saul with his clothes rent, and earth upon
his head: and [so] it was, when he came to David, that he
fell to the earth, and did obeisance. {1:3} And David said
unto him, From whence comest thou? And he said unto him,
Out of the camp of Israel am I escaped. {1:4} And David
said unto him, How went the matter? I pray thee, tell me.
And he answered, That the people are fled from the battle,
and many of the people also are fallen and dead; and Saul
and Jonathan his son are dead also. {1:5} And David said
unto the young man that told him, How knowest thou that
Saul and Jonathan his son be dead? {1:6} And the young
man that told him said, As I happened by chance upon
mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear; and, lo,
the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. {1:7}
And when he looked behind him, he saw me, and called
unto me. And I answered, Here [am] I. {1:8} And he said
unto me, Who [art] thou? And I answered him, I [am] an
Amalekite. {1:9} And he said unto me again, Stand, I pray
thee, upon me, and slay me: for anguish is come upon me,
because my life [is] yet whole in me. {1:10} So I stood
upon him, and slew him, because I was sure that he could
not live after that he was fallen: and I took the crown that
[was] upon his head, and the bracelet that [was] on his arm,
and have brought them hither unto my lord. {1:11} Then
David took hold on his clothes, and rent them; and likewise
all the men that [were] with him: {1:12} And they mourned,
and wept, and fasted until even, for Saul, and for Jonathan
his son, and for the people of the LORD, and for the house
of Israel; because they were fallen by the sword.
{1:13} And David said unto the young man that told him,
Whence [art] thou? And he answered, I [am] the son of a
stranger, an Amalekite. {1:14} And David said unto him,
How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to
destroy the LORD’S anointed? {1:15} And David called
one of the young men, and said, Go near, [and] fall upon
him. And he smote him that he died. {1:16} And David said
unto him, Thy blood [be] upon thy head; for thy mouth hath
testified against thee, saying, I have slain the LORD’S
anointed.
{1:17} And David lamented with this lamentation over
Saul and over Jonathan his son: {1:18} (Also he bade them
teach the children of Judah [the use of] the bow: behold, it
is written in the book of Jasher.) {1:19} The beauty of Israel
is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!
{1:20} Tell [it] not in Gath, publish [it] not in the streets of
Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the
daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. {1:21} Ye　　　　　　　　　Alternate Translation
mountains of Gilboa, [let there be] no dew, neither [let there
be] rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the
shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul,
[as though he had] not [been] anointed with oil. {1:22}
From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the
bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul
returned not empty. {1:23} Saul and Jonathan [were] lovely
and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not
divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger
than lions. {1:24} Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,
who clothed you in scarlet, with [other] delights, who put on
ornaments of gold upon your apparel. {1:25} How are the
mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, [thou
wast] slain in thine high places. {1:26} I am distressed for
thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been
unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of
women. {1:27} How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons
of war perished!

2 {2:1} And it came to pass after this, that David enquired
of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of
Judah? And the LORD said unto him, Go up. And David
said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron.
{2:2} So David went up thither, and his two wives also,
Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail Nabal’s wife the
Carmelite. {2:3} And his men that [were] with him did
David bring up, every man with his household: and they
dwelt in the cities of Hebron. {2:4} And the men of Judah
came, and there they anointed David king over the house of
Judah. And they told David, saying, [That] the men of
Jabesh-gilead [were they] that buried Saul.
{2:5} And David sent messengers unto the men of Jabesh-
gilead, and said unto them, Blessed [be] ye of the LORD,
that ye have shewed this kindness unto your lord, [even]
unto Saul, and have buried him. {2:6} And now the LORD
shew kindness and truth unto you: and I also will requite
you this kindness, because ye have done this thing. {2:7}
Therefore now let your hands be strengthened, and be ye
valiant: for your master Saul is dead, and also the house of
Judah have anointed me king over them.
{2:8} But Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul’s host,
took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to
Mahanaim; {2:9} And made him king over Gilead, and over
the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over
Benjamin, and over all Israel. {2:10} Ish-bosheth Saul’s son
[was] forty years old when he began to reign over Israel,
and reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed
David. {2:11} And the time that David was king in Hebron
over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
{2:12} And Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ishbosheth
the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to
Gibeon. {2:13} And Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the
servants of David, went out, and met together by the pool of
Gibeon: and they sat down, the one on the one side of the
pool, and the other on the other side of the pool. {2:14} And
Abner said to Joab, Let the young men now arise, and play
before us. And Joab said, Let them arise. {2:15} Then there
arose and went over by number twelve of Benjamin, which
[pertained] to Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the
servants of David. {2:16} And they caught every one his
fellow by the head, and [thrust] his sword in his fellow’s
side; so they fell down together: wherefore that place was
called Helkath-hazzurim, which [is] in Gibeon. {2:17} And
there was a very sore battle that day; and Abner was beaten,
and the men of Israel, before the servants of David.
{2:18} And there were three sons of Zeruiah there, Joab,
and Abishai, and Asahel: and Asahel [was as] light of foot
as a wild roe. {2:19} And Asahel pursued after Abner; and
in going he turned not to the right hand nor to the left from
following Abner. {2:20} Then Abner looked behind him,
and said, [Art] thou Asahel? And he answered, I [am.]
{2:21} And Abner said to him, Turn thee aside to thy right
hand or to thy left, and lay thee hold on one of the young
men, and take thee his armour. But Asahel would not turn
aside from following of him. {2:22} And Abner said again
to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me: wherefore
2 Samuel Page 180
should I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold
up my face to Joab thy brother? {2:23} Howbeit he refused
to turn aside: wherefore Abner with the hinder end of the
spear smote him under the fifth [rib,] that the spear came
out behind him; and he fell down there, and died in the
same place: and it came to pass, [that] as many as came to
the place where Asahel fell down and died stood still.
{2:24} Joab also and Abishai pursued after Abner: and the
sun went down when they were come to the hill of Ammah,
that [lieth] before Giah by the way of the wilderness of
Gibeon.
{2:25} And the children of Benjamin gathered themselves
together after Abner, and became one troop, and stood on
the top of an hill. {2:26} Then Abner called to Joab, and
said, Shall the sword devour for ever? knowest thou not that
it will be bitterness in the latter end? how long shall it be
then, ere thou bid the people return from following their
brethren? {2:27} And Joab said, [As] God liveth, unless
thou hadst spoken, surely then in the morning the people
had gone up every one from following his brother. {2:28}
So Joab blew a trumpet, and all the people stood still, and
pursued after Israel no more, neither fought they any more.
{2:29} And Abner and his men walked all that night
through the plain, and passed over Jordan, and went through
all Bithron, and they came to Mahanaim. {2:30} And Joab
returned from following Abner: and when he had gathered
all the people together, there lacked of David’s servants
nineteen men and Asahel. {2:31} But the servants of David
had smitten of Benjamin, and of Abner’s men, [so that]
three hundred and threescore men died.
{2:32} And they took up Asahel, and buried him in the
sepulchre of his father, which [was in] Bethlehem. And
Joab and his men went all night, and they came to Hebron at
break of day.

3 {3:1} Now there was long war between the house of Saul
and the house of David: but David waxed stronger and
stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker.
{3:2} And unto David were sons born in Hebron: and his
firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; {3:3}
And his second, Chileab, of Abigail the wife of Nabal the
Carmelite; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the
daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; {3:4} And the fourth,
Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the
son of Abital; {3:5} And the sixth, Ithream, by Eglah
David’s wife. These were born to David in Hebron.
{3:6} And it came to pass, while there was war between
the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abner made
himself strong for the house of Saul. {3:7} And Saul had a
concubine, whose name [was] Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah:
and [Ish-bosheth] said to Abner, Wherefore hast thou gone
in unto my father’s concubine? {3:8} Then was Abner very
wroth for the words of Ish-bosheth, and said, [Am] I a dog’s
head, which against Judah do shew kindness this day unto
the house of Saul thy father, to his brethren, and to his
friends, and have not delivered thee into the hand of David,
that thou chargest me to day with a fault concerning this
woman? {3:9} So do God to Abner, and more also, except,
as the LORD hath sworn to David, even so I do to him;
{3:10} To translate the kingdom from the house of Saul,
and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah,
from Dan even to Beer-sheba. {3:11} And he could not
answer Abner a word again, because he feared him.
{3:12} And Abner sent messengers to David on his
behalf, saying, Whose [is] the land? saying [also,] Make thy
league with me, and, behold, my hand [shall be] with thee,
to bring about all Israel unto thee.
{3:13} And he said, Well; I will make a league with thee:
but one thing I require of thee, that is, Thou shalt not see my
face, except thou first bring Michal Saul’s daughter, when
thou comest to see my face. {3:14} And David sent
messengers to Ish-bosheth Saul’s son, saying, Deliver [me]
my wife Michal, which I espoused to me for an hundred
foreskins of the Philistines. {3:15} And Ish-bosheth sent,
and took her from [her] husband, [even] from Phaltiel the
son of Laish. {3:16} And her husband went with her along
weeping behind her to Bahurim. Then said Abner unto him,
Go, return. And he returned.
{3:17} And Abner had communication with the elders of
Israel, saying, Ye sought for David in times past [to be]
king over you: {3:18} Now then do [it:] for the LORD hath
spoken of David, saying, By the hand of my servant David I
will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines,
and out of the hand of all their enemies. {3:19} And Abner
also spake in the ears of Benjamin: and Abner went also to
speak in the ears of David in Hebron all that seemed good to
Israel, and that seemed good to the whole house of
Benjamin. {3:20} So Abner came to David to Hebron, and
twenty men with him. And David made Abner and the men
that [were] with him a feast. {3:21} And Abner said unto
David, I will arise and go, and will gather all Israel unto my
lord the king, that they may make a league with thee, and
that thou mayest reign over all that thine heart desireth. And
David sent Abner away; and he went in peace.
{3:22} And, Behold, the servants of David and Joab came
from [pursuing] a troop, and brought in a great spoil with
them: but Abner [was] not with David in Hebron; for he had
sent him away, and he was gone in peace. {3:23} When
Joab and all the host that [was] with him were come, they
told Joab, saying, Abner the son of Ner came to the king,
and he hath sent him away, and he is gone in peace. {3:24}
Then Joab came to the king, and said, What hast thou done?
behold, Abner came unto thee; why [is] it [that] thou hast
sent him away, and he is quite gone? {3:25} Thou knowest
Abner the son of Ner, that he came to deceive thee, and to
know thy going out and thy coming in, and to know all that
thou doest. {3:26} And when Joab was come out from
David, he sent messengers after Abner, which brought him
again from the well of Sirah: but David knew [it] not.
{3:27} And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took
him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote
him there under the fifth [rib,] that he died, for the blood of
Asahel his brother.
{3:28} And afterward when David heard [it,] he said, I
and my kingdom [are] guiltless before the LORD for ever
from the blood of Abner the son of Ner: {3:29} Let it rest
on the head of Joab, and on all his father’s house; and let
there not fail from the house of Joab one that hath an issue,
or that is a leper, or that leaneth on a staff, or that falleth on
the sword, or that lacketh bread. {3:30} So Joab and
Abishai his brother slew Abner, because he had slain their
brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle.
{3:31} And David said to Joab, and to all the people that
[were] with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with
sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And king David
[himself] followed the bier. {3:32} And they buried Abner
in Hebron: and the king lifted up his voice, and wept at the
grave of Abner; and all the people wept. {3:33} And the
king lamented over Abner, and said, Died Abner as a fool
dieth? {3:34} Thy hands [were] not bound, nor thy feet put
into fetters: as a man falleth before wicked men, [so] fellest
thou. And all the people wept again over him. {3:35} And
when all the people came to cause David to eat meat while
it was yet day, David sware, saying, So do God to me, and
more also, if I taste bread, or ought else, till the sun be
down. {3:36} And all the people took notice [of it,] and it
pleased them: as whatsoever the king did pleased all the
people. {3:37} For all the people and all Israel understood
that day that it was not of the king to slay Abner the son of
Ner. {3:38} And the king said unto his servants, Know ye
not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in
Israel? {3:39} And I [am] this day weak, though anointed
king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah [be] too hard for
me: the LORD shall reward the doer of evil according to his
wickedness.

4 {4:1} And when Saul’s son heard that Abner was dead in
Hebron, his hands were feeble, and all the Israelites were
troubled. {4:2} And Saul’s son had two men [that were]
captains of bands: the name of the one [was] Baanah, and
the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon a
Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin: (for Beeroth also
was reckoned to Benjamin: {4:3} And the Beerothites fled
to Gittaim, and were sojourners there until this day.) {4:4}
And Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son [that was] lame of [his]
feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul
and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up, and
fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he
fell, and became lame. And his name [was] Mephibosheth.
{4:5} And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and
Baanah, went, and came about the heat of the day to the
house of Ish-bosheth, who lay on a bed at noon. {4:6} And
they came thither into the midst of the house, [as though]
they would have fetched wheat; and they smote him under
the fifth [rib:] and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped.
{4:7} For when they came into the house, he lay on his bed
in his bedchamber, and they smote him, and slew him, and
beheaded him, and took his head, and gat them away
through the plain all night. {4:8} And they brought the head
of Ish-bosheth unto David to Hebron, and said to the king,
Behold the head of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul thine enemy,
which sought thy life; and the LORD hath avenged my lord
the king this day of Saul, and of his seed.
{4:9} And David answered Rechab and Baanah his
brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said unto
them, As the LORD liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out
of all adversity, {4:10} When one told me, saying, Behold,
Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good tidings, I took
hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, who [thought] that I
would have given him a reward for his tidings: {4:11} How
much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person
in his own house upon his bed? shall I not therefore now
require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the
earth? {4:12} And David commanded his young men, and
they slew them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and
hanged [them] up over the pool in Hebron. But they took
the head of Ish-bosheth, and buried [it] in the sepulchre of
Abner in Hebron.

5 {5:1} Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto
Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold, we [are] thy bone and
thy flesh. {5:2} Also in time past, when Saul was king over
us, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel:
and the LORD said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people
Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel. {5:3} So all
the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king
David made a league with them in Hebron before the
LORD: and they anointed David king over Israel.
{5:4} David [was] thirty years old when he began to
reign, [and] he reigned forty years. {5:5} In Hebron he
reigned over Judah seven years and six months: and in
Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel
and Judah.
{5:6} And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto
the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto
David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the
lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot
come in hither. {5:7} Nevertheless David took the strong
hold of Zion: the same [is] the city of David. {5:8} And
David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter,
and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, [that
are] hated of David’s soul, [he shall be chief and captain.]
Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come
into the house. {5:9} So David dwelt in the fort, and called
it the city of David. And David built round about from
Millo and inward. {5:10} And David went on, and grew
great, and the LORD God of hosts [was] with him.
{5:11} And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David,
and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons: and they built
David an house. {5:12} And David perceived that the
LORD had established him king over Israel, and that he had
exalted his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake.
{5:13} And David took [him] more concubines and wives
out of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron: and there
were yet sons and daughters born to David. {5:14} And
these [be] the names of those that were born unto him in
Jerusalem; Shammuah, and Shobab, and Nathan, and
Solomon, {5:15} Ibhar also, and Elishua, and Nepheg, and
Japhia, {5:16} And Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphalet.
{5:17} But when the Philistines heard that they had
anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines came up
to seek David; and David heard [of it,] and went down to
the hold. {5:18} The Philistines also came and spread
themselves in the valley of Rephaim. {5:19} And David
enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up to the
Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the
LORD said unto David, Go up: for I will doubtless deliver
the Philistines into thine hand. {5:20} And David came to
Baal-perazim, and David smote them there, and said, The
LORD hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as
the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that
place Baal-perazim. {5:21} And there they left their images,
and David and his men burned them.
{5:22} And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread
themselves in the valley of Rephaim. {5:23} And when
David enquired of the LORD, he said, Thou shalt not go up;
[but] fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them
over against the mulberry trees. {5:24} And let it be, when
thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry
trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the
LORD go out before thee, to smite the host of the
Philistines. {5:25} And David did so, as the LORD had
commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until
thou come to Gazer.

6 {6:1} Again, David gathered together all [the] chosen
[men] of Israel, thirty thousand. {6:2} And David arose, and
went with all the people that [were] with him from Baale of
Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name
is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwelleth
[between] the cherubims. {6:3} And they set the ark of God
upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of
Abinadab that [was] in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the
sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. {6:4} And they
brought it out of the house of Abinadab which [was] at
Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went
before the ark. {6:5} And David and all the house of Israel
played before the LORD on all manner of [instruments
made of] fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on
timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals.
{6:6} And when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor,
Uzzah put forth [his hand] to the ark of God, and took hold
of it; for the oxen shook [it.] {6:7} And the anger of the
LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him
there for [his] error; and there he died by the ark of God.
{6:8} And David was displeased, because the LORD had
made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the
place Perez-uzzah to this day. {6:9} And David was afraid
of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the
LORD come to me? {6:10} So David would not remove the
ark of the LORD unto him into the city of David: but David
carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
{6:11} And the ark of the LORD continued in the house of
Obed-edom the Gittite three months: and the LORD blessed
Obed-edom, and all his household.
{6:12} And it was told king David, saying, The LORD
hath blessed the house of Obed- edom, and all that
[pertaineth] unto him, because of the ark of God. So David
went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obe-
dedom into the city of David with gladness. {6:13} And it
was [so,] that when they that bare the ark of the LORD had
gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings. {6:14} And
David danced before the LORD with all [his] might; and
David [was] girded with a linen ephod. {6:15} So David
and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD
with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. {6:16}
And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David,
Michal Saul’s daughter looked through a window, and saw
king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she
despised him in her heart.
{6:17} And they brought in the ark of the LORD, and set
it in his place, in the midst of the tabernacle that David had
pitched for it: and David offered burnt offerings and peace
offerings before the LORD. {6:18} And as soon as David
had made an end of offering burnt offerings and peace
offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of
hosts. {6:19} And he dealt among all the people, [even]
among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women
as men, to every one a cake of bread, and a good piece [of
flesh,] and a flagon [of wine.] So all the people departed
every one to his house.
{6:20} Then David returned to bless his household. And
Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and
said, How glorious was the king of Israel today, who
uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of
his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly
uncovereth himself! {6:21} And David said unto Michal, [It
was] before the LORD, which chose me before thy father,
and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people
of the LORD, over Israel: therefore will I play before the
LORD. {6:22} And I will yet be more vile than thus, and
will be base in mine own sight: and of the maidservants
which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honour.
{6:23} Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child
unto the day of her death.

7 {7:1} And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house,
and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his
enemies; {7:2} That the king said unto Nathan the prophet,
See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God
dwelleth within curtains. {7:3} And Nathan said to the king,
Go, do all that [is] in thine heart; for the LORD [is] with
thee.
{7:4} And it came to pass that night, that the word of the
LORD came unto Nathan, saying, {7:5} Go and tell my
servant David, Thus saith the LORD, Shalt thou build me an
house for me to dwell in? {7:6} Whereas I have not dwelt in
[any] house since the time that I brought up the children of
Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a
tent and in a tabernacle. {7:7} In all [the places] wherein I
have walked with all the children of Israel spake I a word
with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed
my people Israel, saying, Why build ye not me an house of
cedar? {7:8} Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my
servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee
from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler
over my people, over Israel: {7:9} And I was with thee
whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine
enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name,
like unto the name of the great [men] that [are] in the earth.
{7:10} Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel,
and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their
own, and move no more; neither shall the children of
wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, {7:11}
And as since the time that I commanded judges [to be] over
my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine
enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee
an house.
{7:12} And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt
sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee,
which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish
his kingdom. {7:13} He shall build an house for my name,
and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
{7:14} I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he
commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and
with the stripes of the children of men: {7:15} But my
mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took [it] from
Saul, whom I put away before thee. {7:16} And thine house
and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee:
thy throne shall be established for ever. {7:17} According
to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did
Nathan speak unto David.
{7:18} Then went king David in, and sat before the
LORD, and he said, Who [am] I, O Lord GOD? and what
[is] my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? {7:19}
And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord GOD;
but thou hast spoken also of thy servant’s house for a great
while to come. And [is] this the manner of man, O Lord
GOD? {7:20} And what can David say more unto thee? for
thou, Lord GOD, knowest thy servant. {7:21} For thy
word’s sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou
done all these great things, to make thy servant know [them.
]{7:22} Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God: for [there
is] none like thee, neither [is there any] God beside thee,
according to all that we have heard with our ears. {7:23}
And what one nation in the earth [is] like thy people, [even]
like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to
himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great
things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which
thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, [from] the nations and
Page 183 2 Samuel
their gods? {7:24} For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy
people Israel [to be] a people unto thee for ever: and thou,
LORD, art become their God. {7:25} And now, O LORD
God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant,
and concerning his house, establish [it] for ever, and do as
thou hast said. {7:26} And let thy name be magnified for
ever, saying, The LORD of hosts [is] the God over Israel:
and let the house of thy servant David be established before
thee. {7:27} For thou, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, hast
revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house:
therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this
prayer unto thee. {7:28} And now, O Lord GOD, thou [art]
that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this
goodness unto thy servant: {7:29} Therefore now let it
please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may
continue for ever before thee: for thou, O Lord GOD, hast
spoken [it:] and with thy blessing let the house of thy
servant be blessed for ever.

8 {8:1} And after this it came to pass, that David smote the
Philistines, and subdued them: and David took Methegammah
out of the hand of the Philistines. {8:2} And he
smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them
down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put
to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And so the
Moabites became David’s servants, [and] brought gifts.
{8:3} David smote also Hadadezer, the son of Rehob,
king of Zobah, as he went to recover his border at the river
Euphrates. {8:4} And David took from him a thousand
[chariots,] and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty
thousand footmen: and David houghed all the chariot
[horses,] but reserved of them [for] an hundred chariots.
{8:5} And when the Syrians of Damascus came to succour
Hadadezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two
and twenty thousand men. {8:6} Then David put garrisons
in Syria of Damascus: and the Syrians became servants to
David, [and] brought gifts. And the LORD preserved David
whithersoever he went. {8:7} And David took the shields of
gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought
them to Jerusalem. {8:8} And from Betah, and from
Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, king David took exceeding
much brass.
{8:9} When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had
smitten all the host of Hadadezer, {8:10} Then Toi sent
Joram his son unto king David, to salute him, and to bless
him, because he had fought against Hadadezer, and smitten
him: for Hadadezer had wars with Toi. And [Joram] brought
with him vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels
of brass: {8:11} Which also king David did dedicate unto
the LORD, with the silver and gold that he had dedicated of
all nations which he subdued; {8:12} Of Syria, and of
Moab, and of the children of Ammon, and of the Philistines,
and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer, son of
Rehob, king of Zobah. {8:13} And David gat [him] a name
when he returned from smiting of the Syrians in the valley
of salt, [being] eighteen thousand [men.
]{8:14} And he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all
Edom put he garrisons, and all they of Edom became
David’s servants. And the LORD preserved David
whithersoever he went. {8:15} And David reigned over all
Israel; and David executed judgment and justice unto all his
people. {8:16} And Joab the son of Zeruiah [was] over the
host; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud [was] recorder;
{8:17} And Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech the
son of Abiathar, [were] the priests; and Seraiah [was] the
scribe; {8:18} And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was over]
both the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons
were chief rulers.

9 {9:1} And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the
house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan’s
sake? {9:2} And [there was] of the house of Saul a servant
whose name [was] Ziba. And when they had called him
unto David, the king said unto him, [Art] thou Ziba? And he
said, Thy servant [is he.] {9:3} And the king said, [Is] there
not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may shew the
kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan hath yet a son, [which is] lame on [his] feet. {9:4}
And the king said unto him, Where [is] he? And Ziba said
unto the king, Behold, he [is] in the house of Machir, the
son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar.
{9:5} Then king David sent, and fetched him out of the
house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar. {9:6}
Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of
Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, and did
reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he
answered, Behold thy servant!
{9:7} And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely
shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will
restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat
bread at my table continually. {9:8} And he bowed himself,
and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon
such a dead dog as I [am?]
{9:9} Then the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and
said unto him, I have given unto thy master’s son all that
pertained to Saul and to all his house. {9:10} Thou
therefore, and thy sons, and thy servants, shall till the land
for him, and thou shalt bring in [the fruits,] that thy master’s
son may have food to eat: but Mephibosheth thy master’s
son shall eat bread alway at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen
sons and twenty servants. {9:11} Then said Ziba unto the
king, According to all that my lord the king hath
commanded his servant, so shall thy servant do. As for
Mephibosheth, [said the king,] he shall eat at my table, as
one of the king’s sons. {9:12} And Mephibosheth had a
young son, whose name [was] Micha. And all that dwelt in
the house of Ziba [were] servants unto Mephibosheth.
{9:13} So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem: for he did eat
continually at the king’s table; and was lame on both his
feet.

10 {10:1} And it came to pass after this, that the king of
the children of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in
his stead. {10:2} Then said David, I will shew kindness unto
Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father shewed kindness
unto me. And David sent to comfort him by the hand of his
servants for his father. And David’s servants came into the
land of the children of Ammon. {10:3} And the princes of
the children of Ammon said unto Hanun their lord, Thinkest
thou that David doth honour thy father, that he hath sent
comforters unto thee? hath not David [rather] sent his
servants unto thee, to search the city, and to spy it out, and
to overthrow it? {10:4} Wherefore Hanun took David’s
servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut
off their garments in the middle, [even] to their buttocks,
and sent them away. {10:5} When they told [it] unto David,
he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly
ashamed: and the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your
beards be grown, and [then] return.
{10:6} And when the children of Ammon saw that they
stank before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired
the Syrians of Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty
thousand footmen, and of king Maacah a thousand men, and
of Ish-tob twelve thousand men. {10:7} And when David
heard of [it,] he sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty
men. {10:8} And the children of Ammon came out, and put
the battle in array at the entering in of the gate: and the
Syrians of Zoba, and of Rehob, and Ish-tob, and Maacah,
[were] by themselves in the field. {10:9} When Joab saw
that the front of the battle was against him before and
behind, he chose of all the choice [men] of Israel, and put
[them] in array against the Syrians: {10:10} And the rest of
the people he delivered into the hand of Abishai his brother,
that he might put [them] in array against the children of
Ammon. {10:11} And he said, If the Syrians be too strong
for me, then thou shalt help me: but if the children of
Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will come and help
thee. {10:12} Be of good courage, and let us play the men
for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the LORD
do that which seemeth him good. {10:13} And Joab drew
nigh, and the people that [were] with him, unto the battle
against the Syrians: and they fled before him. {10:14} And
when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians were
fled, then fled they also before Abishai, and entered into the
city. So Joab returned from the children of Ammon, and
came to Jerusalem.
{10:15} And when the Syrians saw that they were smitten
before Israel, they gathered themselves together. {10:16}
And Hadarezer sent, and brought out the Syrians that [were]
beyond the river: and they came to Helam; and Shobach the
captain of the host of Hadarezer [went] before them.
{10:17} And when it was told David, he gathered all Israel
together, and passed over Jordan, and came to Helam. And
the Syrians set themselves in array against David, and
fought with him. {10:18} And the Syrians fled before
Israel; and David slew [the men of] seven hundred chariots
of the Syrians, and forty thousand horsemen, and smote
Shobach the captain of their host, who died there. {10:19}
And when all the kings [that were] servants to Hadarezer
saw that they were smitten before Israel, they made peace
with Israel, and served them. So the Syrians feared to help
the children of Ammon any more.

11 {11:1} And it came to pass, after the year was expired,
at the time when kings go forth [to battle,] that David sent
Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they
destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah.
But David tarried still at Jerusalem.
{11:2} And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David
arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the
king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing
herself; and the woman [was] very beautiful to look upon.
{11:3} And David sent and enquired after the woman. And
[one] said, [Is] not this Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam,
the wife of Uriah the Hittite? {11:4} And David sent
messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he
lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and
she returned unto her house. {11:5} And the woman
conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I [am] with
child.
{11:6} And David sent to Joab, [saying,] Send me Uriah
the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. {11:7} And when
Uriah was come unto him, David demanded [of him] how
Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war
prospered. {11:8} And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy
house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the
king’s house, and there followed him a mess [of meat] from
the king. {11:9} But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s
house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to
his house. {11:10} And when they had told David, saying,
Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah,
Camest thou not from [thy] journey? why [then] didst thou
not go down unto thine house? {11:11} And Uriah said unto
David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and
my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in
the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to
drink, and to lie with my wife? [as] thou livest, and [as] thy
soul liveth, I will not do this thing. {11:12} And David said
to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let
thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the
morrow. {11:13} And when David had called him, he did
eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at
even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his
lord, but went not down to his house.
{11:14} And it came to pass in the morning, that David
wrote a letter to Joab, and sent [it] by the hand of Uriah.
{11:15} And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in
the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him,
that he may be smitten, and die. {11:16} And it came to
pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah
unto a place where he knew that valiant men [were.]
{11:17} And the men of the city went out, and fought with
Joab: and there fell [some] of the people of the servants of
David; and Uriah the Hittite died also.
{11:18} Then Joab sent and told David all the things
concerning the war; {11:19} And charged the messenger,
saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters
of the war unto the king, {11:20} And if so be that the
king’s wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore
approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight?
knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall? {11:21}
Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a
woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall,
that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say
thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
{11:22} So the messenger went, and came and shewed
David all that Joab had sent him for. {11:23} And the
messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed
against us, and came out unto us into the field, and we were
upon them even unto the entering of the gate. {11:24} And
the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants; and
[some] of the king’s servants be dead, and thy servant Uriah
the Hittite is dead also. {11:25} Then David said unto the
messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing
displease thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as
another: make thy battle more strong against the city, and
overthrow it: and encourage thou him.
{11:26} And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her
husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. {11:27}
And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched
her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a
son. But the thing that David had done displeased the
LORD.

12 {12:1} And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he
came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in
one city; the one rich, and the other poor. {12:2} The rich
[man] had exceeding many flocks and herds: {12:3} But the
poor [man] had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he
had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with
him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and
drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto
him as a daughter. {12:4} And there came a traveller unto
the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of
his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come
unto him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for
the man that was come to him. {12:5} And David’s anger
was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan,
As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this [thing]
shall surely die: {12:6} And he shall restore the lamb
fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no
pity.
{12:7} And Nathan said to David, Thou [art] the man.
Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king
over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;
{12:8} And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s
wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and
of Judah; and if [that had been] too little, I would moreover
have given unto thee such and such things. {12:9}
Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the
LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the
Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife [to be] thy
wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of
Ammon. {12:10} Now therefore the sword shall never
depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and
hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.
{12:11} Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil
against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy
wives before thine eyes, and give [them] unto thy
neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this
sun. {12:12} For thou didst [it] secretly: but I will do this
thing before all Israel, and before the sun. {12:13} And
David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD.
And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away
thy sin; thou shalt not die. {12:14} Howbeit, because by this
deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the
LORD to blaspheme, the child also [that is] born unto thee
shall surely die.
{12:15} And Nathan departed unto his house. And the
LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto David,
and it was very sick. {12:16} David therefore besought God
for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all
night upon the earth. {12:17} And the elders of his house
arose, [and went] to him, to raise him up from the earth: but
he would not, neither did he eat bread with them. {12:18}
And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died.
And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child
was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet
alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto
our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that
the child is dead? {12:19} But when David saw that his
servants whispered, David perceived that the child was
dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child
dead? And they said, He is dead. {12:20} Then David arose
from the earth, and washed, and anointed [himself,] and
changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD,
and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when
he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.
{12:21} Then said his servants unto him, What thing [is]
this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the
child, [while it was] alive; but when the child was dead,
thou didst rise and eat bread. {12:22} And he said, While
the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who
can tell [whether] GOD will be gracious to me, that the
child may live? {12:23} But now he is dead, wherefore
should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him,
but he shall not return to me.
{12:24} And David comforted Bath-sheba his wife, and
went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and
he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him.
{12:25} And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and
he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD.
{12:26} And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children
of Ammon, and took the royal city. {12:27} And Joab sent
messengers to David, and said, I have fought against
Rabbah, and have taken the city of waters. {12:28} Now
therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp
against the city, and take it: lest I take the city, and it be
called after my name. {12:29} And David gathered all the
people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it,
and took it. {12:30} And he took their king’s crown from
off his head, the weight whereof [was] a talent of gold with
the precious stones: and it was [set] on David’s head. And
he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance.
{12:31} And he brought forth the people that [were]
therein, and put [them] under saws, and under harrows of
iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through
the brickkiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the
children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned
unto Jerusalem.

13 {13:1} And it came to pass after this, that Absalom the
son of David had a fair sister, whose name [was] Tamar;
and Amnon the son of David loved her. {13:2} And Amnon
was so vexed, that he fell sick for his sister Tamar; for she
[was] a virgin; and Amnon thought it hard for him to do any
thing 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 subtil man. {13:4} And he said unto
him, Why [art] thou, [being] the king’s son, lean from day
to day? wilt thou not tell me? And Amnon said unto him, I
love Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister. {13:5} And
Jonadab said unto him, Lay thee down on thy bed, and
make thyself sick: and when thy father cometh to see thee,
say unto him, I pray thee, let my sister Tamar come, and
give me meat, and dress the meat in my sight, that I may see
[it,] and eat [it] at her hand.
{13:6} So Amnon lay down, and made himself sick: and
when the king was come to see him, Amnon said unto the
king, I pray thee, let Tamar my sister come, and make me a
couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat at her hand.
{13:7} Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, Go now to
thy brother Amnon’s house, and dress him meat. {13:8} So
Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house; and he was laid
down. And she took flour, and kneaded [it,] and made cakes
in his sight, and did bake the cakes. {13:9} And she took a
pan, and poured [them] out before him; but he refused to
eat. And Amnon said, Have out all men from me. And they
went out every man from him. {13:10} And Amnon said
unto Tamar, Bring the meat into the chamber, that I may eat
of thine hand. And Tamar took the cakes which she had
made, and brought [them] into the chamber to Amnon her
brother. {13:11} And when she had brought [them] unto
him to eat, he took hold of her, and said unto her, Come lie
with me, my sister. {13:12} And she answered him, Nay,
my brother, do not force me; for no such thing ought to be
done in Israel: do not thou this folly. {13:13} And I, whither
shall I cause my shame to go? and as for thee, thou shalt be
as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, I pray thee,
speak unto the king; for he will not withhold me from thee.
{13:14} Howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice: but,
being stronger than she, forced her, and lay with her.
{13:15} Then Amnon hated her exceedingly; so that the
hatred wherewith he hated her [was] greater than the love
wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her,
Arise, be gone. {13:16} And she said unto him, [There is]
no cause: this evil in sending me away [is] greater than the
other that thou didst unto me. But he would not hearken
unto her. {13:17} Then he called his servant that ministered
unto him, and said, Put now this [woman] out from me, and
bolt the door after her. {13:18} And [she had] a garment of
divers colours upon her: for with such robes were the king’s
daughters [that were] virgins apparelled. Then his servant
brought her out, and bolted the door after her.
{13:19} And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her
garment of divers colours that [was] on her, and laid her
hand on her head, and went on crying. {13:20} And
Absalom her brother said unto her, Hath Amnon thy brother
been with thee? but hold now thy peace, my sister: he [is]
thy brother; regard not this thing. So Tamar remained
desolate in her brother Absalom’s house.
{13:21} But when king David heard of all these things, he
was very wroth. {13:22} And Absalom spake unto his
brother Amnon neither good nor bad: for Absalom hated
Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar.
{13:23} And it came to pass after two full years, that
Absalom had sheepshearers in Baal-hazor, which [is]
beside Ephraim: and Absalom invited all the king’s sons.
{13:24} And Absalom came to the king, and said, Behold
now, thy servant hath sheepshearers; let the king, I beseech
thee, and his servants go with thy servant. {13:25} And the
king said to Absalom, Nay, my son, let us not all now go,
lest we be chargeable unto thee. And he pressed him:
howbeit he would not go, but blessed him. {13:26} Then
said Absalom, If not, I pray thee, let my brother Amnon go
with us. And the king said unto him, Why should he go with
thee? {13:27} But Absalom pressed him, that he let Amnon
and all the king’s sons go with him.
{13:28} Now Absalom had commanded his servants,
saying, Mark ye now when Amnon’s heart is merry with
wine, and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him,
fear not: have not I commanded you? be courageous and be
valiant. {13:29} And the servants of Absalom did unto
Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king’s
sons arose, and every man gat him up upon his mule, and
fled.
{13:30} And it came to pass, while they were in the way,
that tidings came to David, saying, Absalom hath slain all
the king’s sons, and there is not one of them left. {13:31}
Then the king arose, and tare his garments, and lay on the
earth; and all his servants stood by with their clothes rent.
{13:32} And Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David’s brother,
answered and said, Let not my lord suppose [that] they have
slain all the young men the king’s sons; for Amnon only is
dead: for by the appointment of Absalom this hath been
determined from the day that he forced his sister Tamar.
{13:33} Now therefore let not my lord the king take the
thing to his heart, to think that all the king’s sons are dead:
for Amnon only is dead. {13:34} But Absalom fled. And
the young man that kept the watch lifted up his eyes, and
looked, and, behold, there came much people by the way of
the hill side behind him. {13:35} And Jonadab said unto the
king, Behold, the king’s sons come: as thy servant said, so it
is. {13:36} And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an
end of speaking, that, behold, the king’s sons came, and
lifted up their voice and wept: and the king also and all his
servants wept very sore.
{13:37} But Absalom fled, and went to Talmai, the son of
Ammihud, king of Geshur. And [David] mourned for his
son every day. {13:38} So Absalom fled, and went to
Geshur, and was there three years. {13:39} And [the soul
of] king David longed to go forth unto Absalom: for he was
comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.

14 {14:1} Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the
king’s heart [was] toward Absalom. {14:2} And Joab sent
to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman, and said unto
her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on
now mourning apparel, and anoint not thyself with oil, but
be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead:
{14:3} And come to the king, and speak on this manner
unto him. So Joab put the words in her mouth.
{14:4} And when the woman of Tekoah spake to the king,
she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and
said, Help, O king. {14:5} And the king said unto her, What
aileth thee? And she answered, I [am] indeed a widow
woman, and mine husband is dead. {14:6} And thy
handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the
field, and [there was] none to part them, but the one smote
the other, and slew him. {14:7} And, behold, the whole
family is risen against thine handmaid, and they said,
Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him, for
the life of his brother whom he slew; and we will destroy
the heir also: and so they shall quench my coal which is left,
and shall not leave to my husband [neither] name nor
remainder upon the earth. {14:8} And the king said unto the
woman, Go to thine house, and I will give charge
concerning thee. {14:9} And the woman of Tekoah said
unto the king, My lord, O king, the iniquity [be] on me, and
on my father’s house: and the king and his throne [be]
guiltless. {14:10} And the king said, Whosoever saith
[ought] unto thee, bring him to me, and he shall not touch
thee any more. {14:11} Then said she, I pray thee, let the
king remember the LORD thy God, that thou wouldest not
suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they
destroy my son. And he said, As the LORD liveth, there
shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth. {14:12} Then
the woman said, Let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak
[one] word unto my lord the king. And he said, Say on.
{14:13} And the woman said, Wherefore then hast thou
thought such a thing against the people of God? for the king
doth speak this thing as one which is faulty, in that the king
doth not fetch home again his banished. {14:14} For we
must needs die, and [are] as water spilt on the ground,
which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God
respect [any] person: yet doth he devise means, that his
banished be not expelled from him. {14:15} Now therefore
that I am come to speak of this thing unto my lord the king,
[it is] because the people have made me afraid: and thy
handmaid said, I will now speak unto the king; it may be
that the king will perform the request of his handmaid.
{14:16} For the king will hear, to deliver his handmaid out
of the hand of the man [that would] destroy me and my son
together out of the inheritance of God. {14:17} Then thine
handmaid said, The word of my lord the king shall now be
comfortable: for as an angel of God, so [is] my lord the king
to discern good and bad: therefore the LORD thy God will
be with thee. {14:18} Then the king answered and said unto
the woman, Hide not from me, I pray thee, the thing that I
shall ask thee. And the woman said, Let my lord the king
now speak. {14:19} And the king said, [Is not] the hand of
Joab with thee in all this? And the woman answered and
said, [As] thy soul liveth, my lord the king, none can turn to
the right hand or to the left from ought that my lord the king
hath spoken: for thy servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all
these words in the mouth of thine handmaid: {14:20} To
fetch about this form of speech hath thy servant Joab done
this thing: and my lord [is] wise, according to the wisdom of
an angel of God, to know all [things] that [are] in the earth.
{14:21} And the king said unto Joab, Behold now, I have
done this thing: go therefore, bring the young man Absalom
again. {14:22} And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and
bowed himself, and thanked the king: and Joab said, Today
thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, my
lord, O king, in that the king hath fulfilled the request of his
servant. {14:23} So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and
brought Absalom to Jerusalem. {14:24} And the king said,
Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see my face.
So Absalom returned to his own house, and saw not the
king’s face.
{14:25} But in all Israel there was none to be so much
praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot
even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.
{14:26} And when he polled his head, (for it was at every
year’s end that he polled [it:] because [the hair] was heavy
on him, therefore he polled it:) he weighed the hair of his
head at two hundred shekels after the king’s weight.
{14:27} And unto Absalom there were born three sons, and
one daughter, whose name [was] Tamar: she was a woman
of a fair countenance.
{14:28} So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem,
and saw not the king’s face. {14:29} Therefore Absalom
sent for Joab, to have sent him to the king; but he would not
come to him: and when he sent again the second time, he
would not come. {14:30} Therefore he said unto his
servants, See, Joab’s field is near mine, and he hath barley
there; go and set it on fire. And Absalom’s servants set the
field on fire. {14:31} Then Joab arose, and came to
Absalom unto [his] house, and said unto him, Wherefore
have thy servants set my field on fire? {14:32} And
Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent unto thee, saying,
Come hither, that I may send thee to the king, to say,
Wherefore am I come from Geshur? [it had been] good for
me [to have been] there still: now therefore let me see the
king’s face; and if there be [any] iniquity in me, let him kill
me. {14:33} So Joab came to the king, and told him: and
when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king, and
bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king:
and the king kissed Absalom.

15 {15:1} And it came to pass after this, that Absalom
prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run
before him. {15:2} And Absalom rose up early, and stood
beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when any man
that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then
Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city [art] thou?
And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.
{15:3} And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters [are]
good and right; but [there is] no man [deputed] of the king
to hear thee. {15:4} Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were
made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit
or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice!
{15:5} And it was [so,] that when any man came nigh [to
him] to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took
him, and kissed him. {15:6} And on this manner did
Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment: so
Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
{15:7} And it came to pass after forty years, that Absalom
said unto the king, I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow,
which I have vowed unto the LORD, in Hebron. {15:8} For
thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria,
saying, If the LORD shall bring me again indeed to
Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD. {15:9} And the king
said unto him, Go in peace. So he arose, and went to
Hebron.
{15:10} But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes
of Israel, saying, As soon as ye hear the sound of the
trumpet, then ye shall say, Absalom reigneth in Hebron.
{15:11} And with Absalom went two hundred men out of
Jerusalem, [that were] called; and they went in their
simplicity, and they knew not any thing. {15:12} And
Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s
counsellor, from his city, [even] from Giloh, while he
offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong; for the
people increased continually with Absalom.
{15:13} And there came a messenger to David, saying,
The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom. {15:14}
And David said unto all his servants that [were] with him at
Jerusalem, Arise, and let us flee; for we shall not [else]
escape from Absalom: make speed to depart, lest he
overtake us suddenly, and bring evil upon us, and smite the
city with the edge of the sword. {15:15} And the king’s
servants said unto the king, Behold, thy servants [are ready
to do] whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint. {15:16}
And the king went forth, and all his household after him.
And the king left ten women, [which were] concubines, to
keep the house. {15:17} And the king went forth, and all the
people after him, and tarried in a place that was far off.
{15:18} And all his servants passed on beside him; and all
the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites,
six hundred men which came after him from Gath, passed
on before the king.
{15:19} Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite, Wherefore
goest thou also with us? return to thy place, and abide with
the king: for thou [art] a stranger, and also an exile. {15:20}
Whereas thou camest [but] yesterday, should I this day
make thee go up and down with us? seeing I go whither I
may, return thou, and take back thy brethren: mercy and
truth [be] with thee. {15:21} And Ittai answered the king,
and said, [As] the LORD liveth, and [as] my lord the king
liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be,
whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be.
{15:22} And David said to Ittai, Go and pass over. And Ittai
the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little
ones that [were] with him. {15:23} And all the country wept
with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the king
also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the
people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness.
{15:24} And lo Zadok also, and all the Levites [were]
with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God: and they
set down the ark of God; and Abiathar went up, until all the
people had done passing out of the city. {15:25} And the
king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the
city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will
bring me again, and shew me [both] it, and his habitation:
{15:26} But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold,
[here am] I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.
{15:27} The king said also unto Zadok the priest, [Art not]
thou a seer? return into the city in peace, and your two sons
with you, Ahimaaz thy son, and Jonathan the son of
Abiathar. {15:28} See, I will tarry in the plain of the
wilderness, until there come word from you to certify me.
{15:29} Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried the ark of
God again to Jerusalem: and they tarried there.
{15:30} And David went up by the ascent of [mount]
Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered,
and he went barefoot: and all the people that [was] with him
covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as
they went up.
{15:31} And [one] told David, saying, Ahithophel [is]
among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O
LORD, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into
foolishness.
{15:32} And it came to pass, that [when] David was come
to the top [of the mount,] where he worshipped God,
behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat
rent, and earth upon his head: {15:33} Unto whom David
said, If thou passest on with me, then thou shalt be a burden
unto me: {15:34} But if thou return to the city, and say unto
Absalom, I will be thy servant, O king; [as] I [have been]
thy father’s servant hitherto, so [will] I now also [be] thy
servant: then mayest thou for me defeat the counsel of
Ahithophel. {15:35} And [hast thou] not there with thee
Zadok and Abiathar the priests? therefore it shall be, [that]
what thing soever thou shalt hear out of the king’s house,
thou shalt tell [it] to Zadok and Abiathar the priests.
{15:36} Behold, [they have] there with them their two sons,
Ahimaaz Zadok’s [son,] and Jonathan Abiathar’s [son;] and
by them ye shall send unto me every thing that ye can hear.
{15:37} So Hushai David’s friend came into the city, and
Absalom came into Jerusalem.

16 {16:1} And when David was a little past the top [of the
hill,] behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him,
with a couple of asses saddled, and upon them two hundred
[loaves] of bread, and an hundred bunches of raisins, and an
hundred of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine. {16:2} And
the king said unto Ziba, What meanest thou by these? And
Ziba said, The asses [be] for the king’s household to ride
on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to
eat; and the wine, that such as be faint in the wilderness
may drink. {16:3} And the king said, And where [is] thy
master’s son? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he
abideth at Jerusalem: for he said, Today shall the house of
Israel restore me the kingdom of my father. {16:4} Then
said the king to Ziba, Behold, thine [are] all that [pertained]
unto Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humbly beseech thee
[that] I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king.
{16:5} And when king David came to Bahurim, behold,
thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul,
whose name [was] Shimei, the son of Gera: he came forth,
and cursed still as he came. {16:6} And he cast stones at
David, and at all the servants of king David: and all the
people and all the mighty men [were] on his right hand and
on his left. {16:7} And thus said Shimei when he cursed,
Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of
Belial: {16:8} The LORD hath returned upon thee all the
blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast
reigned; and the LORD hath delivered the kingdom into the
hand of Absalom thy son: and, behold, thou [art taken] in
thy mischief, because thou [art] a bloody man.
{16:9} Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah unto the
king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? let
me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head. {16:10} And
the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of
Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the LORD hath said unto
him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou
done so? {16:11} And David said to Abishai, and to all his
servants, Behold, my son, which came forth of my bowels,
seeketh my life: how much more now [may this] Benjamite
[do it?] let him alone, and let him curse; for the LORD hath
bidden him. {16:12} It may be that the LORD will look on
mine affliction, and that the LORD will requite me good for
his cursing this day. {16:13} And as David and his men
went by the way, Shimei went along on the hill’s side over
against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him,
and cast dust. {16:14} And the king, and all the people that
[were] with him, came weary, and refreshed themselves
there.
{16:15} And Absalom, and all the people the men of
Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him.
{16:16} And it came to pass, when Hushai the Archite,
David’s friend, was come unto Absalom, that Hushai said
unto Absalom, God save the king, God save the king.
{16:17} And Absalom said to Hushai, [Is] this thy kindness
to thy friend? why wentest thou not with thy friend?
{16:18} And Hushai said unto Absalom, Nay; but whom
the LORD, and this people, and all the men of Israel,
choose, his will I be, and with him will I abide. {16:19}
And again, whom should I serve? [should I] not [serve] in
the presence of his son? as I have served in thy father’s
presence, so will I be in thy presence.
{16:20} Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give counsel
among you what we shall do. {16:21} And Ahithophel said
unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father’s concubines, which he
hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou
art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that
[are] with thee be strong. {16:22} So they spread Absalom a
tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto
his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel. {16:23}
And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in
those days, [was] as if a man had enquired at the oracle of
God: so [was] all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David
and with Absalom.

17 {17:1} Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me
now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and
pursue after David this night: {17:2} And I will come upon
him while he [is] weary and weak handed, and will make
him afraid: and all the people that [are] with him shall flee;
and I will smite the king only: {17:3} And I will bring back
all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest [is] as
if all returned: [so] all the people shall be in peace. {17:4}
And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of
Israel. {17:5} Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the
Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith. {17:6}
And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake
unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner:
shall we do [after] his saying? if not; speak thou. {17:7}
And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that
Ahithophel hath given [is] not good at this time. {17:8} For,
said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they
[be] mighty men, and they [be] chafed in their minds, as a
bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father [is] a
man of war, and will not lodge with the people. {17:9}
Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some [other] place:
and it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown
at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a
slaughter among the people that follow Absalom. {17:10}
And he also [that is] valiant, whose heart [is] as the heart
of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy
father [is] a mighty man, and [they] which [be] with him
[are] valiant men. {17:11} Therefore I counsel that all Israel
be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beersheba,
as the sand that [is] by the sea for multitude; and that
thou go to battle in thine own person. {17:12} So shall we
come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and
we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground: and
of him and of all the men that [are] with him there shall not
be left so much as one. {17:13} Moreover, if he be gotten
into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and
we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small
stone found there. {17:14} And Absalom and all the men of
Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite [is] better
than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the LORD had
appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the
intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom.
{17:15} Then said Hushai unto Zadok and to Abiathar the
priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and
the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counselled.
{17:16} Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying,
Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but
speedily pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all
the people that [are] with him. {17:17} Now Jonathan and
Ahimaaz stayed by En-rogel; for they might not be seen to
come into the city: and a wench went and told them; and
they went and told king David. {17:18} Nevertheless a lad
saw them, and told Absalom: but they went both of them
away quickly, and came to a man’s house in Bahurim,
which had a well in his court; whither they went down.
{17:19} And the woman took and spread a covering over
the well’s mouth, and spread ground corn thereon; and the
thing was not known. {17:20} And when Absalom’s
servants came to the woman to the house, they said, Where
is Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them,
They be gone over the brook of water. And when they had
sought and could not find [them,] they returned to
Jerusalem. {17:21} And it came to pass, after they were
departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and
told king David, and said unto David, Arise, and pass
quickly over the water: for thus hath Ahithophel counselled
against you. {17:22} Then David arose, and all the people
that [were] with him, and they passed over Jordan: by the
morning light there lacked not one of them that was not
gone over Jordan.
{17:23} And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was
not followed, he saddled [his] ass, and arose, and gat him
home to his house, to his city, and put his household in
order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the
sepulchre of his father. {17:24} Then David came to
Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over Jordan, he and all the
men of Israel with him.
{17:25} And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host
instead of Joab: which Amasa was a man’s son, whose
name [was] Ithra an Israelite, that went in to Abigail the
daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah Joab’s mother.
{17:26} So Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of
Gilead.
{17:27} And it came to pass, when David was come to
Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the
children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar,
and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, {17:28}
Brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat,
and barley, and flour, and parched [corn,] and beans, and
lentiles, and parched [pulse,] {17:29} And honey, and
butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the
people that [were] with him, to eat: for they said, The
people [is] hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.

18 {18:1} And David numbered the people that [were] with
him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds
over them. {18:2} And David sent forth a third part of the
people under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the
hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and a
third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king
said unto the people, I will surely go forth with you myself
also. {18:3} But the people answered, Thou shalt not go
forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if
half of us die, will they care for us: but now [thou art] worth
ten thousand of us: therefore now [it is] better that thou
succour us out of the city. {18:4} And the king said unto
them, What seemeth you best I will do. And the king stood
by the gate side, and all the people came out by hundreds
and by thousands. {18:5} And the king commanded Joab
and Abishai and Ittai, saying, [Deal] gently for my sake
with the young man, [even] with Absalom. And all the
people heard when the king gave all the captains charge
concerning Absalom.
{18:6} So the people went out into the field against Israel:
and the battle was in the wood of Ephraim; {18:7} Where
the people of Israel were slain before the servants of David,
and there was there a great slaughter that day of twenty
thousand [men.] {18:8} For the battle was there scattered
over the face of all the country: and the wood devoured
more people that day than the sword devoured.
{18:9} And Absalom met the servants of David. And
Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the
thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the
oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth;
and the mule that [was] under him went away. {18:10} And
a certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw
Absalom hanged in an oak. {18:11} And Joab said unto the
man that told him, And, behold, thou sawest [him,] and why
didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would
have given thee ten [shekels] of silver, and a girdle. {18:12}
And the man said unto Joab, Though I should receive a
thousand [shekels] of silver in mine hand, yet would I not
put forth mine hand against the king’s son: for in our
hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying,
Beware that none [touch] the young man Absalom. {18:13}
Otherwise I should have wrought falsehood against mine
own life: for there is no matter hid from the king, and thou
thyself wouldest have set thyself against [me.] {18:14}
Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee. And he took
three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of
Absalom, while he [was] yet alive in the midst of the oak.
{18:15} And ten young men that bare Joab’s armour
compassed about and smote Absalom, and slew him.
{18:16} And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people
returned from pursuing after Israel: for Joab held back the
people. {18:17} And they took Absalom, and cast him into
a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones
upon him: and all Israel fled every one to his tent.
{18:18} Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and
reared up for himself a pillar, which [is] in the king’s dale:
for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance:
and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called
unto this day, Absalom’s place.
{18:19} Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, Let me
now run, and bear the king tidings, how that the LORD hath
avenged him of his enemies. {18:20} And Joab said unto
him, Thou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear
tidings another day: but this day thou shalt bear no tidings,
because the king’s son is dead. {18:21} Then said Joab to
Cushi, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushi
bowed himself unto Joab, and ran. {18:22} Then said
Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab, But
howsoever, let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushi. And
Joab said, Wherefore wilt thou run, my son, seeing that thou
hast no tidings ready? {18:23} But howsoever, [said he,] let
me run. And he said unto him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by
the way of the plain, and overran Cushi. {18:24} And David
sat between the two gates: and the watchman went up to the
roof over the gate unto the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and
looked, and behold a man running alone. {18:25} And the
watchman cried, and told the king. And the king said, If he
[be] alone, [there is] tidings in his mouth. And he came
apace, and drew near. {18:26} And the watchman saw
another man running: and the watchman called unto the
porter, and said, Behold [another] man running alone. And
the king said, He also bringeth tidings. {18:27} And the
watchman said, Me thinketh the running of the foremost is
like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king
said, He [is] a good man, and cometh with good tidings.
{18:28} And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king, All is
well. And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the
king, and said, Blessed [be] the LORD thy God, which hath
delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my
lord the king. {18:29} And the king said, Is the young man
Absalom safe? And Ahimaaz answered, When Joab sent the
king’s servant, and [me] thy servant, I saw a great tumult,
but I knew not what [it was.] {18:30} And the king said
[unto him,] Turn aside, [and] stand here. And he turned
aside, and stood still. {18:31} And, behold, Cushi came;
and Cushi said, Tidings, my lord the king: for the LORD
hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against
thee. {18:32} And the king said unto Cushi, Is the young
man Absalom safe? And Cushi answered, The enemies of
my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do [thee]
hurt, be as [that] young man [is.]
{18:33} And the king was much moved, and went up to the
chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus
he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom!
would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!

19 {19:1} And it was told Joab, Behold, the king weepeth
and mourneth for Absalom. {19:2} And the victory that day
was [turned] into mourning unto all the people: for the
people heard say that day how the king was grieved for his
son. {19:3} And the people gat them by stealth that day into
the city, as people being ashamed steal away when they flee
in battle. {19:4} But the king covered his face, and the king
cried with a loud voice, O my son Absalom, O Absalom,
my son, my son! {19:5} And Joab came into the house to
the king, and said, Thou hast shamed this day the faces of
all thy servants, which this day have saved thy life, and the
lives of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy
wives, and the lives of thy concubines; {19:6} In that thou
lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends. For thou hast
declared this day, that thou regardest neither princes nor
servants: for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived,
and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well.
{19:7} Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak comfort-
ably unto thy servants: for I swear by the LORD, if
thou go not forth, there will not tarry one with thee this
night: and that will be worse unto thee than all the evil that
befell thee from thy youth until now. {19:8} Then the king
arose, and sat in the gate. And they told unto all the people,
saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate. And all the
people came before the king: for Israel had fled every man
to his tent.
{19:9} And all the people were at strife throughout all the
tribes of Israel, saying, The king saved us out of the hand of
our enemies, and he delivered us out of the hand of the
Philistines; and now he is fled out of the land for Absalom.
{19:10} And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead
in battle. Now therefore why speak ye not a word of
bringing the king back?
{19:11} And king David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar
the priests, saying, Speak unto the elders of Judah, saying,
Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house?
seeing the speech of all Israel is come to the king, [even] to
his house. {19:12} Ye [are] my brethren, ye [are] my bones
and my flesh: wherefore then are ye the last to bring back
the king? {19:13} And say ye to Amasa, [Art] thou not of
my bone, and of my flesh? God do so to me, and more also,
if thou be not captain of the host before me continually in
the room of Joab. {19:14} And he bowed the heart of all the
men of Judah, even as [the heart of] one man; so that they
sent [this word] unto the king, Return thou, and all thy
servants. {19:15} So the king returned, and came to Jordan.
And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to
conduct the king over Jordan.
{19:16} And Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite, which
[was] of Bahurim, hasted and came down with the men of
Judah to meet king David. {19:17} And [there were] a
thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant
of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty
servants with him; and they went over Jordan before the
king. {19:18} And there went over a ferry boat to carry over
the king’s household, and to do what he thought good. And
Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, as he was
come over Jordan; {19:19} And said unto the king, Let not
my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember
that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord
the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it
to his heart. {19:20} For thy servant doth know that I have
sinned: therefore, behold, I am come the first this day of all
the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.
{19:21} But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said,
Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed
the LORD’S anointed? {19:22} And David said, What have
I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day
be adversaries unto me? shall there any man be put to death
this day in Israel? for do not I know that I [am] this day king
over Israel? {19:23} Therefore the king said unto Shimei,
Thou shalt not die. And the king sware unto him.
{19:24} And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to
meet the king, and had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed
his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king
departed until the day he came [again] in peace. {19:25}
And it came to pass, when he was come to Jerusalem to
meet the king, that the king said unto him, Wherefore
wentest not thou with me, Mephibosheth? {19:26} And he
answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me: for thy
servant said, I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride thereon,
and go to the king; because thy servant [is] lame. {19:27}
And he hath slandered thy servant unto my lord the king;
but my lord the king [is] as an angel of God: do therefore
[what is] good in thine eyes. {19:28} For all [of] my
father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king:
yet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at
thine own table. What right therefore have I yet to cry any
more unto the king? {19:29} And the king said unto him,
Why speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said,
Thou and Ziba divide the land. {19:30} And Mephibosheth
said unto the king, Yea, let him take all, forasmuch as my
lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house.
{19:31} And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from
Rogelim, and went over Jordan with the king, to conduct
him over Jordan. {19:32} Now Barzillai was a very aged
man, [even] fourscore years old: and he had provided the
king of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim; for he [was] a
very great man. {19:33} And the king said unto Barzillai,
Come thou over with me, and I will feed thee with me in
Jerusalem. {19:34} And Barzillai said unto the king, How
long have I to live, that I should go up with the king unto
Jerusalem? {19:35} I [am] this day fourscore years old:
[and] can I discern between good and evil? can thy servant
taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the
voice of singing men and singing women? wherefore then
should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king?
{19:36} Thy servant will go a little way over Jordan with
the king: and why should the king recompense it me with
such a reward? {19:37} Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn
back again, that I may die in mine own city, [and be buried]
by the grave of my father and of my mother. But behold thy
servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king;
and do to him what shall seem good unto thee. {19:38} And
the king answered, Chimham shall go over with me, and I
will do to him that which shall seem good unto thee: and
whatsoever thou shalt require of me, [that] will I do for
thee. {19:39} And all the people went over Jordan. And
when the king was come over, the king kissed Barzillai, and
blessed him; and he returned unto his own place. {19:40}
Then the king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went on
with him: and all the people of Judah conducted the king,
and also half the people of Israel.
{19:41} And, behold, all the men of Israel came to the
king, and said unto the king, Why have our brethren the
men of Judah stolen thee away, and have brought the king,
and his household, and all David’s men with him, over
Jordan? {19:42} And all the men of Judah answered the
men of Israel, Because the king [is] near of kin to us:
wherefore then be ye angry for this matter? have we eaten
at all of the king’s [cost?] or hath he given us any gift?
{19:43} And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah,
and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also
more [right] in David than ye: why then did ye despise us,
that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our
king? And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than
the words of the men of Israel.

20 {20:1} And there happened to be there a man of Belial,
whose name [was] Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite:
and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David,
neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man
to his tents, O Israel. {20:2} So every man of Israel went up
from after David, [and] followed Sheba the son of Bichri:
but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan
even to Jerusalem.
{20:3} And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the
king took the ten women [his] concubines, whom he had
left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and fed them,
but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the
day of their death, living in widowhood.
{20:4} Then said the king to Amasa, Assemble me the
men of Judah within three days, and be thou here present.
{20:5} So Amasa went to assemble [the men of] Judah: but
he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed
him. {20:6} And David said to Abishai, Now shall Sheba
the son of Bichri do us more harm than [did] Absalom: take
thou thy lord’s servants, and pursue after him, lest he get
him fenced cities, and escape us. {20:7} And there went out
after him Joab’s men, and the Cherethites, and the
Pelethites, and all the mighty men: and they went out of
Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri. {20:8}
When they [were] at the great stone which [is] in Gibeon,
Amasa went before them. And Joab’s garment that he had
put on was girded unto him, and upon it a girdle [with] a
sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof; and as
he went forth it fell out. {20:9} And Joab said to Amasa,
[Art] thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by
the beard with the right hand to kiss him. {20:10} But
Amasa took no heed to the sword that [was] in Joab’s hand:
so he smote him therewith in the fifth [rib,] and shed out his
bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died.
So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son
of Bichri. {20:11} And one of Joab’s men stood by him,
and said, He that favoureth Joab, and he that [is] for David,
[let him go] after Joab. {20:12} And Amasa wallowed in
blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw
that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa out of the
highway into the field, and cast a cloth upon him, when he
saw that every one that came by him stood still. {20:13}
When he was removed out of the highway, all the people
went on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.
{20:14} And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto
Abel, and to Beth-maachah, and all the Berites: and they
were gathered together, and went also after him. {20:15}
And they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maachah,
and they cast up a bank against the city, and it stood in the
trench: and all the people that [were] with Joab battered the
wall, to throw it down.
{20:16} Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear,
hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I
may speak with thee. {20:17} And when he was come near
unto her, the woman said, [Art] thou Joab? And he
answered, I [am he.] Then she said unto him, Hear the
words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear.
{20:18} Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak
in old time, saying, They shall surely ask [counsel] at Abel:
and so they ended [the matter.] {20:19} I [am one of them
that are] peaceable [and] faithful in Israel: thou seekest to
destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow
up the inheritance of the LORD? {20:20} And Joab
answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should
swallow up or destroy. {20:21} The matter [is] not so: but a
man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name,
hath lifted up his hand against the king, [even] against
David: deliver him only, and I will depart from the city.
And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be
thrown to thee over the wall. {20:22} Then the woman went
unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head
of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast [it] out to Joab. And he
blew a trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to
his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king.
{20:23} Now Joab [was] over all the host of Israel: and
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was] over the Cherethites and
over the Pelethites: {20:24} And Adoram [was] over the
tribute: and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud [was] recorder:
{20:25} And Sheva [was] scribe: and Zadok and Abiathar
[were] the priests: {20:26} And Ira also the Jairite was a
chief ruler about David.

21 {21:1} Then there was a famine in the days of David
three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD.
And the LORD answered, [It is] for Saul, and for [his]
bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. {21:2} And
the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the
Gibeonites [were] not of the children of Israel, but of the
remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had
sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to
the children of Israel and Judah.) {21:3} Wherefore David
said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and
wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the
inheritance of the LORD? {21:4} And the Gibeonites said
unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his
house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And
he said, What ye shall say, [that] will I do for you. {21:5}
And they answered the king, The man that consumed us,
and that devised against us [that] we should be destroyed
from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, {21:6} Let
seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will
hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, [whom]
the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give [them.]
{21:7} But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of
Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD’S oath that
[was] between them, between David and Jonathan the son
of Saul. {21:8} But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the
daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and
Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of
Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai
the Meholathite: {21:9} And he delivered them into the
hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill
before the LORD: and they fell [all] seven together, and
were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first [days,]
in the beginning of barley harvest.
{21:10} And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth,
and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of
harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and
suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day,
nor the beasts of the field by night. {21:11} And it was told
David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of
Saul, had done.
{21:12} And David went and took the bones of Saul and
the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabeshgilead,
which had stolen them from the street of Beth-shan,
where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines
had slain Saul in Gilboa: {21:13} And he brought up from
thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son;
and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged.
{21:14} And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried
they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of
Kish his father: and they performed all that the king
commanded. And after that God was intreated for the land.
{21:15} Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with
Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and
fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint.
{21:16} And Ishbi-benob, which [was] of the sons of the
giant, the weight of whose spear [weighed] three hundred
[shekels] of brass in weight, he being girded with a new
[sword,] thought to have slain David. {21:17} But Abishai
the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine,
and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him,
saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that
thou quench not the light of Israel. {21:18} And it came to
pass after this, that there was again a battle with the
Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph,
which [was] of the sons of the giant. {21:19} And there was
again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the
son of Jaare-oregim, a Bethlehemite, slew [the brother of]
Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear [was] like a
weaver’s beam. {21:20} And there was yet a battle in Gath,
where was a man of [great] stature, that had on every hand
six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in
number; and he also was born to the giant. {21:21} And
when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimeah the
brother of David slew him. {21:22} These four were born to
the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the
hand of his servants.

22 {22:1} And David spake unto the LORD the words of
this song in the day [that] the LORD had delivered him out
of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:
{22:2} And he said, The LORD [is] my rock, and my
fortress, and my deliverer; {22:3} The God of my rock; in
him will I trust: [he is] my shield, and the horn of my
salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou
savest me from violence. {22:4} I will call on the LORD,
[who is] worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine
enemies. {22:5} When the waves of death compassed me,
the floods of ungodly men made me afraid; {22:6} The
sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death
prevented me; {22:7} In my distress I called upon the
LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out
of his temple, and my cry [did enter] into his ears. {22:8}
Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of
heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth. {22:9}
There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his
mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. {22:10} He
bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness
[was] under his feet. {22:11} And he rode upon a cherub,
and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
{22:12} And he made darkness pavilions round about him,
dark waters, [and] thick clouds of the skies. {22:13}
Through the brightness before him were coals of fire
kindled. {22:14} The LORD thundered from heaven, and
the most High uttered his voice. {22:15} And he sent out
arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited
them. {22:16} And the channels of the sea appeared, the
foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of
the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. {22:17}
He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many
waters; {22:18} He delivered me from my strong enemy,
[and] from them that hated me: for they were too strong for
me. {22:19} They prevented me in the day of my calamity:
but the LORD was my stay. {22:20} He brought me forth
also into a large place: he delivered me, because he
delighted in me. {22:21} The LORD rewarded me
according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness
of my hands hath he recompensed me. {22:22} For I have
kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly
departed from my God. {22:23} For all his judgments
[were] before me: and [as for] his statutes, I did not depart
from them. {22:24} I was also upright before him, and have
kept myself from mine iniquity. {22:25} Therefore the
LORD hath recompensed me according to my
righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eye sight.
{22:26} With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful,
[and] with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright.
{22:27} With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with
the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury. {22:28} And
the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes [are] upon
the haughty, [that] thou mayest bring [them] down. {22:29}
For thou [art] my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will
lighten my darkness. {22:30} For by thee I have run
through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.
{22:31} [As for] God, his way [is] perfect; the word of the
LORD [is] tried: he [is] a buckler to all them that trust in
him. {22:32} For who [is] God, save the LORD? and who
[is] a rock, save our God? {22:33} God [is] my strength
[and] power: and he maketh my way perfect. {22:34} He
maketh my feet like hinds [feet:] and setteth me upon my
high places. {22:35} He teacheth my hands to war; so that a
bow of steel is broken by mine arms. {22:36} Thou hast
also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness
hath made me great. {22:37} Thou hast enlarged my steps
under me; so that my feet did not slip. {22:38} I have
pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them; and turned not
again until I had consumed them. {22:39} And I have
consumed them, and wounded them, that they could not
arise: yea, they are fallen under my feet. {22:40} For thou
hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up
against me hast thou subdued under me. {22:41} Thou hast
also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might
destroy them that hate me. {22:42} They looked, but [there
was] none to save; [even] unto the LORD, but he answered
them not. {22:43} Then did I beat them as small as the dust
of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the street, [and]
did spread them abroad. {22:44} Thou also hast delivered
me from the strivings of my people, thou hast kept me [to
be] head of the heathen: a people [which] I knew not shall
serve me. {22:45} Strangers shall submit themselves unto
me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me.
{22:46} Strangers shall fade away, and they shall be afraid
out of their close places. {22:47} The LORD liveth; and
blessed [be] my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of
my salvation. {22:48} It [is] God that avengeth me, and that
bringeth down the people under me, {22:49} And that
bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted
me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou
hast delivered me from the violent man. {22:50} Therefore
I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen,
and I will sing praises unto thy name. {22:51} [He is] the
tower of salvation for his king: and sheweth mercy to his
anointed, unto David, and to his seed for evermore.

23 {23:1} Now these [be] the last words of David. David the
son of Jesse said, and the man [who was] raised up on high,
the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of
Israel, said, {23:2} The Spirit of the LORD spake by me,
and his word [was] in my tongue. {23:3} The God of Israel
said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over
men [must be] just, ruling in the fear of God. {23:4} And
[he shall be] as the light of the morning, [when] the sun
riseth, [even] a morning without clouds; [as] the tender
grass [springing] out of the earth by clear shining after rain.
{23:5} Although my house [be] not so with God; yet he
hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all
[things,] and sure: for [this is] all my salvation, and all [my]
desire, although he make [it] not to grow.
{23:6} But [the sons] of Belial [shall be] all of them as
thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with
hands: {23:7} But the man [that] shall touch them must be
fenced with iron and the staff of a spear; and they shall be
utterly burned with fire in the [same] place.
{23:8} These [be] the names of the mighty men whom
David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among
the captains; the same [was] Adino the Eznite: [he lift up his
spear] against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.
{23:9} And after him [was] Eleazar the son of Dodo the
Ahohite, [one] of the three mighty men with David, when
they defied the Philistines [that] were there gathered
together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away:
{23:10} He arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand
was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword: and the
LORD wrought a great victory that day; and the people
returned after him only to spoil. {23:11} And after him
[was] Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. And the
Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a
piece of ground full of lentiles: and the people fled from the
Philistines. {23:12} But he stood in the midst of the ground,
and defended it, and slew the Philistines: and the LORD
wrought a great victory. {23:13} And three of the thirty
chief went down, and came to David in the harvest time
unto the cave of Adullam: and the troop of the Philistines
pitched in the valley of Rephaim. {23:14} And David [was]
then in an hold, and the garrison of the Philistines [was]
then [in] Bethlehem. {23:15} And David longed, and said,
Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of
Bethlehem, which [is] by the gate! {23:16} And the three
mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and
drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that [was] by the
gate, and took [it,] and brought [it] to David: nevertheless
he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the
LORD. {23:17} And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD,
that I should do this: [is not this] the blood of the men that
went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink
it. These things did these three mighty men. {23:18} And
Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief
among three. And he lifted up his spear against three
hundred, [and] slew [them,] and had the name among three.
{23:19} Was he not most honourable of three? therefore he
was their captain: howbeit he attained not unto the [first]
three. {23:20} And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of
a valiant man, of Kabzeel, who had done many acts, he slew
two lionlike men of Moab: he went down also and slew a
lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow: {23:21} And he
slew an Egyptian, a goodly man: and the Egyptian had a
spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and
plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and slew him
with his own spear. {23:22} These [things] did Benaiah the
son of Jehoiada, and had the name among three mighty
men. {23:23} He was more honourable than the thirty, but
he attained not to the [first] three. And David set him over
his guard. {23:24} Asahel the brother of Joab [was] one of
the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, {23:25}
Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, {23:26} Helez
the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, {23:27}
Abiezer the Anethothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, {23:28}
Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, {23:29}
Heleb the son of Baanah, a Netophathite, Ittai the son of
Ribai out of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin, {23:30}
Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash,
{23:31} Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite,
{23:32} Eliahba the Shaalbonite, of the sons of Jashen,
Jonathan, {23:33} Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of
Sharar the Hararite, {23:34} Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai,
the son of the Maachathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the
Gilonite, {23:35} Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite,
{23:36} Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite,
{23:37} Zelek the Ammonite, Nahari the Beerothite,
armourbearer to Joab the son of Zeruiah, {23:38} Ira an
Ithrite, Gareb an Ithrite, {23:39} Uriah the Hittite: thirty and
seven in all.

24 {24:1} And again the anger of the LORD was kindled
against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go,
number Israel and Judah. {24:2} For the king said to Joab
the captain of the host, which [was] with him, Go now
through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba,
and number ye the people, that I may know the
number of the people. {24:3} And Joab said unto the king,
Now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many
soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord
the king may see [it:] but why doth my lord the king delight
in this thing? {24:4} Notwithstanding the king’s word
prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host.
And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the
presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.
{24:5} And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in
Aroer, on the right side of the city that [lieth] in the midst of
the river of Gad, and toward Jazer: {24:6} Then they came
to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi; and they came
to Dan-jaan, and about to Zidon, {24:7} And came to the
strong hold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and
of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah,
[even] to Beer-sheba. {24:8} So when they had gone
through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of
nine months and twenty days. {24:9} And Joab gave up the
sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there
were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew
the sword; and the men of Judah [were] five hundred
thousand men.
{24:10} And David’s heart smote him after that he had
numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I
have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech
thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I
have done very foolishly. {24:11} For when David was up
in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the
prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, {24:12} Go and say unto
David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three [things;]
choose thee one of them, that I may [do it] unto thee.
{24:13} So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto
him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy
land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies,
while they pursue thee? or that there be three days’
pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I
shall return to him that sent me. {24:14} And David said
unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand
of the LORD; for his mercies [are] great: and let me not fall
into the hand of man.
{24:15} So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from
the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of
the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand
men. {24:16} And when the angel stretched out his hand
upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the
evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is
enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD
was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite. {24:17}
And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel
that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I
have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done?
let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my
father’s house.
{24:18} And Gad came that day to David, and said unto
him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the
threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite. {24:19} And David,
according to the saying of Gad, went up as the LORD
commanded. {24:20} And Araunah looked, and saw the
king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah
went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face
upon the ground. {24:21} And Araunah said, Wherefore is
my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To
buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the
LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people.
{24:22} And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king
take and offer up what [seemeth] good unto him: behold,
[here be] oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments
and [other] instruments of the oxen for wood. {24:23} All
[these] things did Araunah, [as] a king, give unto the king.
And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept
thee. {24:24} And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I
will surely buy [it] of thee at a price: neither will I offer
burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth
cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the
oxen for fifty shekels of silver. {24:25} And David built
there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings
and peace offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the
land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

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