David in the Bible

Meaning: well-beloved, dear

Exact Match

And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

And from that day the ark remained in Kiriath-jearim for a very long time, for it was twenty years [until the reign of King David]; and all the house of Israel lamented (wailed) and grieved after the Lord.

But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man (David) after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as leader and ruler over His people, because you have not kept (obeyed) what the Lord commanded you.”

Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep.

And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul.

And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armourbearer.

And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me; for he hath found favour in my sight.

Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.

And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren;

And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the trench, as the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle.

And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren.

And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and David heard them.

And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?

And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.

Then David turned away from Eliab to someone else and asked the same question; and the people gave him the same answer as the first time.

And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul: and he sent for him.

And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.

And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:

David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.

And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.

And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.

And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him.

And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.

Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.

And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.

So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.

Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.

And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armour in his tent.

And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell.

And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.

And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.

And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

Saul took David that day and did not let him return to his father’s house.

And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.

And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants.

And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick.

And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.

And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?

And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul's hand.

And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice.

So Saul had David removed from his presence and appointed him as his commander of a thousand; and he publicly associated with the people.

And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife: only be thou valiant for me, and fight the LORD'S battles. For Saul said, Let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.

And David said unto Saul, Who am I? and what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son in law to the king?

But it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul's daughter should have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel the Meholathite to wife.

And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Wherefore Saul said to David, Thou shalt this day be my son in law in the one of the twain.

And Saul commanded his servants, saying, Commune with David secretly, and say, Behold, the king hath delight in thee, and all his servants love thee: now therefore be the king's son in law.

And Saul's servants spake those words in the ears of David. And David said, Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a king's son in law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?

And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son in law: and the days were not expired.

Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king's son in law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife.

Then the princes of the Philistines went forth: and it came to pass, after they went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul; so that his name was much set by.

And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David.

But Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself:

And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to theeward very good:

For he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the LORD wrought a great salvation for all Israel: thou sawest it, and didst rejoice: wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause?

Saul listened to Jonathan’s advice and swore an oath: “As surely as the Lord lives, David will not be killed.”

And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan shewed him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as in times past.

And there was war again: and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great slaughter; and they fled from him.

And the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand.

And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.

Saul also sent messengers unto David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David's wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain.

And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him.

So David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth.

And Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

Then went he also to Ramah, and came to a great well that is in Sechu: and he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? And one said, Behold, they be at Naioth in Ramah.

And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? what is mine iniquity? and what is my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my life?

And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.

Then said Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee.

And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to morrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at even.

If thy father at all miss me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city: for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.

Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me? or what if thy father answer thee roughly?

And Jonathan said unto David, Come, and let us go out into the field. And they went out both of them into the field.

And Jonathan said unto David, O LORD God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about to morrow any time, or the third day, and, behold, if there be good toward David, and I then send not unto thee, and shew it thee;

But also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever: no, not when the LORD hath cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth.

So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the LORD even require it at the hand of David's enemies.

Then Jonathan said to David, To morrow is the new moon: and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty.

Thematic Bible



{It came about in the spring}, at the time {kings} go out, David sent Joab and his servants with him and all of Israel. They ravaged all of the {Ammonites} and besieged Rabbah, but David [was] remaining in Jerusalem. It happened {late one afternoon} [that] David got up from his bed and walked about on the roof of the king's house, and he saw a woman bathing on her roof. Now the woman {was very beautiful}. David sent and inquired about the woman, and [someone] said, "[Is] this not Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" read more.
Then David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) And she returned to her house. The woman became pregnant, and she sent and told David, and she said, "I [am] pregnant."


Then Nathan went to his house, and Yahweh struck the child that the wife of Uriah bore for David, and he became ill. David pleaded [with] God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground. The elders of his household stood over him to lift him up from the ground, but he [was] not willing, and he did not eat [any] food with them. read more.
It happened on the seventh day that the child died, and the servants of David [were] afraid to tell him that the child [was] dead, for they said, "Look, when the child [was] alive, we spoke to him, but he would not listen to our voice. How can we tell him, 'The child [is] dead'? He may do [something] evil." When David saw that his servants [were] whispering together, he realized that the child [was] dead. Then David said to his servants, "[Is] the child dead?" And they said, "He [is] dead." David stood up from the ground and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothing. Then he went [to] the house of Yahweh and worshiped, and he went to his [own] house. He asked, so they served him food, and he ate. Then his servants said to him, "What [is] this thing that you have done? While the child [was] alive, you fasted and wept; [now] that the child has died, you get up and eat food!" He said, "When the child [was] still alive, I fasted and I wept because I thought, 'Who knows? Yahweh may have mercy on me that the child will live.' But now he [is] dead. Why [should I be] fasting? [Am] I able to return him again? I [am] going to him, but he cannot return to me."


O my God, within me my soul is {in despair}; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and the heights of Hermon, from the mountain of Mizar.

I sink in [the] mud of the deep, and there is no foothold. I have come to watery depths, and [the] torrent floods over me.

When I thought about [how] to understand this, it [was] troubling in my eyes

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat, yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.


Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of Yahweh which you have spoken [is] good," and he thought, "Is it not that peace and security shall be in my days?"

But now he [is] dead. Why [should I be] fasting? [Am] I able to return him again? I [am] going to him, but he cannot return to me."

But if he says, 'I take no pleasure in you,' then {I am ready}. Let him do to me that which [is] good in his eyes.


And over those who did the work in the field to till the soil [was] Ezri the son of Kelub.


David answered and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah the brother of Joab, saying, "Who will go down with me to Saul, in the camp?" And Abishai said, "I will go down with you."


Then Gad came to David on that same day and said to him, "Go up and erect an altar to Yahweh at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." So David went up according to the word of Gad, as Yahweh had commanded.


Then David said to the Philistine, "You [are] coming to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I am coming to you in the name of Yahweh of hosts, the God of the battle lines of Israel, whom you have defied!


Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah responded and said, "Because of this, should not Shimei be put to death, for he cursed the anointed one of Yahweh?"

You will invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I will make known to you what you must do. You will anoint for me [the one] whom I tell you."

So he sent and brought him. Now he [was] ruddy with beautiful eyes and of {handsome} appearance. And Yahweh said, "Arise, anoint him, for this [is] he." So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon David from that day {on}. Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah.

Then the men of Judah came, and they anointed David there as king over the house of Judah, and they told David, "The men of Jabesh-Gilead buried Saul."

All the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David {made a covenant} with them at Hebron in the presence of Yahweh; then they anointed David as king over Israel.

Then Nathan said to him, "You [are] the man! Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: 'I anointed you as king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.

Then all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them at Hebron in the presence of Yahweh. And they anointed David as king over Israel according to the word of Yahweh by the hand of Samuel.


Just as David had arrived in Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the {Ammonites} and Makir the son of Ammiel from Lo Debar and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim brought beds and basins and objects of pottery, as well as wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, honey, curds, sheep, cheese, and cattle for David and for the people who [were] with him to eat. For they had thought, "The troops [are] hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness."

Then Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim and crossed with the king over the Jordan to escort him through the Jordan. Now Barzillai [was] very old, {eighty years old}. Now he had provided the king [with food] while he [was] staying at Mahanaim, for he [was] a very wealthy man. The king said to Barzillai, "You cross over with me, and I will provide for you [to dwell] with me in Jerusalem." read more.
Then Barzillai said to the king, "What [are] the days of the years of my life, that I should go with the king to Jerusalem? I [am] eighty years old today. Can I discern between good and bad? Or can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Or can I still hear the voice of singing men and women? Why should your servant be a burden any longer to my lord the king? Your servant shall go over the Jordan with the king a little way, but why should the king recompense me with this reward? Please let your servant return, and let me die in my city in the tomb of my father and my mother. Here [is] your servant Kimham; let him cross over with my lord the king, and do for him that which [is] good in your eyes." The king said, "Let Kimham go over with me, and I will do for him the good in your eyes, and all that you desire of me I will do for you." Then all the people crossed over the Jordan, and the king crossed and kissed Barzillai and blessed him; then he returned to his place.

Regarding the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, you shall do loyal love and let them be among those who eat at your table, because they met me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

And from the descendants of the priests: the descendants of Habaiah, the descendants of Hakkoz, and the descendants of Barzillai (who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called by their name).

And from the priests: the descendants of Hobaiah, the descendants of Hakkoz, the descendants of Barzillai (who had taken as a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by their name).


"And you, son of man, take for yourself a sword, sharp [as] {a barber's razor}. Take it for yourself, and you must cause [it] to pass over your head and over your beard, and you must take for yourself a set of scales for weighing, and you must divide them.

So he changed his behavior {before them} and pretended to be mad {in their presence}. He made scratches on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down into his beard.


So he sent and brought him. Now he [was] ruddy with beautiful eyes and of {handsome} appearance. And Yahweh said, "Arise, anoint him, for this [is] he."

One of the servants answered and said, "Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite [who is] skillful in playing a stringed instrument, a {brave man, a warrior, prudent in speech, and handsome}. And Yahweh [is] with him."


Because of all my adversaries I have become a disgrace, especially to my neighbors, and a dread to my acquaintances. [Those who] see me in the street flee from me. I have become forgotten like [one] dead, out of {mind}. I am like a destroyed vessel.

Even {my close friend}, whom I trusted, [who] ate my bread, has lifted [his] heel against me.

You have removed my acquaintances far from me. You have made me detestable to them. [I am] confined and cannot go out.

You have removed loved one and friend far from me, my acquaintances [far from my] darkness.


The king was upset, and he went up to the upper room of the gate and wept. He said as he went, "My son, Absalom, my son, my son, Absalom. {If only} I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son."

and because the king had covered his face and cried with a loud voice, "My son, Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son."


Then Nathan went to his house, and Yahweh struck the child that the wife of Uriah bore for David, and he became ill. David pleaded [with] God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground. The elders of his household stood over him to lift him up from the ground, but he [was] not willing, and he did not eat [any] food with them. read more.
It happened on the seventh day that the child died, and the servants of David [were] afraid to tell him that the child [was] dead, for they said, "Look, when the child [was] alive, we spoke to him, but he would not listen to our voice. How can we tell him, 'The child [is] dead'? He may do [something] evil." When David saw that his servants [were] whispering together, he realized that the child [was] dead. Then David said to his servants, "[Is] the child dead?" And they said, "He [is] dead." David stood up from the ground and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothing. Then he went [to] the house of Yahweh and worshiped, and he went to his [own] house. He asked, so they served him food, and he ate. Then his servants said to him, "What [is] this thing that you have done? While the child [was] alive, you fasted and wept; [now] that the child has died, you get up and eat food!" He said, "When the child [was] still alive, I fasted and I wept because I thought, 'Who knows? Yahweh may have mercy on me that the child will live.' But now he [is] dead. Why [should I be] fasting? [Am] I able to return him again? I [am] going to him, but he cannot return to me."


Then David said to the Philistine, "You [are] coming to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I am coming to you in the name of Yahweh of hosts, the God of the battle lines of Israel, whom you have defied!


Then David said, "[Is] there still anyone who [is] left for the house of Saul that I may show loyal love to him for the sake of Jonathan?"

She opens her mouth with wisdom, and instruction of kindness [is] upon her tongue.


And David went up from there to Mizpah of Moab. He said to the king of Moab, "Please let my father and my mother {stay} with you until I know what God will do for me." So {he brought them before the king of Moab}, and they stayed with him all the days David was in the stronghold.

because you [are] my hope, O Lord Yahweh, my confidence from my youth.

O God, you have taught me from my youth, and up to now I have proclaimed your wonderful deeds.


His father did not rebuke him {at any time} [by] saying, "Why did you do so?" Now he was also very handsome of appearance; she had borne him after Absalom.


Then Yahweh said to Samuel, "{How long} will you mourn about Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel! Fill up your horn [with] oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have chosen a king for myself among his sons."


Then Samuel said to Jesse, "{Are all the young men here}?" And he said, "The youngest still remains, but look, he [is] shepherding the flock." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him, for we cannot {sit down} until he comes here."


David said to him, "How [is it that] you [were] not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy Yahweh's anointed one?"

He said to his men, "Far be it from me in Yahweh, that I do this thing to my lord, to Yahweh's anointed one, by stretching out my hand against him! For he [is] the anointed one of Yahweh." So David rebuked his men with the words and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave, and he went on his way. Then David got up afterward and went out of the cave and called after Saul, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked after him, David knelt down [with his] face to the ground and bowed down. read more.
Then David said to Saul, "Why do you listen to the words of people who say: 'Look, David [is] {seeking to do you harm}'? Look, this day your eyes have seen that Yahweh gave you today into my hand in the cave, and some said to kill you. But {I took pity} on you and said, 'I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, because he [is] Yahweh's anointed one.'

David answered and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah the brother of Joab, saying, "Who will go down with me to Saul, in the camp?" And Abishai said, "I will go down with you." So David and Abishai came to the army [by] night, and {there was} Saul lying asleep in the encampment with his spear thrust into the ground near his head, and Abner and the army [were] lying all around him. Then Abishai said to David, "God has handed over your enemy into your hand today! So then, {please let me pin him to the ground with the spear} {one time}, and {I will not strike him twice}." read more.
But David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy him! For who has stretched out his hand against Yahweh's anointed one and remained blameless?" And David said, "{As Yahweh lives}, {certainly} Yahweh will strike him, or his day will come and he will die, or he will go down in the battle and {perish}. {Yahweh forbid me} from stretching out my hand against Yahweh's anointed one! So then, please take the spear that [is] near his head and the jar of water, and let us go." So David took the spear and the jar of water from [near] Saul's head, and they went [away]. {No one saw, no one knew, and no one awakened}, for all of them [were] sleeping because a deep sleep of Yahweh had fallen upon them. Then David went to the other side and stood on the top of the hill at a distance; the distance [was] great between them. David called out to the army and to Abner the son of Ner, "Will you not answer, Abner?" And Abner answered and said, "Who [are] you [that] you call to the king?" So David said to Abner, "[Are] you not a man? And who [is] like you in Israel? Why did you not keep watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came to destroy your lord the king. This thing that you have done [is] not good. {As Yahweh lives}, {surely you people deserve to die} since you have not kept watch over your lord, over Yahweh's anointed one! So then, see where the king's spear [is] and the jar of water that [was] near his head!"


I [am] a companion of all [who] fear you and heed your precepts.


But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing [was] sackcloth. I weakened my soul with fasting, and my prayer {returned to me unanswered}. I {behaved} as [though he were] a friend [or] as a brother to me. As one lamenting a mother, I was bowed down [in] mourning.


David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters [were] born to him.

The king went out with all his household {following him}, but the king left behind ten concubines to look after the house.


For {I myself know} my transgressions, and my sin [is] ever before me.

saying, "I have sinned [by] betraying innocent blood!" But they said, "What [is that] to us? You see to [it]!"

The heart of David struck him after he had counted the people, and David said to Yahweh, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done! So then, O Yahweh, please forgive the guilt of your servant because I have acted very foolishly."

He brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there, and they gathered the bones of the executed.

[If] I have sinned, what have I done to you, watcher of humanity? Why have you made me as a target for yourself, so that I have become a burden to myself?

As for me, I said, "O Yahweh, be gracious [to] me. Heal me, for I have sinned against you."


The heart of David struck him after he had counted the people, and David said to Yahweh, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done! So then, O Yahweh, please forgive the guilt of your servant because I have acted very foolishly."


[The] measuring lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Yes, [my] inheritance is delightful for me.


Then Nathan said to him, "You [are] the man! Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: 'I anointed you as king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.

Then Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, my enemy?" He said, "I have found you because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

David said to Saul, "Do not let anyone's heart fail concerning him! Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine."

Then Micaiah said, "{As Yahweh lives}, surely only as Yahweh speaks to me, that will I speak."

Then Elisha said, "{As Yahweh of hosts lives}, before whom I stand, surely if I was not {regarding the face} of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would have not looked at you nor even glanced at you.


Yet not so [is] my house with God, for he made an everlasting covenant for me, arranging everything. He has secured all my deliverance, and all my desire he will cause to happen.

"I made a covenant with my chosen one; I swore [an oath] to David my servant: 'I will establish your descendants forever, and I will build up your throne {from generation to generation}.'" Selah


"Look, days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he will reign [as] king, and he will achieve success, and he will do justice and righteousness in the land.

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; a star will go out from Jacob, and a scepter will rise from Israel; it will crush the foreheads of Moab and destroy all the children of Seth.

{His dominion will grow continually, and to peace there will be no end} on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and sustain it with justice and righteousness now and forever. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.

Do you not all know that Yahweh the God of Israel gave the kingdom to David over Israel forever, to him and to his sons [by] a covenant of salt?

Someone from Jacob will rule and will destroy a remnant from the city."

{In the manner that} I appointed judges over my people Israel, I will give you rest from all your enemies. And Yahweh declares to you that Yahweh will build a house for you. When your days [are] full and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you who will go out from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. read more.
I will be a father to him, and he will be a son for me, whom I will punish when he does wrong, with a rod of men and with blows of the {human beings}. But my loyal love shall not depart from him as I took [it] from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before you; your throne shall be established forever." '"

And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place and be in anguish no longer. And wicked men will no longer wear them down as before, from the day that I commanded judges over my people Israel. And I will subdue your enemies, and I declare to you [that] Yahweh will build for you a house. And it shall be that when your days are fulfilled to go [and sleep] with your ancestors, then I will raise up your seed after you, who will be one of your sons, and I will establish his kingdom. read more.
He himself will build for me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. I myself will be a father to him, and he himself will be a son to me. And I will not remove my steadfast love from him as I took it away from whoever was before you. And I will establish him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne will be established forever." '"

'From the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt I did not choose a city among all the tribes of Israel to build a house in order for my name [to be] there. Nor did I choose a man to be leader over my people Israel. But I have chosen my name to be there in Jerusalem, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.' Now, it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. read more.
But Yahweh said to David my father, 'Because it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart, but you yourself will not build the house, but your son who will proceed from your loins; he himself will build the house for my name.' Now Yahweh has fulfilled his word that he spoke. I have risen in the place of David my father and am seated on the throne of Israel as Yahweh has spoken. I have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. And I have there the ark [in] which [is] the covenant of Yahweh that he {made} with the {Israelites}." Then Solomon stood before the altar of Yahweh before all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. (For Solomon had made a platform of bronze five cubits long and five cubits wide and three cubits high, and placed it in the midst of the outer court.) And he stood upon it, then knelt down on his knees before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands to heaven. And he said, "O Yahweh, God of Israel, there is none like you, a God in the heavens and on the earth, keeping the covenant and loyal love with your servants who walk before you with all their heart, that you have kept for your servant David my father what you spoke to him. You spoke with your mouth, and by your hand you have fulfilled [it] on this day. And now, O Yahweh, God of Israel, keep for your servant David, my father, what you have spoken to him, saying, '{You shall not lack} a man to sit on the throne of Israel before me, if only your sons keep their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.' And now, O Yahweh, God of Israel, let your word that you have spoken to your servant David be confirmed.

But Yahweh was not willing to destroy the house of David on account of the covenant that he had {made} with David and since he had promised to give a lamp to him and to his descendants {forever}.

Formerly you spoke in a vision to your faithful ones, and said, "I have bestowed help on a mighty man; I have exalted one chosen from [the] people. I have found David, my servant. With my holy oil I have anointed him, with whom my hand will be steadfast. Surely my arm will strengthen him. read more.
[The] enemy will not deceive him, and no {evil man} will afflict him. But I will crush his adversaries before him, and I will strike those who hate him. And [so] my faithfulness and my loyal love [will be] with him, and in my name his horn will rise up. And I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. He will call out [to] me, 'You [are] my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.' I will also make him [the] firstborn, [the] highest of [the] kings of [the] earth. Forever I will keep my loyal love for him, and my covenant [will be] reliable for him. I will also establish his offspring forever, and his throne as [the] days of [the] heavens. If his sons forsake my law and do not walk in my judgments, if they defile my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with rod, and their guilt with wounds. But I will not break off my loyal love from him, and I will not be false against my faithfulness. I will not defile my covenant, or alter what proceeded from my lips. Once I have sworn by my holiness, 'I will surely not lie to David, His offspring will endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. Like [the] moon it will be steadfast forever, and [like] an enduring witness in the sky.'" Selah

then a throne shall be established in steadfast love, and one shall sit on it in faithfulness, in the tent of David, judging and seeking justice and zealous for righteousness.

And this shall happen: On that day I will call to my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him [with] your tunic, and I will bind your sash firmly about him, and I will put your authority into his hand, and he shall be like a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And I will put the key of the house of David on his shoulder, and he shall open and no one [will be able to] shut; and he shall shut and no one [will be able to] open. read more.
And I will drive him in [like] a peg into a secure place, and he will become like a throne of glory to the house of his father. And they will hang all of the heaviness of his father's house on him, the offspring and the offshoot, all of the small vessels, from the {bowls to the jars}. On that day, {declares} Yahweh of hosts, the peg that was driven will move away into a secure place, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that [was] on her will be cut off. For Yahweh has spoken.'"

In those days and in that time I will make a branch of righteousness sprout for David, and he will execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell {safely}, and this [is] what they shall call it: "Yahweh [is] our righteousness." ' For thus says Yahweh: 'A man who sits on the throne of the house of Israel will not be cut off for David. read more.
And for the priests, a man from the Levites [who] offers burnt offerings and [who] burns grain offerings and [who] brings sacrifices will not be cut off {before me} {forever}.'" And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, {saying}, "Thus says Yahweh: 'If you could break my covenant [with] the day, and my covenant [with] the night, so that day and night [would] not come at their time, then my covenant could be broken with David my servant, from {having} a son who could rule on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be counted, and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will make numerous the offspring of David my servant and the Levites [who] minister [to] me.'" And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, {saying}, "Have you not seen how these people speak, {saying}, 'The two clans whom Yahweh chose, he has also rejected them'? Thus they spurn my people from being a nation {before them} [any] longer. Thus says Yahweh: 'If my covenant [with] day and [with] night, [the] regulations of heaven and earth, I had not established, then the offspring of Jacob and David my servant I would reject, from choosing rulers from his offspring over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for I will restore their fortunes and I will have compassion on them.'"

This one will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob {forever}, and of his kingdom there will be no end.


When your days [are] full and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you who will go out from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he will be a son for me, whom I will punish when he does wrong, with a rod of men and with blows of the {human beings}. read more.
But my loyal love shall not depart from him as I took [it] from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before you; your throne shall be established forever." '"

And it shall be that when your days are fulfilled to go [and sleep] with your ancestors, then I will raise up your seed after you, who will be one of your sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He himself will build for me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. I myself will be a father to him, and he himself will be a son to me. And I will not remove my steadfast love from him as I took it away from whoever was before you. read more.
And I will establish him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne will be established forever." '"

And now, O Yahweh, God of Israel, keep for your servant David, my father, what you have spoken to him, saying, '{You shall not lack} a man to sit on the throne of Israel before me, if only your sons keep their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.'

Yet not so [is] my house with God, for he made an everlasting covenant for me, arranging everything. He has secured all my deliverance, and all my desire he will cause to happen.

"I made a covenant with my chosen one; I swore [an oath] to David my servant: 'I will establish your descendants forever, and I will build up your throne {from generation to generation}.'" Selah

Yahweh swore [in] truth to David; he will not turn back from it. "One from the fruit of your {body} I will set on your throne. If your sons will heed my covenant and my testimonies that I will teach them, their sons also forever will sit on your throne."

'After these [things] I will return and build up again the tent of David that has fallen, and the [parts] of it that had been torn down I will build up again and will restore it,

And again Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse will come, even the one who rises to rule over the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles will put their hope."


And [as] Jesus was going away from there, two blind men followed him, crying out and saying, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"

And behold, a Canaanite woman from that district came [and] cried out, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter [is] severely possessed by a demon!"

And all the crowds were amazed and began saying, "Perhaps this one is the Son of David!"

And the crowds who went ahead of him and the ones who followed were shouting, saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed [is] the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest [heaven]!"

And behold, [there were] two blind men sitting beside the road. [When they] heard that Jesus was passing by, they called out, saying, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" And the crowd rebuked them so that they would be quiet. But they called out all the more, saying, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!"

saying, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "David's."

And [when he] heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" And many [people] warned him that he should be quiet. But he was crying out {even more loudly}, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

And they told him, "Jesus the Nazarene is passing by."

And those who were in front rebuked him, that he should be silent, but he cried out {even more loudly}, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"


[Alas for those] who sing to the tune of the harp; like David they improvise on instruments of music.

Then David ordered the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brothers [as] singers with instruments of song, musical instruments, stringed instruments, and cymbals, {raising their voices for joy}.

four thousand gatekeepers, [and] four thousand offering praise with the instruments that I have made for praise."

and his brothers Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani with the instruments of the songs of David the man of God; and Ezra the scribe [went] before them.

So David came to Saul and {entered his service}. He loved him greatly and {he became Saul's armor bearer}. Then Saul sent [word] to Jesse, saying, "Please let David stand before me, because he has found favor {in my sight}." So whenever the [evil] spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the stringed instrument and play it with his hand. Then {it would bring relief} for Saul; {he would feel better} and the evil spirit would depart from him.

And the priests stood at their posts with the Levites, with the instruments of the song of Yahweh that King David had made to give thanks to Yahweh--for his loyal love [is] everlasting--whenever David offered praise by their hand. Now the priests sounded trumpets [standing] opposite them, and all Israel stood.

When the Levites stood with the objects of David and the priests with the trumpets,


Now David was the son of an Ephrathite. This [man was] from Bethlehem of Judah, and his name was Jesse. {He had} eight sons; in the days of Saul this man was old, [yet] he [still] walked among the men.

Then Samuel said to Jesse, "{Are all the young men here}?" And he said, "The youngest still remains, but look, he [is] shepherding the flock." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him, for we cannot {sit down} until he comes here."

Now these are the descendants of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, and Hezron fathered Ram, and Ram fathered Amminadab, and Amminadab fathered Nahshon, and Nahshon fathered Salmon, read more.
and Salmon fathered Boaz, and Boaz fathered Obed, and Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.

The sons of Judah: Er, Onan and Shelah; [these] three were born to him from Bathshua the Canaanite. Now Er, Judah's firstborn, [was] evil in the sight of Yahweh, and he put him to death. And Tamar his daughter-in-law bore Perez and Zerah to him. The sons of Judah [were] five in all. The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul. read more.
The sons of Zerah: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara, five in all. The son of Carmi: Achar, the troubler of Israel, who acted unfaithfully in the matter of the devoted thing. And the son of Ethan [was] Azariah. The sons of Hezron who were born to him: Jerahmeel, Ram, and Caleb. And Ram fathered Amminadab, and Amminadab fathered Nahshon, prince of the sons of Judah. And Nahshon fathered Salma, and Salma fathered Boaz. And Boaz fathered Obed, and Obed fathered Jesse. And Jesse fathered Eliab his firstborn, Abinadab the second, Shimea the third, Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, Ozem the sixth, David the seventh.

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez became the father of Hezron, and Hezron became the father of Aram, read more.
and Aram became the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon became the father of Salmon, and Salmon became the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David the king. And David became the father of Solomon by the [wife] of Uriah,

the [son] of Melea, the [son] of Menna, the [son] of Mattatha, the [son] of Nathan, the [son] of David, the [son] of Jesse, the [son] of Obed, the [son] of Boaz, the [son] of Sala, the [son] of Nahshon, the [son] of Amminadab, the [son] of Admin, the [son] of Arni, the [son] of Hezron, the [son] of Perez, the [son] of Judah, read more.
the [son] of Jacob, the [son] of Isaac, the [son] of Abraham, the [son] of Terah, the [son] of Nahor, the [son] of Serug, the [son] of Reu, the [son] of Peleg, the [son] of Eber, the [son] of Shelah, the [son] of Cainan, the [son] of Arphaxad, the [son] of Shem, the [son] of Noah, the [son] of Lamech, the [son] of Methuselah, the [son] of Enoch, the [son] of Jared, the [son] of Mahalaleel, the [son] of Cainan, the [son] of Enosh, the [son] of Seth, the [son] of Adam, the [son] of God.


"The spirit of Yahweh speaks through me, and his word [is] upon my tongue. The God of Israel said to me, the rock of Israel has spoken; 'He who rules over mankind rules righteously, in the fear of God. Like the light of [the] morning when the sun rises, shining with no clouds, [bringing] vegetation from the earth apart from rain.' read more.
Yet not so [is] my house with God, for he made an everlasting covenant for me, arranging everything. He has secured all my deliverance, and all my desire he will cause to happen. But evil persons [are] like thorns cast aside; all of them, because they cannot be picked up in the hand. And if a man wants to touch them, he must use an iron instrument or the shaft of a spear; then they [are] consumed entirely with fire on the spot."

"All this [I give you] in writing; from the hand of Yahweh he instructed me [about] all the workings of this plan."

Now [while] the Pharisees were assembled, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "David's." He said to them, "How then does David, by the Spirit, call him 'Lord,' saying, read more.
'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet" '? If then David calls him 'Lord,' how is he his son?" And no one was able to answer him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day [on] to ask him any more [questions].

For David says with reference to him, 'I saw the Lord before me {continually}, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken. For this [reason] my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced greatly, furthermore also my flesh will live in hope, because you will not abandon my soul in Hades, nor will you permit your Holy One to experience decay. read more.
You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with gladness with your presence.' "Men [and] brothers, it is possible to speak with confidence to you about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us until this day. Therefore, [because he] was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat {one of his descendants} on his throne, [by] having foreseen [this], he spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he abandoned in Hades nor did his flesh experience decay. This Jesus God raised up, of which we all are witnesses. Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he has poured out this that you see and hear. For David did not ascend into heaven, but he himself says, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." ' Therefore let all the house of Israel know beyond a doubt, that God has made him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified!" Now [when they] heard [this], they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "What should we do, men [and] brothers?" And Peter [said] to them, "Repent and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

the one who said by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David, your servant, 'Why do the nations rage, and the peoples conspire in vain?


The number of days that David was king over Hebron, over the house of Judah, [was] seven years and six months.

He reigned over Judah at Hebron [for] seven years and six months; and he reigned over all Israel and Judah at Jerusalem [for] thirty-three years.

Six were born to him in Hebron. And he reigned there seven years and six months. And he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

Then all Israel gathered to David in Hebron, saying, "Look--we are your flesh and bones. {For some time now}, even when Saul was king, you were {the one who led the army of Israel in battle}. And Yahweh your God said to you, 'You will shepherd my people Israel and will be leader over my people Israel.'" Then all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them at Hebron in the presence of Yahweh. And they anointed David as king over Israel according to the word of Yahweh by the hand of Samuel.

And these are the numbers of the chiefs of those prepared for the army who came to David at Hebron to turn the kingdom of Saul over to him according to the word of Yahweh. The sons of Judah bearing shield and spear: six thousand eight hundred armed troops. From the men of Simeon, mighty warriors of strength for war: seven thousand one hundred. read more.
From the Levites: four thousand six hundred. Jehoiada the chief officer of [the house of] Aaron, and with him, three thousand seven hundred. And Zadok, a young man, a mighty warrior of strength, and the house of his father: twenty-two commanders. From the men of Benjamin, kinsmen of Saul, three thousand, and {even still} the majority of them {remained loyal} to the house of Saul. And from the men of Ephraim: twenty thousand eight hundred mighty warriors of strength, famous men in the house of their fathers. And from the half-tribe of Manasseh: eighteen thousand who were designated by name to come to make David king. And from the men of Issachar: {men who were skilled in understanding the times} to know what Israel should do. Their chiefs [were] two hundred, and all their kinsmen [were] under their command. From Zebulun, those who went out armed, equipped for battle with all the weapons of war: fifty thousand to help David {with singleness of purpose}. From Naphtali: one thousand commanders; and [those] with them with shield and spear: thirty-seven thousand. From the Danites, [those] equipped for battle: twenty-eight thousand six hundred. And from Asher, those who went out armed [and] prepared for battle: forty thousand. And from beyond the Jordan, from the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, with all [their] weapons of war for battle: one hundred and twenty thousand. All these [were] men of war arrayed in battle line {with a whole heart}. They came to Hebron to make David king over all Israel. Likewise, all the rest of Israel [had] one heart to make David king. And they were there with David three days, eating and drinking, for their kinsmen were prepared for them. And also their relatives, as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought food on donkeys, on camels, on mules, and on oxen--provisions of flour, cakes of figs, raisin cakes, wine and oil, cattle and sheep in abundance, for [there was] great joy in Israel.

And the days that he reigned over Israel [were] forty years. In Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years.


The number of days that David was king over Hebron, over the house of Judah, [was] seven years and six months.

He reigned over Judah at Hebron [for] seven years and six months; and he reigned over all Israel and Judah at Jerusalem [for] thirty-three years.

Six were born to him in Hebron. And he reigned there seven years and six months. And he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

Then all Israel gathered to David in Hebron, saying, "Look--we are your flesh and bones. {For some time now}, even when Saul was king, you were {the one who led the army of Israel in battle}. And Yahweh your God said to you, 'You will shepherd my people Israel and will be leader over my people Israel.'" Then all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them at Hebron in the presence of Yahweh. And they anointed David as king over Israel according to the word of Yahweh by the hand of Samuel.

It happened after this that David inquired of Yahweh, saying, "Shall I go up into one of the cities of Judah?" And Yahweh said to him, "Go up." David asked, "Where shall I go up?" And he said, "To Hebron." So David went up there {along with} his two wives, Ahinoam {from Jezreel} and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. Also, David brought up his men who [were] with him, each {with} his household, and they settled in the towns of Hebron. read more.
Then the men of Judah came, and they anointed David there as king over the house of Judah, and they told David, "The men of Jabesh-Gilead buried Saul."

The days that David reigned over Israel [were] forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.


Afterward the children of Israel will return and seek Yahweh their God and David their king. They will come in fear to Yahweh and to his goodness at the end of days.

" '"And my servant David [will be] king over them, and one shepherd will be for all of them, and in my regulations they will go, and my statutes they will observe, and they will do them. And they will dwell on the land that I gave to my servant, to Jacob, {in which your ancestors dwelled}, and they will dwell on it, they and their children and the children of their children {forever}, and my servant David [will be] a leader for them {forever}.

But they will serve Yahweh their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

And I will set up over them one shepherd, and he will feed them; [that is], my servant David. He will feed them, and he will be for them as a shepherd. And I, Yahweh, I will be for them {as God}, and my servant David [will be] a leader in the midst of them. I, Yahweh, I have spoken.



{Yahweh forbid me} from stretching out my hand against Yahweh's anointed one! So then, please take the spear that [is] near his head and the jar of water, and let us go."

So David rebuked his men with the words and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave, and he went on his way.

David said to Abishai and to all his servants, "Look, my son who came out of my loins [is] seeking my life. Now {as far as} [this] Benjaminite, leave him alone and let him curse, for Yahweh has spoken to him.

Then David said, "What [is] it to me or to you, sons of Zeruiah, that you should be an adversary today? [Should] anyone be put to death in Israel? Do I not know today that I [am] king over Israel?" Then the king said to Shimei, "You shall not die," and [so] the king swore to him.


David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters [were] born to him.

And he must not {acquire many} wives for himself, so that his heart [would] turn aside; and {he must not accumulate silver and gold for himself excessively}.


All of them were chosen as gatekeepers at the entrances, two hundred and twelve. They were enrolled by genealogies in their villages. They [were] established [by] David and Samuel the seer on account of their faithfulness.

Then David ordered the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brothers [as] singers with instruments of song, musical instruments, stringed instruments, and cymbals, {raising their voices for joy}. So the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel, and from his brothers, Asaph the son of Berekiah, and from the sons of Merari, their brothers, Ethan the son of Kushaiah; and with them their brothers [of] the second [rank], Zechariah the son, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, and the gatekeepers Obed-Edom and Jeiel. read more.
Now the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, [were] to sound bronze cymbals; Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah [were to play] on harps according to Alamoth; and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah [were to play] lyres, directing according to the Sheminith. And Kenaniah, chief of the Levites in singing, [was to be] an instructor in singing because he understood. And Berekiah and Elkanah [were] gatekeepers for the ark. And Shebaniah, Jehoshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Elizezer the priests {sounded the trumpets} before the ark of God. And Obed-Edom and Jehiah [were] gatekeepers for the ark.

Then he appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of Yahweh, to invoke, thank, and praise Yahweh the God of Israel. Asaph [was] chief, and his second [was] Zechariah; Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel [were] on harps and lyres. And Asaph played on the cymbals. And Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests [blew] on the trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God.

So he left Asaph and his brothers there before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to minister before the ark regularly {as each day required}, and [he left] Obed-Edom with his sixty-eight brothers. And Obed-Edom, the son of Jeduthun, and Hosah [were] gatekeepers. And [he left] Zadok the priest and his brothers the priests before the tabernacle of Yahweh at the high place which [was] at Gibeon read more.
to offer burnt offerings regularly to Yahweh on the altar of burnt offering, morning and evening, according to all that was written in the law of Yahweh that he commanded concerning Israel. And with them [were] Heman and Jeduthun and the remainder of those chosen, who were designated by name to give thanks to Yahweh, for his loyal love [is] everlasting. And Heman and Jeduthun with them [had] trumpets and cymbals for making music, along with instruments for the song of God. And the sons of Jeduthun [were] at the gate. Then all the people went each to his house, and David turned to bless his household.



The days of David came near [for him] to die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying, "I [am about to] go the way of all the world. Be strong and be {courageous}. You shall keep the charge of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his judgments, and his testimonies, as are written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and everywhere you turn, read more.
so that Yahweh may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, 'If your sons take heed of their way, to walk before me in faithfulness, with all their heart and with all their soul, no man of yours will be cut off from the throne of Israel.'" "Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me when he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner son of Ner and to Amasa son of Jether, and he murdered them and put the blood of war in [a time of] peace. He put the blood of war on the leather belt that was on his waist and on the sandals which were on his feet. You must act according to your wisdom, but you must not let his gray hair go down to Sheol in peace. Regarding the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, you shall do loyal love and let them be among those who eat at your table, because they met me when I fled from Absalom your brother. And look, Shimei the son of Gera the son of the Benjaminite from Bahurim is with you. Now he {cursed me severely} when I went to Mahanaim, but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, so I swore to him by Yahweh, 'I surely will not kill you with the sword.' So then, do not leave him unpunished, for you [are] a wise man, and you will know what you must do to him. You must bring his grey hair down to Sheol with blood." Then David slept with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David. The days that David reigned over Israel [were] forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

Then he called to Solomon his son and commanded him to build a house for Yahweh, the God of Israel. And David said to Solomon his son, "I myself had in my heart to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, but it happened [that] the word of Yahweh [came] over me, saying, 'You have shed much blood and have made much war; you shall not build a house for my name because you have shed much blood upon the ground before me. read more.
Behold, a son shall be born to you; he himself will be a man of rest, and I will give rest to him from all his enemies all around, for his name will be Solomon, and peace and quietness I will give to Israel in his days. He himself will build a house for my name, and he himself will be to me a son, and I [will be] to him as a father, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.' Now, my son, Yahweh will be with you, that you may succeed and build the house of Yahweh your God as he has spoken concerning you. Only may Yahweh give to you understanding and insight that he might give you charge over Israel and the keeping of the law of Yahweh your God. Then you will prosper if you take care to do the statutes and judgments which Yahweh commanded Moses concerning Israel. Be strong and be courageous; fear not and do not be dismayed. Now see, with great effort I have made provision for the house of Yahweh: 100,000 talents of gold, 1,000,000 talents of silver, and bronze and iron [that] cannot be weighed, for there is an abundance. Also timber and stone I have provided, but to these you should add. And with you [there is] an abundance of craftsmen: stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and everyone skilled in every [kind of] craftsmanship with gold, silver, bronze, and iron without number. Arise and work! Yahweh will be with you!" And David commanded all the commanders of Israel to help Solomon his son, [saying], "Is not Yahweh your God with you? And has he [not] given you rest all around? For he has put in my hand the inhabitants of the land, and the land is subdued before Yahweh and before his people. Now set your heart and mind to seek Yahweh your Go, and arise and build the sanctuary of Yahweh God, that the ark of the covenant of Yahweh and the holy vessels of God might be brought into the house built for the name of Yahweh.


Then David slept with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David.

And he died in a good old age, full of days, wealth, and honor. And Solomon his son reigned in his place.

"Men [and] brothers, it is possible to speak with confidence to you about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us until this day. Therefore, [because he] was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat {one of his descendants} on his throne,


These [are] the names of the ones born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua and Shobab and Nathan and Solomon; Ibhar and Elishua and Nepheg and Japhia; Elishama and Eliada and Eliphelet.

And these were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon, four by Bathshua the daughter of Ammiel; then Ibhar, Elishama, Eliphelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, read more.
Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet, nine.

Now these [are] the names of the children who were [born] to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, read more.
Elishama, Beeliada, and Eliphelet.


The king and his men went to Jerusalem, to the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land. They said to David, "You will not come here, for even the blind and the lame can turn you back, saying, 'David cannot come here.'"

And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (that [is] Jebus). And the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, [were] there. And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, "You will not enter here." But David captured the stronghold of Zion; that [is,] the city of David. Then David said, "Whoever strikes the Jebusites first will be chief and commander." And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first and became chief. read more.
And David lived in the fortress. Therefore they called it the city of David. And he built the city all around from the Millo and up to the circuit. And Joab restored the remainder of the city.

Ah! Ariel, Ariel, [the] city [where] David encamped! Add year to year, let festivals recur.


But now, your kingdom will not endure. Yahweh has sought for himself a man according to his [own] heart, and Yahweh has appointed him as leader over his people, because you have not kept what Yahweh commanded you."

because David did right in the eyes of Yahweh and he didn't turn aside from all that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.


So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon David from that day {on}. Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah.

Then Yahweh said to Samuel, "{How long} will you mourn about Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel! Fill up your horn [with] oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have chosen a king for myself among his sons."

Formerly you spoke in a vision to your faithful ones, and said, "I have bestowed help on a mighty man; I have exalted one chosen from [the] people. I have found David, my servant. With my holy oil I have anointed him, with whom my hand will be steadfast. Surely my arm will strengthen him. read more.
[The] enemy will not deceive him, and no {evil man} will afflict him. But I will crush his adversaries before him, and I will strike those who hate him. And [so] my faithfulness and my loyal love [will be] with him, and in my name his horn will rise up. And I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. He will call out [to] me, 'You [are] my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.' I will also make him [the] firstborn, [the] highest of [the] kings of [the] earth. Forever I will keep my loyal love for him, and my covenant [will be] reliable for him. I will also establish his offspring forever, and his throne as [the] days of [the] heavens. If his sons forsake my law and do not walk in my judgments, if they defile my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with rod, and their guilt with wounds. But I will not break off my loyal love from him, and I will not be false against my faithfulness. I will not defile my covenant, or alter what proceeded from my lips. Once I have sworn by my holiness, 'I will surely not lie to David, His offspring will endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. Like [the] moon it will be steadfast forever, and [like] an enduring witness in the sky.'" Selah



And these are the numbers of the chiefs of those prepared for the army who came to David at Hebron to turn the kingdom of Saul over to him according to the word of Yahweh. The sons of Judah bearing shield and spear: six thousand eight hundred armed troops. From the men of Simeon, mighty warriors of strength for war: seven thousand one hundred. read more.
From the Levites: four thousand six hundred. Jehoiada the chief officer of [the house of] Aaron, and with him, three thousand seven hundred. And Zadok, a young man, a mighty warrior of strength, and the house of his father: twenty-two commanders. From the men of Benjamin, kinsmen of Saul, three thousand, and {even still} the majority of them {remained loyal} to the house of Saul. And from the men of Ephraim: twenty thousand eight hundred mighty warriors of strength, famous men in the house of their fathers. And from the half-tribe of Manasseh: eighteen thousand who were designated by name to come to make David king. And from the men of Issachar: {men who were skilled in understanding the times} to know what Israel should do. Their chiefs [were] two hundred, and all their kinsmen [were] under their command. From Zebulun, those who went out armed, equipped for battle with all the weapons of war: fifty thousand to help David {with singleness of purpose}. From Naphtali: one thousand commanders; and [those] with them with shield and spear: thirty-seven thousand. From the Danites, [those] equipped for battle: twenty-eight thousand six hundred. And from Asher, those who went out armed [and] prepared for battle: forty thousand. And from beyond the Jordan, from the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, with all [their] weapons of war for battle: one hundred and twenty thousand. All these [were] men of war arrayed in battle line {with a whole heart}. They came to Hebron to make David king over all Israel. Likewise, all the rest of Israel [had] one heart to make David king. And they were there with David three days, eating and drinking, for their kinsmen were prepared for them. And also their relatives, as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought food on donkeys, on camels, on mules, and on oxen--provisions of flour, cakes of figs, raisin cakes, wine and oil, cattle and sheep in abundance, for [there was] great joy in Israel.


There [was] war again for [the] Philistines with Israel, and David and his servants with him went down, and they fought [the] Philistines, and David grew weary. Now Yishbi in Nob, who [was] among the descendents of Raphah (now the weight of his spearhead [was] three hundredweight of bronze, and he [was] newly armed), said that he would kill David. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and he attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, "You shall not go out with us any longer to the battle, so that you do not quench the lamp of Israel." read more.
It happened afterward that there [was] again battle at Gob with [the] Philistines. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph who [was] among the descendants of the Raphah. There [was] again a battle with [the] Philistines at Gob. And Elhanan the son of Jaare-Oregim, the Bethlehemite, killed Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear [was] like the beam of a weaver. Once again there [was] battle at Gath, and there [was] {a man of great size}. The fingers of his hand and the toes of his feet [were] six and six, twenty-four in number. He [was] also born to the Raphah. He taunted Israel but Jonathan the son of Shimei, the brother of David, killed him. These four [were] born for the Raphah in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

And after this there arose a war in Gezer with the Philistines. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Sippai, one of the descendants of the Rephaim. And they were subdued. And again there was war with the Philistines. And Elhanan son of Jair struck down Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear [was] like a weaver's beam. And again there was war in Gath. And there was a {very tall} man [there], and {he had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all}. He himself [was] also a descendant of the Rephaim. read more.
And he taunted Israel, but Jehonathan son of Shimea, brother of David, struck him down. These were born to the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.



You rescued me from strife with people; you set me as head (over) nations. People I did not know served me;

Because on account of you I have borne reproach; disgrace has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers and a foreigner to my mother's sons, because the zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those reproaching you have fallen on me.


The days that David reigned over Israel [were] forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

And the days that he reigned over Israel [were] forty years. In Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years. And he died in a good old age, full of days, wealth, and honor. And Solomon his son reigned in his place.



Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came trembling to meet David, and he said to him, "Why are you alone and there are no men with you?" So David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king charged me [with] a matter and said to me, 'No one must know anything about this matter [on] which I am sending you, [with] which I have charged you and the servants.'" So {I have arranged to meet with my servants at a certain place}. Now then, {what do you have at hand}? Give me five [loaves] of bread or {whatever is here}." read more.
The priest answered David and said, "There is no ordinary bread {here at hand}; there is only holy bread, [but] only if the young men have kept themselves from women." David answered the priest and said to him, "Indeed, women [were] held back from us {as it has been when I've gone out before}. And the things of the young men are holy when it [is] an ordinary journey. {How much more} {today} will the things be holy?" So the priest gave him [the] holy [bread], for there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence, which was removed from before Yahweh, in order to set hot bread [there] on the day when it was taken away.

So he said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those with him, how he entered into the house of God and ate the bread of the presentation, which it was not permitted for him or for those with him to eat, but only for the priests?


Joab the son of Zeruiah began to count, but he did not finish. But wrath came upon Israel concerning this, and the number was not included in {the chronicles} of King David.


And he died in a good old age, full of days, wealth, and honor. And Solomon his son reigned in his place.

David [was] thirty years old when he began to reign; he reigned forty years. He reigned over Judah at Hebron [for] seven years and six months; and he reigned over all Israel and Judah at Jerusalem [for] thirty-three years.


It [was] told to King David, "Yahweh has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and all that [is] his because of the ark of God." So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David with jubilation. It happened [that] when the carriers of the ark of Yahweh had marched six steps that he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. Now David [was] dancing with all [his] might before Yahweh, and David [was] wearing a linen ephod. read more.
So David and all the house of Israel [were] bringing up the ark of Yahweh with shouts of joyful acclaim and with the sound of the trumpet. It happened that when the ark of Yahweh came [into] the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked down through the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before Yahweh, and she despised him in her heart.



There [was] a famine in the days of David [for] three years, year after year. And David {inquired of Yahweh}, and Yahweh said, "The bloodguilt [is] on Saul and on his household, because he killed the Gibeonites." So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites [were] not from the {Israelites}; they [were] from the remainder of the Amorites. Now the {Israelites} had sworn to them, but Saul tried to wipe them out in his zeal for the {Israelites} and Judah. So David asked the Gibeonites, "What can I do for you, and with what can I make amends that you may bless the inheritance of Yahweh?" read more.
Then the Gibeonites said to him, "{It is not a matter for us of} silver or gold with Saul or with his household. It is not for us to put to death anyone in Israel." He asked, "What [are] you saying [that] I should do for you all?" Then they said to the king, "The man who consumed us and who plotted against us [so that] we were destroyed from existing in all of the territory of Israel, let seven men from his sons be given over to us, and we will execute them before Yahweh in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen one of Yahweh." Then the king said, "I will give them over." But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the sworn oath of Yahweh which [was] between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. So the king took two of the sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, namely Armoni and Mephibosheth, and five of the sons of Michal the daughter of Saul whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. He gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they executed them on the mountain in the presence of Yahweh, and the seven fell together. Now they were put to death in the days of the harvest, at the beginning of the harvest of barley. Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took the sackcloth, and she spread it for herself on the rock at the beginning of the harvest until water gushed forth on them from heaven, but she did not allow the birds of heaven to rest on them by day nor the animals of the field by night. David [was] told about what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. So David left and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the rulers of Jabesh Gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth Shan, where [the] Philistines hung them {when} [the] Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa. He brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there, and they gathered the bones of the executed. And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin at Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. They did all that the king had commanded, and afterward God was entreated for the land.


David reigned over all of Israel, and he was administering justice and righteousness for all his people.

So David reigned over all Israel, and {he administered justice} and righteousness to all his people.


David {continued growing stronger and stronger}, and Yahweh the God of hosts [was] with him.

And David {became greater and greater}. And Yahweh of hosts [was] with him.



Six were born to him in Hebron. And he reigned there seven years and six months. And he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

And sons [were] born to David in Hebron; his firstborn [was] Amnon by Ahinoam {from Jezreel}. His second [was] Kileab by Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; the third [was] Absalom the son of Maacah, [who was] the daughter of Talmai the king of Geshur. The fourth [was] Adonijah the son of Haggith; the fifth [was] Shephatiah the son of Abital. read more.
The sixth [was] Ithream by Eglah the wife of David. These [were] born to David in Hebron.


But God said to me, 'You may not build a house for my name because you [are] a man of war, and you have shed blood.'


And David said to Saul, "Your servant has been a shepherd of the flock for his father. If the lion or the bear would come and carry off a sheep from the group, I would go out after it and strike it down and rescue [the sheep] from its mouth. If it rose against me, I would grab [it] by its beard and strike it down and kill it. Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he defied the battle lines of the living God."


So Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David. And he fell on his face and did obeisance. David said, "Mephibosheth," and he said, "{I am ready to serve you}."

Now, Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king; he had not taken care of his feet nor trimmed his moustache nor washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he came back in peace. It happened that when he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, "Why did you not come with me, Mephibosheth?" Then he said, "My lord the king, my servant deceived me, for your servant had said, 'Let me saddle the donkey that I may ride on her and go with the king,' for your servant [is] lame. read more.
But he slandered against your servant to my lord the king. My lord the king [is] like the angel of God; {do as you see fit.}." For there [was no one] in all the house of my father {who were not doomed to death} before my lord the king, but you set your servant among those who eat at your table. Do I have any righteousness any longer except to cry out to the king?" Then the king said to him, "Why should you speak any more [about] the matter? I have decided: you and Ziba shall divide the land." Then Mephibosheth said to the king, "Let him take the whole [thing], since my lord the king has come {safely} to his house."


So Hiram, the king of Tyre, sent messengers to David, [along with] cedar trees and {craftsmen skilled in wood and in stone masonry}, and they built a house for David.

Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him as king in place of his father, for Hiram had always been a friend for David.


The king was upset, and he went up to the upper room of the gate and wept. He said as he went, "My son, Absalom, my son, my son, Absalom. {If only} I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son."

And it was told to Joab that the king [was] weeping and he mourned over Absalom, so the victory turned to mourning on that day for all the army, because they had heard that day, "The king is grieving over his son." The army {came secretly} into the city on that day because the army was disgraced when they fled in the battle, read more.
and because the king had covered his face and cried with a loud voice, "My son, Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son."


So Hiram, the king of Tyre, sent messengers to David, [along with] cedar trees and {craftsmen skilled in wood and in stone masonry}, and they built a house for David.

And Solomon sent [word] to Huram king of Tyre, saying, "As you have dealt with David my father and sent cedar to him to build for himself a house in which to live, [please deal with me].


The fourth [was] Adonijah the son of Haggith; the fifth [was] Shephatiah the son of Abital.

Then Joab the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out, and they met at the pool of Gibeon. The one group sat on one side of the pool, and the other sat on the other side. Abner said to Joab, "Let the young men come up and fight in our presence." And Joab said, "Let them come up." So they came forward and passed by in number: twelve for Benjamin and for Ish-Bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve from the servants of David. read more.
Then each seized his {opponent} by the head and [each thrust] his sword in the side of his opponent, so they fell together. So they called the name of that place Helkath Hazzurim, which [is] in Gibeon. Then the battle {became increasingly fierce} on that day, and Abner and the men of Israel [were] defeated before the servants of David. The three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab and Abishai and Asahel. Now Asahel [was] swift with his feet as one of the gazelles which [is] in the open field. So Asahel pursued Abner, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left from going after Abner. Abner turned around and said, "[Are] you this Asahel?" And he said, "Yes." Abner said to him, "Turn aside to your right or to your left; seize for yourself one of the young men, and take his belongings for yourself." But Asahel [was] not willing to turn aside from him. So Abner said to Asahel {once again}, "{For your own sake}, turn aside {from following me}. Why should I strike you down to the ground? How could I {show my face} to Joab your brother?" But he refused to turn away, so Abner struck him in the stomach with the butt of the spear, and the spear went out of his back. He fell there and he died {on the spot}. {Then} all who came to the place where Asahel fell and died [just] stood there. So Joab and Abishai pursued Abner {when} the sun went down. And they came to the hill [country] of Ammah, which [is] {before Giah} [on] the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. The descendants of Benjamin rallied after Abner, and they became as one fighting group and stood on the top of a certain hill. Then Abner called to Joab and said, "Will [the] sword devour forever? Do you not know that [there] will be bitterness in the end? {How long} will you not tell the people to turn {away from pursuing} their brothers?" Joab said, "{As God lives}, for if you had not spoken, the people would surely have gone up in the morning, each [one of them] {from following after} his brother." Then Joab blew on the trumpet and all the people stopped, and they no longer pursued after Israel, and they did not fight with them again. Then Abner and his men went through the Arabah all that night, and they crossed over the Jordan. They went all the forenoon and came to Mahanaim. After Joab returned from [pursuing] Abner, he gathered all the people; nineteen of the servants of David [were] missing [along] with Asahel. The servants of David had killed some of the Benjaminites among the men of Abner; three hundred and sixty men had died. Then they picked up Asahel and buried him in the grave of his father, which [was at] Bethlehem. Joab and his men went all that night {[arriving] in Hebron at first light}.


Now David [was] old and full of days. And he made Solomon his son king over Israel.


So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon David from that day {on}. Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah.


Then he took his staff in his hand, picked out for himself five smooth stones from the wadi, and he put them in his shepherd's bag, in the pouch. And with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.


So he sent and brought him. Now he [was] ruddy with beautiful eyes and of {handsome} appearance. And Yahweh said, "Arise, anoint him, for this [is] he."


{Now} in those days [the] Philistines gathered their forces for war to fight against Israel. So Achish said to David, "Certainly you realize that you must go out with me in the army, you and your men." David said to Achish, "Very well, you will know what your servant can do." Achish said to David, "Very well, I will make you {my bodyguard} for life."





David captured the fortress of Zion, the city of David.


So David came to Saul and {entered his service}. He loved him greatly and {he became Saul's armor bearer}. Then Saul sent [word] to Jesse, saying, "Please let David stand before me, because he has found favor {in my sight}." So whenever the [evil] spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the stringed instrument and play it with his hand. Then {it would bring relief} for Saul; {he would feel better} and the evil spirit would depart from him.


Suddenly, all the men of Israel [were] coming to the king. They said to the king, "Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen away and brought the king and his household over the Jordan, with all the men of David?" Then all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, "Because the king [is] my close relative! Why [are] you this angry over this matter? {Have we by any means eaten [anything] from the king? Did we take by any means anything that was not ours}?" Then the people of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, "I have {ten times as much} in the king, moreover in David I have more than you. Why did you treat me with contempt {by not giving me first chance} to bring back my king?" But the words of the men of Judah [were] fiercer than the word of the men of Israel.


So David and his men got up, about six hundred men, and went out from Keilah and wandered wherever they could go. When it was told to Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, {he stopped his pursuit}. David remained in the wilderness, in the strongholds, and in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him {continually}, but God did not give him into his hand When David realized that Saul had gone out to seek his life, David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. read more.
So Jonathan the son of Saul got up and went to David [at] Horesh, and {encouraged him} through God. He said to him, "Do not be afraid, for the hand of my father Saul will not find you. You will be king over Israel, and {I will be second to you}. My father Saul knows [this] also." Then the two of them {made} a covenant before Yahweh. David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went to his house. Then [the] Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, "[Is] not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh on the hill of Hakilah, which [is] south of Jeshimon So then, O king, {whenever you want} to come down, come down, and [it will be] for us to deliver him into the hand of the king." And Saul said to them, "May you be blessed by Yahweh, for you have shown me compassion Go, please, make certain again! Find out and see {exactly where he is} and who has seen him there! For they have said to me, 'He [is] very cunning.' Look, find out all of the hiding places where he hides. Then return to me {with dependable information}, and I will go with you. And then if he [is] there in the land, then I will seek him among all the thousands of Judah." Then they got up and went to Ziph before Saul. Now David and his men [were] in the wilderness of Maon in the Arabah, to the south of Jeshimon. And Saul and his men went to seek [him], and they told David, so he went down [to] the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard [this], he pursued David [into] the wilderness of Maon. Saul went {on one side of the mountain}, and David and his men {went on the other side of the mountain}. David was hurrying to get away from Saul, while Saul and his men [were] closing in on David and his men to capture them.


Now the words of King David, [from] the first to the last, see, they are written among the words of Samuel the seer, and among the words of Nathan the prophet, and among the words of Gad the seer, with all [the accounts of] his kingdom, his power, and the times that came upon him, and upon Israel, and upon all the kingdoms of the earth.


Then Saul said to David, "Here [is] my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you as [your] wife. Only be {a brave warrior} for me and fight the battles of Yahweh." For Saul thought, "My hand will not be against him, but let the hand of [the] Philistines be against him." But David said to Saul, "Who [am] I, and [who are] my relatives, the clan of my father in Israel, that I should be a son-in-law to the king?" {But} at the time Saul's daughter Merab [was] to be given to David, she was given [instead] to Adriel the Meholathite as wife. read more.
Now Saul's daughter Michal loved David, so they told Saul, and the matter {pleased him}. And Saul thought, "I will give her to him, so that she may be a snare for him and the hand of [the] Philistines may be against him." So Saul said to David, "For a second [time] you can become my son-in-law today." Then Saul commanded his servants, "Speak to David in secret, saying, 'Look, the king [is] pleased with you, and all his servants love you. So then, become a son-in-law of the king.'" And Saul's servants spoke these words {to David privately}. But David said, "[Is] it insignificant {in your sight} to become the son-in-law of the king, [as] I am a poor and lightly esteemed man?" So the servants of Saul informed him, saying, "{This is what David said}." Then Saul said, "This [is] what you must say to David: '{The king desires no bride price} except for a hundred foreskins of [the] Philistines, to avenge himself on the enemies of the king.'" (Now Saul had planned to allow David to fall by the hand of [the] Philistines.) So his servants told David these words, and the matter {pleased David} to become the son-in-law of the king [as] {the specified time had not expired}. And David got up, and he and his men went and struck down two hundred men [of the] Philistines. Then David brought their foreskins, and {they presented the full number} to become the king's son-in-law. Then Saul gave him Michal his daughter as [his] wife.


Then Nathan went to his house, and Yahweh struck the child that the wife of Uriah bore for David, and he became ill. David pleaded [with] God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground. The elders of his household stood over him to lift him up from the ground, but he [was] not willing, and he did not eat [any] food with them. read more.
It happened on the seventh day that the child died, and the servants of David [were] afraid to tell him that the child [was] dead, for they said, "Look, when the child [was] alive, we spoke to him, but he would not listen to our voice. How can we tell him, 'The child [is] dead'? He may do [something] evil." When David saw that his servants [were] whispering together, he realized that the child [was] dead. Then David said to his servants, "[Is] the child dead?" And they said, "He [is] dead." David stood up from the ground and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothing. Then he went [to] the house of Yahweh and worshiped, and he went to his [own] house. He asked, so they served him food, and he ate. Then his servants said to him, "What [is] this thing that you have done? While the child [was] alive, you fasted and wept; [now] that the child has died, you get up and eat food!" He said, "When the child [was] still alive, I fasted and I wept because I thought, 'Who knows? Yahweh may have mercy on me that the child will live.' But now he [is] dead. Why [should I be] fasting? [Am] I able to return him again? I [am] going to him, but he cannot return to me."


So David left and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the rulers of Jabesh Gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth Shan, where [the] Philistines hung them {when} [the] Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa. He brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there, and they gathered the bones of the executed. And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin at Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. They did all that the king had commanded, and afterward God was entreated for the land.


And these are the numbers of the chiefs of those prepared for the army who came to David at Hebron to turn the kingdom of Saul over to him according to the word of Yahweh. The sons of Judah bearing shield and spear: six thousand eight hundred armed troops. From the men of Simeon, mighty warriors of strength for war: seven thousand one hundred. read more.
From the Levites: four thousand six hundred. Jehoiada the chief officer of [the house of] Aaron, and with him, three thousand seven hundred. And Zadok, a young man, a mighty warrior of strength, and the house of his father: twenty-two commanders. From the men of Benjamin, kinsmen of Saul, three thousand, and {even still} the majority of them {remained loyal} to the house of Saul. And from the men of Ephraim: twenty thousand eight hundred mighty warriors of strength, famous men in the house of their fathers. And from the half-tribe of Manasseh: eighteen thousand who were designated by name to come to make David king. And from the men of Issachar: {men who were skilled in understanding the times} to know what Israel should do. Their chiefs [were] two hundred, and all their kinsmen [were] under their command. From Zebulun, those who went out armed, equipped for battle with all the weapons of war: fifty thousand to help David {with singleness of purpose}. From Naphtali: one thousand commanders; and [those] with them with shield and spear: thirty-seven thousand. From the Danites, [those] equipped for battle: twenty-eight thousand six hundred. And from Asher, those who went out armed [and] prepared for battle: forty thousand. And from beyond the Jordan, from the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, with all [their] weapons of war for battle: one hundred and twenty thousand. All these [were] men of war arrayed in battle line {with a whole heart}. They came to Hebron to make David king over all Israel. Likewise, all the rest of Israel [had] one heart to make David king. And they were there with David three days, eating and drinking, for their kinsmen were prepared for them. And also their relatives, as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought food on donkeys, on camels, on mules, and on oxen--provisions of flour, cakes of figs, raisin cakes, wine and oil, cattle and sheep in abundance, for [there was] great joy in Israel.


Now, Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king; he had not taken care of his feet nor trimmed his moustache nor washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he came back in peace. It happened that when he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, "Why did you not come with me, Mephibosheth?" Then he said, "My lord the king, my servant deceived me, for your servant had said, 'Let me saddle the donkey that I may ride on her and go with the king,' for your servant [is] lame. read more.
But he slandered against your servant to my lord the king. My lord the king [is] like the angel of God; {do as you see fit.}." For there [was no one] in all the house of my father {who were not doomed to death} before my lord the king, but you set your servant among those who eat at your table. Do I have any righteousness any longer except to cry out to the king?" Then the king said to him, "Why should you speak any more [about] the matter? I have decided: you and Ziba shall divide the land." Then Mephibosheth said to the king, "Let him take the whole [thing], since my lord the king has come {safely} to his house."


So Jonathan the son of Saul got up and went to David [at] Horesh, and {encouraged him} through God. He said to him, "Do not be afraid, for the hand of my father Saul will not find you. You will be king over Israel, and {I will be second to you}. My father Saul knows [this] also." Then the two of them {made} a covenant before Yahweh. David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went to his house.


But a messenger came to Saul, saying, "Hurry and come, because [the] Philistines have made a raid on the land!" So Saul returned from pursuing David, and he went to confront [the] Philistines. Therefore, they called that place the Rock of Division.


When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband [was] dead, she mourned over her husband. When the mourning [was] over, David sent and brought her to his household, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing which David had done [was] evil in the eyes of Yahweh.


And Joab fought against Rabbah of the {Ammonites}, and he captured {the royal city}. Then Joab sent messengers to David and said, "We have fought against Rabbah, and we captured the city of the waters. So then, gather the remainder of the army and encamp against the city and capture it, lest I capture the city and my name be proclaimed over it." read more.
So David gathered all of the army, and he went to Rabbah and fought against it and captured it. He took the crown of their king from his head. (Now its weight [was] a talent of gold, and there [was] a precious stone [in it] and it [was] put on David's head.) He brought out the plunder of the city {in great abundance}. He also brought out the people who [were] in it and put them to the saws and to the iron picks and to the iron axes, and he sent them to the place of the brickmakers. Thus he used to do to all the cities of the {Ammonites}, and he and all of the army returned to Jerusalem.


Then the messenger came to David, saying, "The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom." Then David said to all his servants who [were] with him in Jerusalem, "Get up and let us flee, for there will be no escape for us from Absalom! Hurry to go, otherwise he will come quickly and overtake us! And he will bring disaster on us and evil! He will attack the city with the edge of the sword!" Then the servants of the king said to the king, "According to all that my lord the king chooses, {your servants are ready to act}!" read more.
The king went out with all his household {following him}, but the king left behind ten concubines to look after the house. So the king went out with all the people {following him}, and they stopped {at the last house}. All his servants [were] passing {by him}: all of the Kerethites and all of the Pelethites and all of the Gittites--six hundred men {who had followed him} from Gath--passing {before the king}. The king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why [are] you also coming with us? Return and stay with the king, for you [are] a foreigner; moreover, you [are] an exile. {You [are] far from your place}. Yesterday when you came and {today}, I have caused you to wander by going with us. Now I [am] going to where I [am] going; return and let your brothers return. [May] loyal love and faithfulness [be] with you." But Ittai answered the king and said, "{As Yahweh lives} and {my lord the king lives}, surely in the place wherever my lord the king shall be, if for death or if for life, surely there your servant will be." Then David said to Ittai, "Go and pass over." So Ittai the Gittite passed over and all his men and all of the little children who [were] with him. All of the land [was] weeping [with] a loud voice as all the people [were] passing by and the king [was] crossing through the Wadi Kidron, and all the people [were] passing {on the road to the wilderness}. Suddenly Zadok [was] there, and all of the Levites with him, carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set the ark of God down, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people passed out of the city. The king said to Zadok, "Let the ark of God return to the city. If I find favor in the eyes of Yawheh, he will let me return and let me see him in his dwelling place. But if he says, 'I take no pleasure in you,' then {I am ready}. Let him do to me that which [is] good in his eyes. Then the king said to Zadok the priest, "[Are] you a seer? Return to the city in peace, [with] Ahimaaz your son and Jonathan the son of Abiathar, your two sons with you. See, I [am] waiting at the fords of the wilderness until a word comes from you all to inform me." So Zadok and Abiathar returned the ark of God to Jerusalem and they remained there. Now David [was] going up on the Ascent of the Olives, {weeping as he went}, with his head covered and going barefoot. All the people who [were] with him each covered their head {and wept as they went}. Now David [was] told, "Ahithophel [was] among the conspirators with Absalom." Then David said, "Please frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel, O Yahweh." It happened that as David [was] coming up to the summit where he used to worship God, suddenly Hushai the Arkite [was] there to meet him. His coat [was] torn and dirt [was] on his head. David said to him, "If you move on with me, you will be a burden to me, but if you want to return to the city and say to Absalom, 'I [am] your servant, O king. I used to be a servant of your father, but from then and now I [will be] your servant,' then you can frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel for me. [Will] not Zadok and Abiathar the priests [be] with you there? It shall be that all the words you hear from the house of the king you shall tell Zadok and Abiathar the priests. Look, there with them [are] their two sons, Ahimaaz of Zadok and Jonathan of Abiathar. You shall send to me {by means of them} all the words that you hear." So Hushai the friend of David came to the city [as] Absalom was entering Jerusalem.


After they left, they came up from the well and went and told King David. They said to David, "Set out and cross over the water quickly, for thus Ahithophel has advised against you." So David and all the people who [were] with him set out, and they crossed over the Jordan until morning light until {there was no one} missing who had not crossed over the Jordan. When Ahithophel saw that his advice [was] not followed, he saddled the donkey, and he set out and went up to his house in his city. {After he set his house in order}, he hanged himself, and he died and was buried in the tomb of his ancestors. read more.
Now David had come to Mahanaim, and Absalom had crossed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. Absalom had appointed Amasa in place of Joab over the army. Now Amasa [was] the son of a man whose name [was] Ithra the Israelite, {who had married} Abigail the daughter of Nahash the sister of Zeruiah, the mother of Joab. Israel and Absalom camped [in] the land of Gilead. Just as David had arrived in Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the {Ammonites} and Makir the son of Ammiel from Lo Debar and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim brought beds and basins and objects of pottery, as well as wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, honey, curds, sheep, cheese, and cattle for David and for the people who [were] with him to eat. For they had thought, "The troops [are] hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness."


Then Shimei the son of Gera, the son of the Benjaminite, who [was] from Bahurim quickly came down with the men of Judah to meet King David, and a thousand men [were] with him from Benjamin. Too, Ziba the servant of the household of Saul and fifteen of his sons and twenty of his servants [were] with him, and they rushed to the Jordan before the king. {The crossing took place} to bring the household of the king over and to do good in his eyes. Then Shimei the son of Gera fell before the king when he crossed over the Jordan, read more.
and he said to the king, "May not my lord hold me guilty, and may you not remember how your servant did wrong on the day that my lord the king went out from Jerusalem, by taking it to heart! For your servant knows that I have sinned; look, I have come this day [as the first] of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king." Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah responded and said, "Because of this, should not Shimei be put to death, for he cursed the anointed one of Yahweh?" Then David said, "What [is] it to me or to you, sons of Zeruiah, that you should be an adversary today? [Should] anyone be put to death in Israel? Do I not know today that I [am] king over Israel?" Then the king said to Shimei, "You shall not die," and [so] the king swore to him.


And David said to Saul, "Your servant has been a shepherd of the flock for his father. If the lion or the bear would come and carry off a sheep from the group, I would go out after it and strike it down and rescue [the sheep] from its mouth. If it rose against me, I would grab [it] by its beard and strike it down and kill it. Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he defied the battle lines of the living God."


David consoled Bathsheba his wife, and he went to her and slept with her. She bore a son, and he called him Solomon, and Yahweh loved him. He sent [word] by the hand of Nathan the prophet, so he called him Jedidiah because of Yahweh.


Then Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim and crossed with the king over the Jordan to escort him through the Jordan. Now Barzillai [was] very old, {eighty years old}. Now he had provided the king [with food] while he [was] staying at Mahanaim, for he [was] a very wealthy man. The king said to Barzillai, "You cross over with me, and I will provide for you [to dwell] with me in Jerusalem." read more.
Then Barzillai said to the king, "What [are] the days of the years of my life, that I should go with the king to Jerusalem? I [am] eighty years old today. Can I discern between good and bad? Or can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Or can I still hear the voice of singing men and women? Why should your servant be a burden any longer to my lord the king? Your servant shall go over the Jordan with the king a little way, but why should the king recompense me with this reward? Please let your servant return, and let me die in my city in the tomb of my father and my mother. Here [is] your servant Kimham; let him cross over with my lord the king, and do for him that which [is] good in your eyes." The king said, "Let Kimham go over with me, and I will do for him the good in your eyes, and all that you desire of me I will do for you." Then all the people crossed over the Jordan, and the king crossed and kissed Barzillai and blessed him; then he returned to his place. The king went over to Gilgal, and Kimham went over with him. All the people of Judah went over with the king, and half of the people of Israel too.


And David was achieving success in all his ways and Yahweh [was] with him,

Then the commanders of [the] Philistines went out [for battle], and as often as they went out, David succeeded more than all the servants of Saul, and his name became very esteemed.


So David got up and fled on that day from the presence of Saul, and he came to Achish the king of Gath. The servants of Achish said to him, "[Is] not this David the king of the land? [Is] it not for this [one] that they sang in the dances, saying, 'Saul killed his thousands, but David his ten thousands?'" {David took these words seriously} and {felt severely threatened by} Achish the king of Gath. read more.
So he changed his behavior {before them} and pretended to be mad {in their presence}. He made scratches on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down into his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, "Look, you see a madman! Why did you bring him to me? Do I lack madmen that you have brought this one to act like a madman before me? Should this one enter my household?"


There [was] a famine in the days of David [for] three years, year after year. And David {inquired of Yahweh}, and Yahweh said, "The bloodguilt [is] on Saul and on his household, because he killed the Gibeonites." So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites [were] not from the {Israelites}; they [were] from the remainder of the Amorites. Now the {Israelites} had sworn to them, but Saul tried to wipe them out in his zeal for the {Israelites} and Judah. So David asked the Gibeonites, "What can I do for you, and with what can I make amends that you may bless the inheritance of Yahweh?" read more.
Then the Gibeonites said to him, "{It is not a matter for us of} silver or gold with Saul or with his household. It is not for us to put to death anyone in Israel." He asked, "What [are] you saying [that] I should do for you all?" Then they said to the king, "The man who consumed us and who plotted against us [so that] we were destroyed from existing in all of the territory of Israel, let seven men from his sons be given over to us, and we will execute them before Yahweh in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen one of Yahweh." Then the king said, "I will give them over." But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the sworn oath of Yahweh which [was] between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. So the king took two of the sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, namely Armoni and Mephibosheth, and five of the sons of Michal the daughter of Saul whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. He gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they executed them on the mountain in the presence of Yahweh, and the seven fell together. Now they were put to death in the days of the harvest, at the beginning of the harvest of barley. Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took the sackcloth, and she spread it for herself on the rock at the beginning of the harvest until water gushed forth on them from heaven, but she did not allow the birds of heaven to rest on them by day nor the animals of the field by night. David [was] told about what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. So David left and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the rulers of Jabesh Gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth Shan, where [the] Philistines hung them {when} [the] Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa. He brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there, and they gathered the bones of the executed. And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin at Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. They did all that the king had commanded, and afterward God was entreated for the land.


Then it happened that all the people [were] disputing among all the tribes of Israel, saying, "The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies, and he saved us from the hand of [the] Philistines, but now he has fled from the land because of Absalom. Now Absalom whom we anointed [as king] over us has died in the battle; so then, why [are] you taking no action to restore the king?" Then King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, "Speak to the elders of Judah: 'Why [are] you last to bring back the king to his house? The talk of all Israel has come to the king in his house. read more.
My brothers, you [are] my bones and you [are] my flesh. Why should you be the last to bring back the king?' To Amasa you shall say: '[Are] you not my bones and my flesh? {May God punish me} if you [are] not the commander of my army before me forever, in place of Joab.'" So he turned the heart of all the men of Judah as one man, and they sent [word] to the king, "Return, you and all your servants." Then the king returned and he came to the Jordan; Judah had come to Gilgal to come to meet the king, to bring the king over the Jordan.


Then the evil spirit from Yahweh came upon Saul while he was sitting in his house [with] his spear in his hand. And David [was] playing a stringed instrument in [his] hand. So Saul tried {to pin David to the wall with the spear}, but {he eluded Saul}, so that he struck the spear into the wall, and David fled and escaped that [same] night. Then Saul sent messengers to David's house to guard him and to kill him in the morning, but Michal his wife told David, saying, "If {you do not save your life} tonight, [then] tomorrow you [will be] killed!" read more.
So Michal lowered David through the window, and he went and fled and escaped. Then Michal took the household god and put it on the bed and put a quilt of goat's hair at its head and covered [it] with the clothes. And Saul sent messengers to arrest David, but she said, "He [is] ill." So Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, "Bring him up to me in the bed, so that I can kill him." When the messengers came, {to their surprise} the idol [was] on the bed [with] the quilt of goat's hair at the head. Then Saul said to Michal, "Why have you deceived me like this and sent away my enemy, so that he escaped?" Michal said to Saul, "He said to me, 'Let me go, why should I kill you?'" So David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth. And it was told to Saul, "David [is] in Naioth in Ramah." So Saul sent messengers to capture David. When they saw the company of the prophets prophesying and Samuel standing [as] chief over them, then the Spirit of God came upon Saul's messengers, and they also prophesied. So they told Saul, and he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. Again Saul sent messengers a third [time], and they also prophesied. Then he also went to Ramah. When he came to the great cistern which [was] in Secu, he asked and said, "Where [are] Samuel and David?" Someone said, "Look [they are] in Naioth in Ramah." So he went there to Naioth in Ramah and the Spirit of God came upon him also, and {he walked along prophesying} until he came to Naioth in Ramah. He also stripped [off] his clothes and prophesied before Samuel. He lay naked all that day and all night. Therefore they say, "[Is] Saul also among the prophets?"


Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites and the Girzites and the Amalekites, for they had been living [in] the land for a long time {in the direction of} Shur and {as far as} the land of Egypt. So David struck the land and did not leave a man or a woman alive; he took the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing. Then he returned and came to Achish. And Achish said, "Against whom have you raided today?" David said, "Against the Negev of Judah and against the Negev of the Jerahmeelites and against the Negev of the Kenites." read more.
And David did not leave alive a man or a woman to bring [them back] to Gath, thinking, "So that they will not report about us, saying, 'David did thus and so.'" Thus was his practice all the days that he lived in the countryside of [the] Philistines. And Achish trusted David, saying, "{He has made himself utterly hated} among his people in Israel, and he will be my servant forever."


They brought the ark of Yahweh and set it in its place in the middle of the tent which David had pitched for it. Then David offered up burnt offerings and fellowship offerings in the presence of Yahweh. When David had finished from the sacrificing of the burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh of hosts. Then he distributed to all the people, to all the multitude of Israel, from man to woman, to each: one ring-shaped piece of bread, one cake of dates, and one cake of raisins; and all the people went each to his house.


When [the] Philistines heard that they had anointed David as king over Israel, all [the] Philistines went up to seek David, but David heard and went down to the stronghold.

So David did thus, just as Yahweh had commanded him, and he struck down [the] Philistines from Geba {all the way} to Gezer.


When David returned to bless his household, Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David. She said, "How the king of Israel honored himself today {by uncovering himself} before the eyes of the maids of his servants, {as the total exposure of a worthless one}." So David said to Michal, "[In the] presence of Yahweh who chose me {over} your father and {over} his household, to appoint me [as] leader over the people of Yahweh, over Israel, I have celebrated before Yahweh. I will demean myself again more than this, and I will be abased in my eyes, but with the maids whom you mentioned, with them I will be honored." read more.
So for Michal the daughter of Saul, she had no child until the day of her death.


And [after] removing him, he raised up David for their king, about whom he also said, testifying, 'I have found David the [son] of Jesse [to be] a man in accordance with my heart, who will carry out all my will.' From the descendants of this man, according to [his] promise, God brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus.


Then David sent messengers to Ish-Bosheth the son of Saul, saying, "Give [me] my wife Michal whom I betrothed to myself for a hundred foreskins of [the] Philistines." So Ish-Bosheth sent and took her from [her] husband, from Paltiel the son of Laish. But her husband went with her, {weeping all along} after her as far as Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, "Go [and] return." So he returned.


So David sent to Joab, "Send Uriah the Hittite to me." So Joab sent Uriah to David. Uriah came to him, and David asked {how Joab and the army fared and how the war was going}. David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." So Uriah went out from the king's house, and a gift from the king went out after him. read more.
But Uriah slept [at] the entrance of the king's house with all the servants of his master and did not go down to his house. They told David, "Uriah did not go down to his house." David said to Uriah, "[Are] you not coming from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah [are] living in the booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord [are] camping on the surface of the open field; and I, shall I go to my house to eat and to drink and to sleep with my wife? [By] your life and the life of your soul, I surely will not do this thing." David said to Uriah, "Remain here {today}, and tomorrow I will send you away." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem on that day and the next. David invited him, and he ate and drank in his presence {so that he became drunk}, and he went out in the evening to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. And it happened in the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, and he sent it by the hand of Uriah. He had written in the letter, "Put Uriah in the front, in the face of the fiercest fighting, then draw back from behind him so that he may be struck down and die." {When Joab was besieging} the city, he put Uriah toward the place which he knew {there were valiant warriors}. The men of the city came out and fought with Joab. Some from the army from the servants of David fell; Uriah the Hittite also died. Joab sent and told David all of the news of the battle. He instructed the messenger, saying, "As you are finishing to speak all the news of the battle to the king, if the anger of the king rises and he says to you, 'Why did you go near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from [atop] the wall? Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerub-bosheth, if not a woman who threw an upper millstone on him from [atop] the wall and he died at Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?' Then you shall say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.'" Then the messenger left, and he came and told David all that Joab had sent him [to say]. The messenger said to David, "Because {the men overpowered us}, the men came out to us [in] the field, but {we forced them back} to the entrance of the gate. The archers shot at your servant from [atop] the wall, and some of the servants of the king died; your servant Uriah the Hittite also died." Then David said to the messenger, "Thus you shall say to Joab, '{Do not feel badly about this matter}; {now one and then another} the sword will devour. Intensify your attack on the city and overthrow it.'" And he encouraged him.


So Yahweh sent Nathan to David, and he came to him and said, "Two men were in a certain city; one [was] rich and the other [was] poor. The rich [man] had very many flocks and herds, but the poor [man] had nothing except for one small ewe lamb which he had bought. He had nurtured her, and she grew up with him and with his children together. She used to eat from his morsel and drink from his cup, and she used to lie in his lap and became like a daughter for him. read more.
And a visitor came to the rich man, but he {was reluctant} to take from his flocks or from his herds to prepare a meal for the traveler when he came to him. So he took the ewe lamb of the poor man and prepared it for the man who had come to him." Then {the anger of David was kindled} against the man, and he said to Nathan, "{As Yahweh lives}, the man who has done this {deserves to die}! He shall restore the ewe lamb fourfold because he has done this thing, and because he had no pity." Then Nathan said to him, "You [are] the man! Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: 'I anointed you as king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you the household of your master and the women of your master into your lap. I also gave you the house of Israel and Judah; if [that had been too] little, I would have added to you {much more}. Why have you despised the word of Yahweh by doing evil in his eyes? Uriah the Hittite you have struck down with the sword, and his wife you have taken to yourself as wife! You have killed him with the sword of the {Ammonites}! So then, a sword will not turn away from your house forever, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife!' Thus says Yahweh, 'Look, I [am] going to raise up evil against you from [within] your house, and I will take your women before your eyes, and I will give them to your neighbor, and he shall sleep with your wives {in broad daylight}. Though you did this in secret, I will do this thing before all of Israel {in broad daylight}!'" Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against Yahweh!" Nathan said to David, "Yahweh has also forgiven your sin; you shall not die. But because you have {utterly scorned} Yahweh in this matter, the son born for you {will certainly die}."


Joab the son of Zeruiah [was] over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud [was] secretary. Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar [were] priests and Seraiah [was] scribe. Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was over] the Kerethites and the Pelethites, and the sons of David [were] priests.


Now these are the ones who came to David at Ziklag while he was still shut up because {of Saul}, the son of Kish. And they [were] the mighty warriors helping [with] the war. [They were] armed with [the] bow, [able to shoot] right-handed or left-handed, [slinging] stones or [shooting] arrows with the bow; [they were] kinsmen of Saul from Benjamin. The leader [was] Ahiezer, then Jehoash, sons of Shemaah the Gibeonite; Jeiel and Pelet, sons of Azmaveth; Beracah; Jehu the Anathothite; read more.
Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty warrior among the thirty [who was] over the thirty; Jeremiah; Jahaziel; Johanan; Jozabad the Gederathite; Eluzai; Jerimoth; Bealiah; Shemariah; Shephatiah the Hariphite; Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer, and Jashobeam the Korahites; Joelah and Zebadiah, sons of Jeroham from the Gedor. And from the Gadites, valiant mighty warriors, {soldiers fit for war}, expert with shield and spear, defected to David at the fortress toward the wilderness. And {they had faces like lions} [and were] swift as gazelles upon the mountains. Ezer the chief, Obadiah second, Eliab third, Mishmannah fourth, Jeremiah fifth, Attai sixth, Eliel seventh, Jehonan eighth, Elzabad ninth, Jeremiah tenth, Macbannai eleventh. These [were] the sons of Gad, leaders of the army. The smallest one [was] as a hundred, and the greatest as a thousand. These [were] they who crossed the Jordan in the first month, when it was filled over its banks. And they put to flight all [who were in] the valley to the east and to the west. And some of the sons of Benjamin and [from] Judah came to the fortress, to David. And David went out {to meet them} and answered and said to them, "If you come in peace to me, to help me, {my heart will be joined with you}, but if [you come] to betray me to my adversaries, although [there is] no wrong on my hands, may the God of our fathers see and pass judgment." Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the thirty [who said]: "[We are] yours, O David! And [we are] with you, O son of Jesse! Peace! Peace to you, and peace to those who help you, for your God helps you." So David appointed them as heads of the troops. And some Manassites deserted to David when he came with the Philistines to the battle against Saul, but he did not help them, for the rulers of the Philistines sent him away upon counsel, saying, "He will desert to his master Saul at [the cost of] our heads." When he went to Ziklag some Manassites deserted to him: Adnah, Jehozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, heads of the thousands that [were] for Manasseh. And they themselves helped David against the troops, for all of them [were] mighty men of strength and were commanders in the army. {Day in and day out} they came to David to help him until [there was] a great army, like the army of God.


Then David sang this funeral song over Saul and over Jonathan his son. And he ordered "The Bow" to be taught to the children of Judah. Look, it [is] written on the scroll of Jashar. "The glory of Israel [is] on your high places; how [the] mighty have fallen! read more.
Do not tell it in Gath; do not proclaim it in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of [the] Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult. O mountains of Gilboa, [let there be] no dew or rain upon you or on the fields of [grain for] offerings, for there the small shield of [the] mighty [was] defiled, the small shield of Saul [was] not anointed with oil. From the blood of [the] slain, from the fat of [the] mighty, the bow of Jonathan did not turn back, and the sword of Saul did not return {without effect}. Saul and Jonathan [were] beloved and pleasant in their lives and [were] not separated in their death. They [were] swifter than eagles, stronger than lions. O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, the one who clothed you with crimson, the one who {adorned your clothing with golden ornaments}. How [the] mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle; Jonathan [lies] slain on your high places. {I am distressed} over you, my brother Jonathan. you [were] very dear to me; your love [was] more wonderful to me than the love of women. How [the] mighty have fallen and the weapons of warfare perished."


{Saul became very angry}, and {this saying displeased him}, and he thought, "They have attributed to David ten thousands, but to me they have attributed thousands! {What more can he have but the kingdom}?" So Saul was watching David [with suspicion] from that day onward. {On} [the] next day, the evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he prophesied in the middle of the house. Now David was playing [the lyre] with his hand on [that] day {as usual}, and the spear was in Saul's hand. read more.
Then Saul hurled the spear and thought, "{I will pin David to the wall}." But David eluded him twice. {Now Saul was threatened by the presence of David} because Yahweh was with him, but had departed from Saul. So Saul removed him {from his presence}, and made him commander of a thousand, {so he marched in and out at the front of the army}. And David was achieving success in all his ways and Yahweh [was] with him, but when Saul saw that he [was] very successful, {he was severely threatened by him}. However, all of Israel and Judah [were] loving David, for he was going forth and marching ahead of them. Then Saul said to David, "Here [is] my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you as [your] wife. Only be {a brave warrior} for me and fight the battles of Yahweh." For Saul thought, "My hand will not be against him, but let the hand of [the] Philistines be against him." But David said to Saul, "Who [am] I, and [who are] my relatives, the clan of my father in Israel, that I should be a son-in-law to the king?" {But} at the time Saul's daughter Merab [was] to be given to David, she was given [instead] to Adriel the Meholathite as wife. Now Saul's daughter Michal loved David, so they told Saul, and the matter {pleased him}. And Saul thought, "I will give her to him, so that she may be a snare for him and the hand of [the] Philistines may be against him." So Saul said to David, "For a second [time] you can become my son-in-law today." Then Saul commanded his servants, "Speak to David in secret, saying, 'Look, the king [is] pleased with you, and all his servants love you. So then, become a son-in-law of the king.'" And Saul's servants spoke these words {to David privately}. But David said, "[Is] it insignificant {in your sight} to become the son-in-law of the king, [as] I am a poor and lightly esteemed man?" So the servants of Saul informed him, saying, "{This is what David said}." Then Saul said, "This [is] what you must say to David: '{The king desires no bride price} except for a hundred foreskins of [the] Philistines, to avenge himself on the enemies of the king.'" (Now Saul had planned to allow David to fall by the hand of [the] Philistines.) So his servants told David these words, and the matter {pleased David} to become the son-in-law of the king [as] {the specified time had not expired}. And David got up, and he and his men went and struck down two hundred men [of the] Philistines. Then David brought their foreskins, and {they presented the full number} to become the king's son-in-law. Then Saul gave him Michal his daughter as [his] wife. When Saul {realized} that Yahweh [was] with David and {his own daughter Michal} loved him, Saul {was threatened by David still more}, so Saul {became a perpetual enemy of David}. Then the commanders of [the] Philistines went out [for battle], and as often as they went out, David succeeded more than all the servants of Saul, and his name became very esteemed.


Joab the son of Zeruiah realized that the mind of the king [was] on Absalom. So Joab sent to Tekoa and took from there a wise woman, and he said to her, "Please pretend to mourn and put on garments of mourning. You should not anoint yourself [with] oil, and you must act like this woman who has been mourning over the dead for {a long time}. Then you must go to the king and speak to him according to this word." [Thus] Joab put the words in her mouth. read more.
So the Tekoite woman spoke to the king, and she fell on her face to the ground and did obeisance. She said, "Help me, O king!" Then the king asked her, "{What do you want}?" And she said, "Truly I [am] a widow, and my husband [is] dead. Your servant had two sons, and they both fought in the open field, and there [was] no one {to part them}. One struck the other and killed him. And look, all of the family has risen up against your servant, and they said, 'Give up the one who struck his brother, that we may kill him in exchange for the life of his brother whom he murdered. We will also wipe out the heir,' and so they would put out my embers which remain, by not preserving for my husband a name and a remnant on the face of the earth." Then the king said to the woman, "Go to your house, and I myself will give the command concerning you." The Tekoite woman said to the king, "On me, my lord the king, [is] the guilt, and on the house of my father, but the king on his throne [is] innocent." The king said, "[Whoever] has spoken to you, bring him to me, and he will not touch you again." Then she said, "Please may the king remember Yahweh your God, {to prevent the increase of blood avengers who kill}, [so that they] not wipe out my son." He said, "{As Yahweh lives}, surely not one hair shall fall from your son to the ground." The woman said, "Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king." And he said, "Speak." The woman said, "But why have you plotted like this against the people of God? By speaking this word, he is guilty not to bring back his banished one. For {we must certainly die}, and [we are] as the waters spilled to the ground which cannot be gathered. God will not take a life but devises plans for a banished person not to be cast out from him. Now I have come to speak this word to my lord the king, because the people made me afraid, and your servant thought, 'I will speak to the king, perhaps the king will grant the request of his servant. For the king will listen, to deliver his servant from the hand of the man [who seeks] to destroy me and my son together from the inheritance of God.' Your servant also thought, 'May the word of my lord the king {bring rest}, for as an angel of God, so [is] my lord the king, {to sense what is good and what is bad}.' May Yahweh your God be with you." The king answered and said to the woman, "Please do not withhold from me a thing which I [am] about to ask you." The woman said, "Please let my lord the king speak." The king asked, "[Was] the hand of Joab with you in all of this?" The woman answered and said, "{As your soul lives}, my lord the king, surely [one cannot] go to the right or to the left from all that my lord the king has spoken. Yes, your servant Joab himself commanded me, and he put all of these words in the mouth of your servant. In order {to change the situation}, your servant Joab did this thing. But my lord [has] wisdom, as the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all that [is] on the earth." Then the king said to Joab, "Look, please, I will grant this thing. Go and bring back the young man Absalom." Joab fell with his face to the ground and did obeisance. And he blessed the king, and he said, "Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, [in] that the king has granted the request of his servant." Then Joab got up and went to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. The king said, "Let him go over to his house, and he may not see my face." So Absalom went over to his house, and did not see the face of the king.


Then the king said to Amasa, "Summon for me the men of Judah [within] three days, {and be here yourself}." So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he tarried more than the appointed time which he had set for him. Then David said to Abishai, "Now Sheba the son of Bicri will do us more harm than Absalom. You take the servants of your lord and pursue after him, lest he find fortified cities for himself and escape from us." read more.
Then the men of Joab, the Kerethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty warriors went out after him; they went out from Jerusalem to pursue after Sheba the son of Bicri. They [were] near the big rock that [is] in Gibeon, and Amasa came before them. Joab {was dressed in his military clothing}, [with] a utility belt on him and a sword strapped to his waist in its scabbard. Now he went out, and it fell out. Then Joab said to Amasa, "Is it peace, O you my brother?" Then the right hand of Joab took hold of the beard of Amasa [as if] to kiss him. Now Amasa was not on his guard against the sword that [was] in Joab's hand, and he struck him with it into the stomach, and his entrails poured out to the ground. He did not strike him again, and he died. Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bicri.


Now they told David, "Look, [the] Philistines [are] fighting in Keilah and they [are] raiding the threshing floors." So David inquired of Yahweh, saying, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" And Yahweh said to David, "Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah." But David's men said to him, "Look, we [are] afraid here in Judah. {How much more} [if] we go [to] Keilah to the battle lines of [the] Philistines?" read more.
So David again inquired of Yahweh, and Yahweh answered him and said, "Get up, go down [to] Keilah, for I [am] giving [the] Philistines into your hand. So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with [the] Philistines. They drove off their livestock and {dealt them a heavy blow}. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. {Now when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled} to David [at] Keilah, he went down [with] an ephod in his hand. When it was told to Saul that David had gone to Keilah, Saul said, "God {has given him} into my hand, because he has shut himself in by going into a city [with] {two barred gates}. Saul then summoned all of the army for the battle, to go down [to] Keilah to lay a siege against David and his men. When David learned that Saul [was] plotting evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod here." And David said, "O Yahweh, God of Israel, your servant has clearly heard that Saul [is] seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city because of me. Will the rulers of Keilah deliver me into his hand? Will Saul come down as your servant has heard? O Yahweh, God of Israel, please tell your servant!" And Yahweh said, "He will come down." Then David said, "Will the rulers of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?" And Yahweh said, "They will deliver [you]." So David and his men got up, about six hundred men, and went out from Keilah and wandered wherever they could go. When it was told to Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, {he stopped his pursuit}.


When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzza reached out to the ark of God and took hold of [it], because the oxen had stumbled. {Then the anger of Yahweh was kindled} against Uzza, and God struck him down there because of the indiscretion, and he died there beside the ark of God. {David was angry} because Yahweh had burst out against Uzza, and he called that place Perez-Uzza until this day. read more.
But David feared Yahweh on that day and said, "How can the ark of Yahweh come to me?" However, David [was] not willing to bring the ark of Yahweh to himself, to the city of David, so David caused it to turn [to] the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. So the ark of Yahweh remained [in] the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite [for] three months, and Yahweh blessed Obed-Edom and all his household.


But David feared Yahweh on that day and said, "How can the ark of Yahweh come to me?" However, David [was] not willing to bring the ark of Yahweh to himself, to the city of David, so David caused it to turn [to] the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. So the ark of Yahweh remained [in] the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite [for] three months, and Yahweh blessed Obed-Edom and all his household.


It happened {late one afternoon} [that] David got up from his bed and walked about on the roof of the king's house, and he saw a woman bathing on her roof. Now the woman {was very beautiful}. David sent and inquired about the woman, and [someone] said, "[Is] this not Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Then David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) And she returned to her house. read more.
The woman became pregnant, and she sent and told David, and she said, "I [am] pregnant."


{After} the death of Saul, David returned from defeating the Amalekites and he stayed at Ziklag two days. On the third day, a man came from the camp from [being with] Saul, with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head. {When he came} to David, he fell to the ground and bowed down. David said to him, "Where did you come from?" He said to him, "I have escaped from the camp of Israel." read more.
Then David said to him, "{How did things go}? Please tell me." He answered, "{When} the army fled from the battle, and many of the people fell; also, Saul and Jonathan his son died." Then David asked the young man who [was] reporting to him, "How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan died?" The young man who [was] reporting to him said, "I merely happened to be on Mount Gilboa. Here Saul [was] leaning on his spear, and look, the chariots and the horsemen [were] getting close to him. When he turned around and saw me, he called to me, and I said, 'Here I [am].' Then he said to me, 'Who [are] you?' And I said to him, 'I [am] an Amalekite.' He said to me, 'Please stand over me and kill me, for convulsions have seized me, even though my life [is still] in me.' So I stood over him and killed him, for I knew that he could not live after his falling; I took the crown that [was] on his head and [the] bracelet which [was] on his arm; and here, I have brought them to my lord. David grabbed [at] his clothes and tore them, [as did] all of the men who [were] with him. Then they mourned and wept and fasted over Saul and Jonathan his son until the evening, [as well] as over the people of Yahweh and over the house of Israel because they had fallen by the sword. Then David said to the young man who [was] reporting to him, "Where [are] you from?" And he said, "I [am] the son of an alien man. I [am] an Amalekite." David said to him, "How [is it that] you [were] not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy Yahweh's anointed one?" Then David called to one of the young men and said to him, "Come near; strike him." So he struck him down and he died. David said to him, "Your blood [is] on your head, for your mouth has testified against you by saying, 'I killed Yahweh's anointed one!'"


{When} he finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan became attached to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his [own] soul. Saul took him on that [very] day and did not allow him to return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his [own] soul. read more.
Jonathan stripped off the robe {that he was wearing} and gave it to David, along with his fighting attire, and even his sword, his bow, and his belt.


Now Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants about killing David, but Saul's son Jonathan {liked David very much}. So Jonathan informed David, saying, "My father Saul [is] trying to kill you; now please take care! In the morning you should stay in the hiding place and conceal yourself. I will go out and stand {at my father's side} in the field where you are, and I will speak about you to my father; {if I find out anything} I will tell [it] to you." read more.
So Jonathan spoke well about David to his father Saul and said to him, "The king should not sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his service for you [has been] very good. He put his life in his hand and attacked the Philistine, and Yahweh brought about a great victory for all of Israel, and you saw [it] and rejoiced! Now why should you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?" And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan and swore, "{As Yahweh lives}, he will not be put to death!" Jonathan called to David and told him all of these words. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul and he was before him as {formerly}.



Then Joab came to the king's house and said, "Today you have humiliated the faces of all of your servants who have saved your life this day, and the life of your sons and your daughters, the life of your wives, and the life of your concubines, by loving those who hate you and hating those who love you. Indeed, you have made clear this day that you have no [regard for your] commanders or officers, for I have realized today that [were] Absalom alive, and all of us were dead, then [that would] have been right in your eyes! So then, get up and go out and {speak kindly to your servants}, for I swear by Yahweh, if you do not go out, no man will lodge this night with you, and this disaster [will be] greater for you than any disaster that has come upon you from your childhood until now!"


These [are] the last words of David, the declaration of David the son of Jesse, and the declaration of the man exalted [by] the Most High, the anointed one of the God of Jacob and the darling of the songs of Israel. "The spirit of Yahweh speaks through me, and his word [is] upon my tongue. The God of Israel said to me, the rock of Israel has spoken; 'He who rules over mankind rules righteously, in the fear of God. read more.
Like the light of [the] morning when the sun rises, shining with no clouds, [bringing] vegetation from the earth apart from rain.' Yet not so [is] my house with God, for he made an everlasting covenant for me, arranging everything. He has secured all my deliverance, and all my desire he will cause to happen. But evil persons [are] like thorns cast aside; all of them, because they cannot be picked up in the hand. And if a man wants to touch them, he must use an iron instrument or the shaft of a spear; then they [are] consumed entirely with fire on the spot."


Now a man of wickedness was found there whose name [was] Sheba the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. He blew the horn and said, "There is no share for us in David, and there [is] no inheritance for us in the son of Jesse; each to his tents, O Israel!" Then all the men of Israel went up from [following] after David, [following instead] after Sheba the son of Bicri, but the men of Judah stuck to their king from the Jordan up to Jerusalem. David went up to his house in Jerusalem, then the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to look after the house, and he put them {under confinement}. However, he provided for them, but {he did not sleep with them}. So they were confined until the day of their death, like a lifetime of widowhood.



David again gathered all the chosen men in Israel, thirty thousand. David got up and went and all the people who [were] with him, from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God which [is] called the name, the name of Yahweh of hosts, {upon which the cherubim sit}. They loaded the ark of God on a new utility cart, and they carried it from the house of Abinadab, which [was] on the hill. Now Uzza and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, [were] driving the new utility cart along. read more.
So they brought it out from the house of Abinadab, which [was] on the hill with the ark of God, and Ahio [was] going before the ark. Now David and all the house of Israel [were] dancing before Yahweh, with all kinds of [musical instruments made from] ash trees, and with zithers, harps, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.


To Amasa you shall say: '[Are] you not my bones and my flesh? {May God punish me} if you [are] not the commander of my army before me forever, in place of Joab.'"


One of the servants answered and said, "Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite [who is] skillful in playing a stringed instrument, a {brave man, a warrior, prudent in speech, and handsome}. And Yahweh [is] with him."


Now King David had become old, {advanced in years}, and they covered him with garments, but he was not warm. His servants said to him, "Let them search for a young virgin for my lord the king, and let her stand before the king. Let her be of use for him, and let her lie in your lap that my lord the king may be warm." So they sought a beautiful young woman in all the territory of Israel, and they found Abishag the Shunnamite and brought her to the king. read more.
Now the young woman was very beautiful; she was of use for the king, and she served him, but the king did not {have sexual relations with her}.


David went up from there and stayed in the strongholds of En Gedi.


And sons [were] born to David in Hebron; his firstborn [was] Amnon by Ahinoam {from Jezreel}. His second [was] Kileab by Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; the third [was] Absalom the son of Maacah, [who was] the daughter of Talmai the king of Geshur. The fourth [was] Adonijah the son of Haggith; the fifth [was] Shephatiah the son of Abital. read more.
The sixth [was] Ithream by Eglah the wife of David. These [were] born to David in Hebron.


And the fame of David went out through all the lands. And Yahweh put the fear of him upon all the nations.


Then Samuel said to Jesse, "{Are all the young men here}?" And he said, "The youngest still remains, but look, he [is] shepherding the flock." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him, for we cannot {sit down} until he comes here."


Then the king said to Shimei, "You shall not die," and [so] the king swore to him.


War came again, so David went out and fought against [the] Philistines and {defeated them thoroughly} so that they fled before him.


The number of days that David lived in the countryside of the Philistines [was] one year and four months.


And he chose David his servant and took him from [the] sheepfolds.


Then the men of Judah came, and they anointed David there as king over the house of Judah, and they told David, "The men of Jabesh-Gilead buried Saul."


"Men [and] brothers, it is possible to speak with confidence to you about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us until this day.
























So he changed his behavior {before them} and pretended to be mad {in their presence}. He made scratches on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down into his beard.


You have tried my heart; you have examined [me] by night; you have tested me; you found nothing. I have decided [that] my mouth will not transgress.


And David said, "Yahweh, who rescued me from the hand of the lion and from the hand of the bear, will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine!" Then Saul said to David, "Go and may Yahweh be with you!"


O my God, within me my soul is {in despair}; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and the heights of Hermon, from the mountain of Mizar.

I sink in [the] mud of the deep, and there is no foothold. I have come to watery depths, and [the] torrent floods over me.

When I thought about [how] to understand this, it [was] troubling in my eyes

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat, yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.


So he changed his behavior {before them} and pretended to be mad {in their presence}. He made scratches on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down into his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, "Look, you see a madman! Why did you bring him to me? Do I lack madmen that you have brought this one to act like a madman before me? Should this one enter my household?"


David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper, and he took [the provisions] and went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the encampment while the troops [were] going to the battle line, and they raised the war cry.


So David prevailed over the Philistine with the sling and with the stone, and he struck down the Philistine and killed him, but there was no sword in David's hand. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it from its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. The men of Israel and Judah got up, raised the war cry, and pursued [the] Philistines {as far as} the valley and up to the gates of Ekron. So the slain of [the] Philistines fell on the way to Shaaraim up to Gath and as far as Ekron.


And David said, "Yahweh, who rescued me from the hand of the lion and from the hand of the bear, will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine!" Then Saul said to David, "Go and may Yahweh be with you!"


But Ahimelech answered the king and said, "And who among all your servants [is] as faithful as David? He [is] the son-in-law of the king who moves [quickly] to safeguard you and is honored in your house.


When David returned to bless his household, Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David. She said, "How the king of Israel honored himself today {by uncovering himself} before the eyes of the maids of his servants, {as the total exposure of a worthless one}."


The king ordered Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, "With respect to the young man Absalom, [deal] gently for me." And all the troops heard when the king ordered all of the commanders concerning the matter of Absalom.

David pleaded [with] God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground.

King David longed to go out to Absalom, for he was consoled that Amnon had died.


When David returned to bless his household, Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David. She said, "How the king of Israel honored himself today {by uncovering himself} before the eyes of the maids of his servants, {as the total exposure of a worthless one}."


The king ordered Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, "With respect to the young man Absalom, [deal] gently for me." And all the troops heard when the king ordered all of the commanders concerning the matter of Absalom.

David pleaded [with] God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground.

King David longed to go out to Absalom, for he was consoled that Amnon had died.


{But as for me}, through the abundance of your steadfast love I will enter your house. I will bow down toward {your holy temple} in awe [of] you.

Fulfill your word to your servant, which [is] to [bring about] a reverence for you.


Turn aside from me, [you] evildoers, for I will keep the commands of my God.

A perverse heart will depart from me; I will not know evil. One who slanders his neighbor in secret, him I will destroy. [One] haughty of eyes and {arrogant} of heart, him I will not endure. My eyes [will be] on [the] faithful of [the] land, that [they may] live with me. [He who] walks in [the] way of integrity, he shall minister to me. read more.
There will not live in the midst of my house a worker of deceit. One who speaks lies will not remain before my eyes.


And David went up from there to Mizpah of Moab. He said to the king of Moab, "Please let my father and my mother {stay} with you until I know what God will do for me."


So David got up and fled on that day from the presence of Saul, and he came to Achish the king of Gath.


So then, send quickly and tell David, 'Don't spend the night at the fords of the wilderness! Moreover, by all means cross over lest the king and all the people who [are] with him be swallowed up.'"

So David and all the people who [were] with him set out, and they crossed over the Jordan until morning light until {there was no one} missing who had not crossed over the Jordan.

Now David had come to Mahanaim, and Absalom had crossed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.


Be exalted above the heavens, O God. [Let] your glory [be] above all the earth.


{Yahweh forbid me} from stretching out my hand against Yahweh's anointed one! So then, please take the spear that [is] near his head and the jar of water, and let us go."

Then he said to David, "You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me the good, but I have repaid you the evil.


Then [the] Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, "[Is] not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh on the hill of Hakilah, which [is] south of Jeshimon

Now Saul was on the hill of Hakilah, which [is] opposite Jeshimon by the road, but David was staying in the wilderness. When he realized that Saul had come to the wilderness after him,


Then Gad the prophet said to David, "You should not stay in the stronghold; leave and go into the land of Judah." So David left and came [to] the forest of Hereth.


Then he took his staff in his hand, picked out for himself five smooth stones from the wadi, and he put them in his shepherd's bag, in the pouch. And with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.


Watch over my life because I [am] faithful. You [are] my God; save your servant. [I am] the one who trusts you.


So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon David from that day {on}. Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah.


So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon David from that day {on}. Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah.


The king ordered Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, "With respect to the young man Absalom, [deal] gently for me." And all the troops heard when the king ordered all of the commanders concerning the matter of Absalom.

David pleaded [with] God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground.

King David longed to go out to Absalom, for he was consoled that Amnon had died.


David {said longingly}, "{Oh that someone would bring me a drink} of water from the well of Bethlehem that [is] at the gate."


David {said longingly}, "{Oh that someone would bring me a drink} of water from the well of Bethlehem that [is] at the gate."


His father did not rebuke him {at any time} [by] saying, "Why did you do so?" Now he was also very handsome of appearance; she had borne him after Absalom.


Why have you despised the word of Yahweh by doing evil in his eyes? Uriah the Hittite you have struck down with the sword, and his wife you have taken to yourself as wife! You have killed him with the sword of the {Ammonites}!

And it happened in the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, and he sent it by the hand of Uriah. He had written in the letter, "Put Uriah in the front, in the face of the fiercest fighting, then draw back from behind him so that he may be struck down and die." {When Joab was besieging} the city, he put Uriah toward the place which he knew {there were valiant warriors}. read more.
The men of the city came out and fought with Joab. Some from the army from the servants of David fell; Uriah the Hittite also died.

Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation; [then] my tongue will sing aloud [of] your righteousness.


Why have you despised the word of Yahweh by doing evil in his eyes? Uriah the Hittite you have struck down with the sword, and his wife you have taken to yourself as wife! You have killed him with the sword of the {Ammonites}! So then, a sword will not turn away from your house forever, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife!'


And David went up from there to Mizpah of Moab. He said to the king of Moab, "Please let my father and my mother {stay} with you until I know what God will do for me."


And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is for you.


David captured from him one thousand and seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand {foot soldiers}. David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but {from them} he spared a hundred chariot horses.


When your days [are] full and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you who will go out from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before you; your throne shall be established forever." '"


Then King David went and sat before Yahweh and said, "Who [am] I, my lord Yahweh, and what [is] my house that you have brought me up to {this place}? Still, this [was] {insignificant} in your eyes, my lord Yahweh, and also you have spoken about the house of your servant from afar, and this [may be] the teaching of humans, my lord Yahweh. {What more can David say to you}? You know your servant, my lord Yahweh. read more.
Because of your word and according to your heart, you have done all of this great thing, [in order] to let your servant know. Therefore you [are] great, my lord Yahweh, for there is no one like you, and there [is] no god except you, in all that we have heard with our ears. Who [is] like your people, like Israel? [Israel is] the one nation on earth whose God {led them}, [in order] to redeem a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to do for you the great and awesome things for your land in the presence of your people whom he redeemed for himself from Egypt, [from the] nations and their gods. You have established your people Israel for yourself as a people forever, and you, O Yahweh, have become their God. So then, Yahweh God, the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, confirm it forever, and do just as you have promised. Your name shall be great forever, {and they will say}, 'Yahweh of hosts [is] God over Israel'; and the house of your servant David shall be established before you. For you, O Yahweh of hosts, [are] God of Israel! You have revealed to the ear of your servant, 'I will build a house for you'; therefore your servant {has found courage} to pray this prayer to you. Now, my Lord Yahweh, you alone [are] God, and your words [are] true. You have promised this good to your servant. So then, be content and bless the house of your servant to be forever in your presence, for you, my Lord Yahweh, have spoken, and because of your blessing, may the house of your servant be blessed forever."

And so then, do not let my blood fall to the ground {away from} the presence of Yahweh, for the king of Israel has gone out to seek a single flea, as one hunts a partridge in the mountains."

After whom did the king of Israel go out? After whom are you pursuing? After a dead dog? After one flea?

But David said to Saul, "Who [am] I, and [who are] my relatives, the clan of my father in Israel, that I should be a son-in-law to the king?" {But} at the time Saul's daughter Merab [was] to be given to David, she was given [instead] to Adriel the Meholathite as wife. Now Saul's daughter Michal loved David, so they told Saul, and the matter {pleased him}. read more.
And Saul thought, "I will give her to him, so that she may be a snare for him and the hand of [the] Philistines may be against him." So Saul said to David, "For a second [time] you can become my son-in-law today." Then Saul commanded his servants, "Speak to David in secret, saying, 'Look, the king [is] pleased with you, and all his servants love you. So then, become a son-in-law of the king.'" And Saul's servants spoke these words {to David privately}. But David said, "[Is] it insignificant {in your sight} to become the son-in-law of the king, [as] I am a poor and lightly esteemed man?"

Then King David went and sat before Yahweh and said, "Who [am] I, O Yahweh God, and what [is] my house that you have brought me thus far? And this was a small [matter] in your eyes, O God. And you have spoken concerning the house of your servant for a long [time] and have shown me {future generations to come}, O Yahweh God. {What more} can David [do] to you for honoring your servant? Now you know your servant. read more.
O Yahweh, for the sake of your servant and according to your heart you have done all this greatness, to make known all [these] great things. O Yahweh, there is none like you, and there is no God except you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who [is] like your people Israel, [the] one nation upon earth whom God went to redeem for himself, to establish for you a reputation for great and awesome things, to drive out nations from before your people whom you redeemed from Egypt? And you made your people Israel an everlasting nation for yourself. And you, O Yahweh, became their God. So now, O Yahweh, let the word that you spoke to your servant and to his house be established forever, that you might do what you have spoken. And let your name be established and be magnified forever, saying, 'Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel's God, and may the house of David your servant be established before you.' For you, my God, {have informed} your servant [that] you will build a house for him. Therefore, your servant has found [courage] to pray before you. So now, O Yahweh, you yourself [are] God, and you have spoken to your servant this good thing. And now may you begin to bless the house of your servant {to continue forever} before you, for you, O Yahweh, have blessed. And it will be blessed forever."


And indeed, who [am] I, and who [are] my people that we retain power to offer according to these [offerings] willingly? For everything [is] from you, and from your hand we have given to you.


And they abandoned their gods there. And David commanded, and they were burnt with fire.

They had left their idols there, so David and his men carried them away.


O mountains of Gilboa, [let there be] no dew or rain upon you or on the fields of [grain for] offerings, for there the small shield of [the] mighty [was] defiled, the small shield of Saul [was] not anointed with oil.

When David heard this afterwards, he said: "I and my kingdom [are] innocent {before Yahweh} forever [for] the blood of Abner the son of Ner. May [the blood] come down on the head of Joab and all the house of his father. {May the house of Joab never lack} [one with] a bodily discharge or [one with] leprosy or [one who] grasps the distaff or [one who] falls by the sword or [one who is] lacking food."


Then Samuel said to Jesse, "{Are all the young men here}?" And he said, "The youngest still remains, but look, he [is] shepherding the flock." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him, for we cannot {sit down} until he comes here."


Then Nathan said to him, "You [are] the man! Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: 'I anointed you as king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you the household of your master and the women of your master into your lap. I also gave you the house of Israel and Judah; if [that had been too] little, I would have added to you {much more}. Why have you despised the word of Yahweh by doing evil in his eyes? Uriah the Hittite you have struck down with the sword, and his wife you have taken to yourself as wife! You have killed him with the sword of the {Ammonites}!


David realized that Yahweh had established him as king over Israel and that he had exalted his kingdom because of his people Israel.


"The spirit of Yahweh speaks through me, and his word [is] upon my tongue.


So David prevailed over the Philistine with the sling and with the stone, and he struck down the Philistine and killed him, but there was no sword in David's hand. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it from its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. The men of Israel and Judah got up, raised the war cry, and pursued [the] Philistines {as far as} the valley and up to the gates of Ekron. So the slain of [the] Philistines fell on the way to Shaaraim up to Gath and as far as Ekron.


Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty warrior among the thirty [who was] over the thirty; Jeremiah; Jahaziel; Johanan; Jozabad the Gederathite;


Again Yahweh [was] angry with Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go count Israel and Judah." The king said to Joab, the commander of the army who [was] with him: "Please go about through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people that I may know the number of the people." Then Joab said to the king, "May Yahweh your God increase the people a hundred times {what they are} as the eyes of my lord the king are seeing. But my lord the king, why does he desire this thing?" read more.
But the word of the king prevailed over Joab and over the commanders of the army, so Joab and the commanders of the army went out from before the king to count the people of Israel. They crossed over the Jordan and camped at Aroer to the south of the city, which [was] in the middle of the wadi of Gad, and up to Jazer. Then they went to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi. They came to Dan Jaan and around to Sidon and came to the fortress of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they went out to the Negev of Judah at Beersheba. They went about through all the land, and they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. Then Joab gave the number of the counting of the people to the king. Israel [was] eight hundred thousand {valiant warriors} wielding the sword, and the men of Judah [were] five hundred thousand.

And Joab gave the number of the enrollment of the people to David. And it happened [that] all Israel [was] one million one hundred thousand men drawing a sword, and in Judah [were] four hundred and seventy thousand men drawing a sword. But he did not count Levi and Benjamin among them, for the word of the king was repulsive to Joab.

And David did not {take a census of those twenty years old or under} because Yahweh promised to make Israel more numerous than the stars of heaven. Joab the son of Zeruiah began to count, but he did not finish. But wrath came upon Israel concerning this, and the number was not included in {the chronicles} of King David.


{After} the death of Saul, David returned from defeating the Amalekites and he stayed at Ziklag two days.


Then Samuel said to Jesse, "{Are all the young men here}?" And he said, "The youngest still remains, but look, he [is] shepherding the flock." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him, for we cannot {sit down} until he comes here." So he sent and brought him. Now he [was] ruddy with beautiful eyes and of {handsome} appearance. And Yahweh said, "Arise, anoint him, for this [is] he." So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon David from that day {on}. Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah.


Then the men of Judah came, and they anointed David there as king over the house of Judah, and they told David, "The men of Jabesh-Gilead buried Saul."

The number of days that David was king over Hebron, over the house of Judah, [was] seven years and six months.

So all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and they said, "Here we [are], {we are your flesh and blood}. {For some time}, when Saul was king over us, {you were leading Israel in and out}. Yahweh had said to you, 'You shall be the shepherd of my people Israel, and you will be the leader over Israel.'" All the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David {made a covenant} with them at Hebron in the presence of Yahweh; then they anointed David as king over Israel. read more.
David [was] thirty years old when he began to reign; he reigned forty years. He reigned over Judah at Hebron [for] seven years and six months; and he reigned over all Israel and Judah at Jerusalem [for] thirty-three years.



Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty warrior among the thirty [who was] over the thirty; Jeremiah; Jahaziel; Johanan; Jozabad the Gederathite;


When he went to Ziklag some Manassites deserted to him: Adnah, Jehozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, heads of the thousands that [were] for Manasseh.


Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer, and Jashobeam the Korahites;


But they will serve Yahweh their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.


The leader [was] Ahiezer, then Jehoash, sons of Shemaah the Gibeonite; Jeiel and Pelet, sons of Azmaveth; Beracah; Jehu the Anathothite;


Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty warrior among the thirty [who was] over the thirty; Jeremiah; Jahaziel; Johanan; Jozabad the Gederathite;


And the people rejoiced over their freewill offering, for with a whole heart they had willingly offered to Yahweh, and King David also rejoiced with great joy.


So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon David from that day {on}. Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah.

Then Yahweh said to Samuel, "{How long} will you mourn about Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel! Fill up your horn [with] oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have chosen a king for myself among his sons."


David reigned over all of Israel, and he was administering justice and righteousness for all his people.


for those in Racal, for those in the towns of the Jerahmeelites, for those in the towns of the Kenites,


And Achish said, "Against whom have you raided today?" David said, "Against the Negev of Judah and against the Negev of the Jerahmeelites and against the Negev of the Kenites."


Then David said, "[Is] there still anyone who [is] left for the house of Saul that I may show loyal love to him for the sake of Jonathan?"

She opens her mouth with wisdom, and instruction of kindness [is] upon her tongue.


And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed singers to Yahweh [who were] giving praise to the splendor of [his] holiness when they went out before the army. And they said, "Give thanks to Yahweh, for his loyal love [is] everlasting!"


Then the men of Judah came, and they anointed David there as king over the house of Judah, and they told David, "The men of Jabesh-Gilead buried Saul."

The days that David reigned over Israel [were] forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.


David reigned over all of Israel, and he was administering justice and righteousness for all his people.


David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters [were] born to him.

It happened {late one afternoon} [that] David got up from his bed and walked about on the roof of the king's house, and he saw a woman bathing on her roof. Now the woman {was very beautiful}. David sent and inquired about the woman, and [someone] said, "[Is] this not Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Then David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) And she returned to her house. read more.
The woman became pregnant, and she sent and told David, and she said, "I [am] pregnant." So David sent to Joab, "Send Uriah the Hittite to me." So Joab sent Uriah to David. Uriah came to him, and David asked {how Joab and the army fared and how the war was going}. David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." So Uriah went out from the king's house, and a gift from the king went out after him. But Uriah slept [at] the entrance of the king's house with all the servants of his master and did not go down to his house. They told David, "Uriah did not go down to his house." David said to Uriah, "[Are] you not coming from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah [are] living in the booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord [are] camping on the surface of the open field; and I, shall I go to my house to eat and to drink and to sleep with my wife? [By] your life and the life of your soul, I surely will not do this thing." David said to Uriah, "Remain here {today}, and tomorrow I will send you away." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem on that day and the next. David invited him, and he ate and drank in his presence {so that he became drunk}, and he went out in the evening to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. And it happened in the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, and he sent it by the hand of Uriah. He had written in the letter, "Put Uriah in the front, in the face of the fiercest fighting, then draw back from behind him so that he may be struck down and die." {When Joab was besieging} the city, he put Uriah toward the place which he knew {there were valiant warriors}. The men of the city came out and fought with Joab. Some from the army from the servants of David fell; Uriah the Hittite also died. Joab sent and told David all of the news of the battle. He instructed the messenger, saying, "As you are finishing to speak all the news of the battle to the king, if the anger of the king rises and he says to you, 'Why did you go near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from [atop] the wall? Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerub-bosheth, if not a woman who threw an upper millstone on him from [atop] the wall and he died at Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?' Then you shall say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.'" Then the messenger left, and he came and told David all that Joab had sent him [to say]. The messenger said to David, "Because {the men overpowered us}, the men came out to us [in] the field, but {we forced them back} to the entrance of the gate. The archers shot at your servant from [atop] the wall, and some of the servants of the king died; your servant Uriah the Hittite also died." Then David said to the messenger, "Thus you shall say to Joab, '{Do not feel badly about this matter}; {now one and then another} the sword will devour. Intensify your attack on the city and overthrow it.'" And he encouraged him. When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband [was] dead, she mourned over her husband. When the mourning [was] over, David sent and brought her to his household, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing which David had done [was] evil in the eyes of Yahweh.


in order that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled, who said, "I will open my mouth in parables; I will proclaim what has been hidden since the creation."


And also, the Levites do not [need] to carry the tabernacle and all its vessels for its service."

For their station [was] {to assist} the sons of Aaron with the service of the house of Yahweh, over the courtyards, over the chambers, and over the cleansing of all the sanctified objects, and [with] the work of the service of the house of God, and with the rows of bread, the flour, the grain offering, the wafers of unleavened bread, the baked offering, the offering mixed with oil, and for all the amounts and measurements. And [they were] to stand {every morning}, thanking and praising Yahweh, and likewise in the evening, read more.
and for every burnt offering offered to Yahweh, on Sabbaths, on new moon festivals, and at the appointed feasts, according to the customary number {required of them}, regularly before Yahweh. And they shall keep the responsibility of the tent of assembly, the responsibility of the sanctified objects, and the responsibility of the sons of Aaron, their brothers, to serve the house of Yahweh.


And David organized them [in] divisions according to the sons of Levi: to Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

And they cast lots [for] responsibilities {on the principle of small and great alike}, teacher with student. And the first lot for Asaph went out to Joseph; the second to Gedaliahu; he and his brothers and his twelve sons. The third, Zakkur, his sons and his brothers, twelve; read more.
the fourth to Izri, his sons and his brothers, twelve; the fifth, Nethaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; the sixth, Bukkiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; the seventh, Jesarelah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; the eighth, Jeshaiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; the ninth, Mattaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; the tenth, Shimei, his sons and his brothers, twelve; eleventh, Azarel, his sons and his brothers, twelve; the twelfth to Hashabiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; to [the] thirteenth, Shubael, his sons and his brothers, twelve; to [the] fourteenth, Mattithiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; to [the] fifteenth, to Jeremoth, his sons and his brothers, twelve; to [the] sixteenth, to Hananiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; to [the] seventeenth, to Joshbekashah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; to [the] eighteenth, to Hanani, his sons and his brothers, twelve; to [the] nineteenth, to Mallothi, his sons and his brothers, twelve; to [the] twentieth, to Eliathah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; to [the] twenty-first, to Hothir, his sons and his brothers, twelve; to [the] twenty-second, to Giddalti, his sons and his brothers, twelve; to [the] twenty-third, to Mahazioth, his sons and his brothers, twelve; to [the] twenty-fourth, to Romamti-ezer, his sons and his brothers, twelve.


These [were] the sons of Levi according to the house of their fathers, the heads of the {families}, according to their enrollment, by the number of the names, according to their head count, [who were to] do the work of the service of the house of Yahweh, from twenty years old and above.

For by the last words of David, they [are] the number of the sons of Levi, from twenty years old and above.


And in accord with the ordinance of David his father he appointed working groups of priests for their service, Levites for their responsibilities for praise and cultic service before the priests {according to the daily requirement}, and the gatekeepers in their working groups, gate by gate. For thus David the man of God had commanded.

And the enrollment of the priests [was] according to the house of their fathers, and the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, according to their posts by their working groups.


And he assembled all the commanders of Israel and the priests and the Levites. And the Levites thirty years old and above were counted, and their number according to their head count for the men [was] thirty-eight thousand.


Of these, [David said,] "Twenty-four thousand [are] to direct the work of the house of Yahweh, along with six thousand judges and officials four thousand gatekeepers, [and] four thousand offering praise with the instruments that I have made for praise." And David organized them [in] divisions according to the sons of Levi: to Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.


And as David lived in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, "Look, I live in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of Yahweh [is] under tent curtains."

And the king said to Nathan the prophet, "Look, please, I [am] living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God [is] staying in the middle of the tent."

That Shelomoth and his brothers [were] over all the treasuries of the sanctified objects that King David and the heads of the {families} to the commanders of thousands and hundreds and the commanders of the army had dedicated.

King David dedicated them also to Yahweh [along] with the silver and the gold that he had dedicated from all of the nations which he had subdued;

[When] all of the work which king Solomon did on the house of Yahweh was completed, Solomon brought out the holy objects of his father David, the silver and the gold and the vessels, [which] he put in the treasury rooms of the house of Yahweh.

And I know, my God, that you yourself test the heart and are pleased with uprightness. I, in the uprightness of my heart, have willingly offered all these [things], and now I have seen your people who are found here willingly offer to you.

And King David rose to his feet and said, "Listen to me, my brothers and my people. {I myself wanted} to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of Yahweh and the footstool of our God, and I prepared to build.

{David my father desired} to build a house for the name of Yahweh the God of Israel, but Yahweh said to David my father, 'Because {you desired} to build a house for my name, you did well in that it was within your heart.

But King David said to Ornan, "No, for I will certainly buy [it] at full value; indeed, I will not take what is yours for Yahweh and offer burnt offerings for nothing."

So I have provided for the house of my God according to all my strength, the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, and the wood for the things of wood, [along with] an abundance of onyx stones, stones for settings, stones of turquoise, and variegated stones, and all [kinds of] precious stones and alabaster stones. And moreover, with respect to my provisions for the house of my God I have a treasure of gold and silver that I have given to the house of my God above all that I have provided for the holy house: three thousand talents of gold from the gold of Ophir and seven thousand talents of refined silver to overlay the walls of the houses, read more.
gold for the golden things and silver for the silver things, for all the work by the hand of skilled craftsmen. Now who will offer willingly, {consecrating himself} today to Yahweh?"

O Yahweh, remember with regard to David all his affliction. How he swore to Yahweh, he vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob: "I will not enter into the tent of my house, I will not go up to the couch of my bed, read more.
I will give no sleep to my eyes, [no] slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for Yahweh, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob."

And he distributed to every man of Israel, both men and women, to each [person] a loaf of bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins.


You shall till the land for him, you and your sons and your servants; you shall bring [in the produce] and it shall be food for the son of your master that he may eat. But Mephibosheth the son of your master may always eat food at my table." (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty slaves.)

Then David said to him, "Don't be afraid, for {I will certainly show} loyal love to you for the sake of Jonathan your father, and I will restore to you all the lands of Saul your father. And you shall always eat food at my table."


And David said to Saul, "Your servant has been a shepherd of the flock for his father. If the lion or the bear would come and carry off a sheep from the group,

Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he defied the battle lines of the living God."


I would go out after it and strike it down and rescue [the sheep] from its mouth. If it rose against me, I would grab [it] by its beard and strike it down and kill it. Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he defied the battle lines of the living God."


The king ordered Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, "With respect to the young man Absalom, [deal] gently for me." And all the troops heard when the king ordered all of the commanders concerning the matter of Absalom.

David pleaded [with] God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground.

King David longed to go out to Absalom, for he was consoled that Amnon had died.


The king ordered Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, "With respect to the young man Absalom, [deal] gently for me." And all the troops heard when the king ordered all of the commanders concerning the matter of Absalom.

David pleaded [with] God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground.

King David longed to go out to Absalom, for he was consoled that Amnon had died.


The king ordered Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, "With respect to the young man Absalom, [deal] gently for me." And all the troops heard when the king ordered all of the commanders concerning the matter of Absalom.

David pleaded [with] God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground.

King David longed to go out to Absalom, for he was consoled that Amnon had died.


{Yahweh forbid me} from stretching out my hand against Yahweh's anointed one! So then, please take the spear that [is] near his head and the jar of water, and let us go."

Then he said to David, "You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me the good, but I have repaid you the evil.


David {said longingly}, "{Oh that someone would bring me a drink} of water from the well of Bethlehem that [is] at the gate."


David said to him, "How [is it that] you [were] not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy Yahweh's anointed one?"

He said to his men, "Far be it from me in Yahweh, that I do this thing to my lord, to Yahweh's anointed one, by stretching out my hand against him! For he [is] the anointed one of Yahweh." So David rebuked his men with the words and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave, and he went on his way. Then David got up afterward and went out of the cave and called after Saul, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked after him, David knelt down [with his] face to the ground and bowed down. read more.
Then David said to Saul, "Why do you listen to the words of people who say: 'Look, David [is] {seeking to do you harm}'? Look, this day your eyes have seen that Yahweh gave you today into my hand in the cave, and some said to kill you. But {I took pity} on you and said, 'I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, because he [is] Yahweh's anointed one.'

David answered and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah the brother of Joab, saying, "Who will go down with me to Saul, in the camp?" And Abishai said, "I will go down with you." So David and Abishai came to the army [by] night, and {there was} Saul lying asleep in the encampment with his spear thrust into the ground near his head, and Abner and the army [were] lying all around him. Then Abishai said to David, "God has handed over your enemy into your hand today! So then, {please let me pin him to the ground with the spear} {one time}, and {I will not strike him twice}." read more.
But David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy him! For who has stretched out his hand against Yahweh's anointed one and remained blameless?" And David said, "{As Yahweh lives}, {certainly} Yahweh will strike him, or his day will come and he will die, or he will go down in the battle and {perish}. {Yahweh forbid me} from stretching out my hand against Yahweh's anointed one! So then, please take the spear that [is] near his head and the jar of water, and let us go." So David took the spear and the jar of water from [near] Saul's head, and they went [away]. {No one saw, no one knew, and no one awakened}, for all of them [were] sleeping because a deep sleep of Yahweh had fallen upon them. Then David went to the other side and stood on the top of the hill at a distance; the distance [was] great between them. David called out to the army and to Abner the son of Ner, "Will you not answer, Abner?" And Abner answered and said, "Who [are] you [that] you call to the king?" So David said to Abner, "[Are] you not a man? And who [is] like you in Israel? Why did you not keep watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came to destroy your lord the king. This thing that you have done [is] not good. {As Yahweh lives}, {surely you people deserve to die} since you have not kept watch over your lord, over Yahweh's anointed one! So then, see where the king's spear [is] and the jar of water that [was] near his head!"


So David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king charged me [with] a matter and said to me, 'No one must know anything about this matter [on] which I am sending you, [with] which I have charged you and the servants.'" So {I have arranged to meet with my servants at a certain place}.


Then Rehoboam took to himself as a wife Mahalath, the daughter of Yerimot son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse.


David replied, "What have I done now? {I merely asked a question}!

Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, "Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Please let me go over and take off his head." The king said, "{What do we have in common}, sons of Zeruiah? If he curses because Yahweh has said to him 'Curse David,' who can say, "Why have you done this?" David said to Abishai and to all his servants, "Look, my son who came out of my loins [is] seeking my life. Now {as far as} [this] Benjaminite, leave him alone and let him curse, for Yahweh has spoken to him. read more.
Perhaps Yahweh will look {in my eye} and repay good for me in place of his curse this day. Then David and his men went on the road, with Shimei going on the side of the hill beside him, {cursing as he went}. He threw stones beside him and threw dust in the air. When the king and all of the people who were with him arrived, he was weary, so he recovered there.

But as for me, like [the] deaf I cannot hear, and [I am] like [the] mute [who] cannot open his mouth. And [so] I am like a man who hears not, and in whose mouth there are no retorts.

Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech, [that] I dwell among the tents of Kedar. Too long my soul has had its dwelling near [one who] hates peace. I [am for] peace, but when I speak, they [are] for war.


David said to Abishai and to all his servants, "Look, my son who came out of my loins [is] seeking my life. Now {as far as} [this] Benjaminite, leave him alone and let him curse, for Yahweh has spoken to him.


Mishmannah fourth, Jeremiah fifth,


And David went up from there to Mizpah of Moab. He said to the king of Moab, "Please let my father and my mother {stay} with you until I know what God will do for me." So {he brought them before the king of Moab}, and they stayed with him all the days David was in the stronghold.


And David went up from there to Mizpah of Moab. He said to the king of Moab, "Please let my father and my mother {stay} with you until I know what God will do for me."


Why have you despised the word of Yahweh by doing evil in his eyes? Uriah the Hittite you have struck down with the sword, and his wife you have taken to yourself as wife! You have killed him with the sword of the {Ammonites}!


{David was angry} because Yahweh had burst out against Uzza, and he called that place Perez-Uzza until this day.

I believed when I spoke, "I am afflicted greatly." I said in my haste, "{Everyone} [is] a liar."


Ezer the chief, Obadiah second, Eliab third,


because David did right in the eyes of Yahweh and he didn't turn aside from all that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

And David was achieving success in all his ways and Yahweh [was] with him,

And [after] removing him, he raised up David for their king, about whom he also said, testifying, 'I have found David the [son] of Jesse [to be] a man in accordance with my heart, who will carry out all my will.'

And he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that David his father had done.

Please forgive the transgression of your female servant, because Yahweh will certainly make a lasting house for my lord, because my lord [is] fighting the battles of Yahweh, and evil will not be found in you {as long as you live}.

So Solomon did evil in the eyes of Yahweh and did not fully [follow] after Yahweh as David his father.

But I will not take all of the kingdom from his hand, but I will make him a leader all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my ordinances.


I have sworn [an oath] and confirmed [it], to heed {your righteous ordinances}.


Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against Yahweh!" Nathan said to David, "Yahweh has also forgiven your sin; you shall not die.


The king ordered Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, "With respect to the young man Absalom, [deal] gently for me." And all the troops heard when the king ordered all of the commanders concerning the matter of Absalom.

The king was upset, and he went up to the upper room of the gate and wept. He said as he went, "My son, Absalom, my son, my son, Absalom. {If only} I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son."

It happened on the seventh day that the child died, and the servants of David [were] afraid to tell him that the child [was] dead, for they said, "Look, when the child [was] alive, we spoke to him, but he would not listen to our voice. How can we tell him, 'The child [is] dead'? He may do [something] evil." When David saw that his servants [were] whispering together, he realized that the child [was] dead. Then David said to his servants, "[Is] the child dead?" And they said, "He [is] dead." David stood up from the ground and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothing. Then he went [to] the house of Yahweh and worshiped, and he went to his [own] house. He asked, so they served him food, and he ate. read more.
Then his servants said to him, "What [is] this thing that you have done? While the child [was] alive, you fasted and wept; [now] that the child has died, you get up and eat food!" He said, "When the child [was] still alive, I fasted and I wept because I thought, 'Who knows? Yahweh may have mercy on me that the child will live.' But now he [is] dead. Why [should I be] fasting? [Am] I able to return him again? I [am] going to him, but he cannot return to me."

The man said to Joab, "{Even if I felt the weight} of a thousand pieces of silver in my palms, I would not have sent my hand against the son of the king, for in our ears the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, 'Whoever you may be, protect the young man Absalom.' If I had dealt treacherously against his life, and [there is] not any matter hidden from the king, {you would have presented yourself aloof}."

So Joab went to the king and he told him. Then he summoned Absalom, and he came to the king, and he bowed down to him with his face to the ground before the king. Then the king kissed Absalom.

But Absalom had fled and went [to] Geshur, and he [was] there three years. King David longed to go out to Absalom, for he was consoled that Amnon had died.

Joab the son of Zeruiah realized that the mind of the king [was] on Absalom.

And it was told to Joab that the king [was] weeping and he mourned over Absalom, so the victory turned to mourning on that day for all the army, because they had heard that day, "The king is grieving over his son." The army {came secretly} into the city on that day because the army was disgraced when they fled in the battle, read more.
and because the king had covered his face and cried with a loud voice, "My son, Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son." Then Joab came to the king's house and said, "Today you have humiliated the faces of all of your servants who have saved your life this day, and the life of your sons and your daughters, the life of your wives, and the life of your concubines, by loving those who hate you and hating those who love you. Indeed, you have made clear this day that you have no [regard for your] commanders or officers, for I have realized today that [were] Absalom alive, and all of us were dead, then [that would] have been right in your eyes!


The king ordered Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, "With respect to the young man Absalom, [deal] gently for me." And all the troops heard when the king ordered all of the commanders concerning the matter of Absalom.

David pleaded [with] God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground.

King David longed to go out to Absalom, for he was consoled that Amnon had died.


The king ordered Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, "With respect to the young man Absalom, [deal] gently for me." And all the troops heard when the king ordered all of the commanders concerning the matter of Absalom.

The king was upset, and he went up to the upper room of the gate and wept. He said as he went, "My son, Absalom, my son, my son, Absalom. {If only} I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son."


His father did not rebuke him {at any time} [by] saying, "Why did you do so?" Now he was also very handsome of appearance; she had borne him after Absalom.


His father did not rebuke him {at any time} [by] saying, "Why did you do so?" Now he was also very handsome of appearance; she had borne him after Absalom.


He himself [was] with David at Pas-Dammim when the Philistines were gathered there for the battle. And there was a plot of the field filled with barley, and the people fled before the Philistines.


The king ordered Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, "With respect to the young man Absalom, [deal] gently for me." And all the troops heard when the king ordered all of the commanders concerning the matter of Absalom.

David pleaded [with] God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground.

King David longed to go out to Absalom, for he was consoled that Amnon had died.


I waited patiently for Yahweh, And he inclined to me and heard my cry for help.


I [am for] peace, but when I speak, they [are] for war.


But now he [is] dead. Why [should I be] fasting? [Am] I able to return him again? I [am] going to him, but he cannot return to me."

Then Nathan went to his house, and Yahweh struck the child that the wife of Uriah bore for David, and he became ill. David pleaded [with] God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground.


David realized that Yahweh had established him as king over Israel and that he had exalted his kingdom because of his people Israel.


It happened at the time of Solomon's old age that his wives guided his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully with Yahweh his God as the heart of David his father [had been].

So Solomon did evil in the eyes of Yahweh and did not fully [follow] after Yahweh as David his father.


Violent witnesses rise up; they ask me [concerning] what I do not know.


Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart trembles because of your word.


So Bathsheba went to the king in the private room. Now the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunnamite was attending the king. Bathsheba knelt and bowed down before the king, and the king asked, "{What do you want}?" She said to him, "My lord, you swore by Yahweh your God to your servant, 'Solomon your son surely shall become king after me, and he will sit upon my throne!' read more.
But now, look! Adonijah has become king! And now, my lord the king, you do not know! He has sacrificed oxen and sheep and fattened animals {in abundance}, and he has invited all the sons of the king, Abiathar the priest, Joab the commander of the army, but Solomon your servant he did not invite. But as for you, my lord the king, the eyes of all of Israel are on you, to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. It shall be that when my lord the king sleeps with his ancestors, I and my son Solomon will be [considered as] sinners."


There [was] war again for [the] Philistines with Israel, and David and his servants with him went down, and they fought [the] Philistines, and David grew weary. Now Yishbi in Nob, who [was] among the descendents of Raphah (now the weight of his spearhead [was] three hundredweight of bronze, and he [was] newly armed), said that he would kill David. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and he attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, "You shall not go out with us any longer to the battle, so that you do not quench the lamp of Israel." read more.
It happened afterward that there [was] again battle at Gob with [the] Philistines. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph who [was] among the descendants of the Raphah. There [was] again a battle with [the] Philistines at Gob. And Elhanan the son of Jaare-Oregim, the Bethlehemite, killed Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear [was] like the beam of a weaver. Once again there [was] battle at Gath, and there [was] {a man of great size}. The fingers of his hand and the toes of his feet [were] six and six, twenty-four in number. He [was] also born to the Raphah. He taunted Israel but Jonathan the son of Shimei, the brother of David, killed him. These four [were] born for the Raphah in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

It happened afterwards [that] David attacked [the] Philistines and subdued them, and he took Metheg Ammah from the hands of [the] Philistines.

When [the] Philistines heard that they had anointed David as king over Israel, all [the] Philistines went up to seek David, but David heard and went down to the stronghold. Now [the] Philistines had come, and they spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of Yahweh, saying, "Shall I go up to the Philistines? Will you give them into my hands?" Yahweh said to David, "Go up, for {I will certainly give} [the] Philistines into your hand." read more.
So David came to Baal Perazim and defeated them there; and David said, "Yahweh has burst through my enemies before me like the bursting of water." Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Perazim. They had left their idols there, so David and his men carried them away. {Once again} [the] Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. So David inquired of Yahweh, but he said, "You shall not go up. [Rather,] go around to their rear and come to them from opposite the balsam trees.

These [are] the names of the mighty warriors who [were] David's: Josheb-Basshebeth a Tahkemonite [was] chief of three officers; first Adino, whose spear [was] against eight hundred slain on one occurrence. Next to him Eleazar, the son of Dodo the son of an Ahohite, [was] among the three mighty warriors with David when they defied the Philistines and they gathered there for the battle and the men of Israel withdrew. He stood up and struck down the Philistines until his hand grew tired and his hand clung to the sword, and Yahweh brought about a great victory on that day. Then the army returned back to him only for stripping [the dead]. read more.
Next to him [was] Shamma, the son of Agee the Hararite. When [the] Philistines assembled at Lehi, a plot of the field was there filled with lentils, and the army fled there from the presence of [the] Philistines. But he took a stand in the middle of the plot of land and defended it. He killed [the] Philistines, and Yahweh brought about a great victory.


Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was over] the Kerethites and the Pelethites, and the sons of David [were] priests.

therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Look! I [am] stretching out my hand against [the] Philistines, and I will cut off the Kerethites, and I will destroy the remainder of {the seacoast}.

Woe [to you], inhabitants of the region of the sea, people of the Kerethites! The word of Yahweh [is] against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines. I will destroy you {until there is no inhabitant}.


War came again, so David went out and fought against [the] Philistines and {defeated them thoroughly} so that they fled before him.

Now they told David, "Look, [the] Philistines [are] fighting in Keilah and they [are] raiding the threshing floors." So David inquired of Yahweh, saying, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" And Yahweh said to David, "Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah." But David's men said to him, "Look, we [are] afraid here in Judah. {How much more} [if] we go [to] Keilah to the battle lines of [the] Philistines?" read more.
So David again inquired of Yahweh, and Yahweh answered him and said, "Get up, go down [to] Keilah, for I [am] giving [the] Philistines into your hand. So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with [the] Philistines. They drove off their livestock and {dealt them a heavy blow}. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.


And Achish answered and said to David, "I know that you [are] good in my eyes, like an angel of God! However, the commanders of [the] Philistines have said, 'He must not go up with us into the battle.'

David said to Achish, "Very well, you will know what your servant can do." Achish said to David, "Very well, I will make you {my bodyguard} for life."


Then Saul said, "This [is] what you must say to David: '{The king desires no bride price} except for a hundred foreskins of [the] Philistines, to avenge himself on the enemies of the king.'" (Now Saul had planned to allow David to fall by the hand of [the] Philistines.) So his servants told David these words, and the matter {pleased David} to become the son-in-law of the king [as] {the specified time had not expired}. And David got up, and he and his men went and struck down two hundred men [of the] Philistines. Then David brought their foreskins, and {they presented the full number} to become the king's son-in-law. Then Saul gave him Michal his daughter as [his] wife.


Then he took his staff in his hand, picked out for himself five smooth stones from the wadi, and he put them in his shepherd's bag, in the pouch. And with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine. Then the Philistine {came on, getting nearer and nearer} to David, with {his shield bearer} in front of him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him, for he was [only] a boy and ruddy with a handsome appearance. read more.
So the Philistine said to David, "[Am] I a dog, that you [are] coming to me with sticks?" Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, "Come to me so that I can give your flesh to the birds of heaven and to the wild animals of the field!" Then David said to the Philistine, "You [are] coming to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I am coming to you in the name of Yahweh of hosts, the God of the battle lines of Israel, whom you have defied! This day Yahweh will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down {and cut off your head}! Then I will give [the] corpses of the army of [the] Philistines this day to the birds of heaven and to the animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God [who is] for Israel. And all of this assembly will know that Yahweh does not rescue with sword or with spear, for the battle [belongs] to Yahweh, and he will give you into our hands!" {When} the Philistine got up and came and drew near to meet David, David {ran quickly} to the battle line to meet the Philistine. Then David put his hand into the bag and took a stone from it and slung [it]. He struck the Philistine on his forehead, and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with the sling and with the stone, and he struck down the Philistine and killed him, but there was no sword in David's hand.


Then David {thought to himself}, "Now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul! There is nothing better for me but [that] I must certainly escape to the land of [the] Philistines. Then Saul will desist from searching for me further in all of the territories of Israel, and so I will escape from his hand." So David got up and crossed over, he and the six hundred men who [were] with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, the king of Gath. David settled with Achish in Gath, he and his men, each with his household. David [took along] his two wives Ahinoam {from Jezreel} and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. read more.
And it was reported to Saul that David had fled [to] Gath, so {he no longer searched for him}. Then David said to Achish, "Please, if I have found favor in your eyes, then let them give me a place in one of the {country towns} that I can live there. Why should your servant live in {the royal city} with you?" So Achish gave him Ziklag on that day. (Therefore, Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah until this day.) The number of days that David lived in the countryside of the Philistines [was] one year and four months.


The rulers of [the] Philistines [were] passing on according to hundreds and thousands, David and his men passing on at the rear with Achish. Then the commanders of [the] Philistines said, "What [are] these Hebrews [doing here]?" And Achish said to the commanders of [the] Philistines, "Is this not David, the servant of Saul, the king of Israel, who has been with me {for days and years}? I have not found anything [threatening] in him from the day of his desertion until this day!" But the commanders of [the] Philistines were angry with him and they said to him, "Send the man back so that he might return to his place where you have assigned him! But he will not go down with us into the battle, so that he does not become an adversary to us in the battle. By what could this fellow make himself favorable to his lord? Is it not with the heads of these men? read more.
[Is] this not David about whom they sing in the dances, saying, 'Saul has killed his thousands, but David his ten thousands'?" So Achish called David and said to him, "{As Yahweh lives}, certainly you were honest, and {I am pleased to have you marching with me} in the campaign. For I have not found any wrong in you from the day you came to me until this day, but in the eyes of the rulers, you [are] not good. So then, return and go in peace, so that you do not do {something that displeases} the rulers of [the] Philistines."


Hear my prayer, O Yahweh, and listen [to] my cry for help; do not be deaf to my tears. For I [am] an alien with you, a sojourner like all my ancestors.


David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters [were] born to him.

And sons [were] born to David in Hebron; his firstborn [was] Amnon by Ahinoam {from Jezreel}. His second [was] Kileab by Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; the third [was] Absalom the son of Maacah, [who was] the daughter of Talmai the king of Geshur. The fourth [was] Adonijah the son of Haggith; the fifth [was] Shephatiah the son of Abital. read more.
The sixth [was] Ithream by Eglah the wife of David. These [were] born to David in Hebron.

When David heard that Nabal had died, he said, "Blessed be Yahweh who has vindicated the case of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and he has kept back his servant from evil; but Yahweh has returned the evil of Nabal on his [own] head." Then David sent and spoke with Abigail to take her for his wife. So the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, and they spoke to her, saying, "David has sent us to you to take you for his wife." She got up and bowed down [with] her face to the ground and said, "Here is your female servant, as a slave to wash the feet of my lord's servants." read more.
Then Abigail {quickly got up} and rode on the donkey, [along with] five of her maidservants who {attended her}, and she went after the messengers of David and became his wife. David had also taken Ahinoam from Jezreel, and both of them became his wives. (Now Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who [was] from Gallim.)

And David took more wives in Jerusalem, and David fathered more sons and daughters.


All the people noticed, and it [was] good in their eyes, as everything that the king did [was] good in the eyes of all the people.


So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon David from that day {on}. Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah.


Then King David went and sat before Yahweh and said, "Who [am] I, my lord Yahweh, and what [is] my house that you have brought me up to {this place}? Still, this [was] {insignificant} in your eyes, my lord Yahweh, and also you have spoken about the house of your servant from afar, and this [may be] the teaching of humans, my lord Yahweh. {What more can David say to you}? You know your servant, my lord Yahweh. read more.
Because of your word and according to your heart, you have done all of this great thing, [in order] to let your servant know. Therefore you [are] great, my lord Yahweh, for there is no one like you, and there [is] no god except you, in all that we have heard with our ears. Who [is] like your people, like Israel? [Israel is] the one nation on earth whose God {led them}, [in order] to redeem a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to do for you the great and awesome things for your land in the presence of your people whom he redeemed for himself from Egypt, [from the] nations and their gods. You have established your people Israel for yourself as a people forever, and you, O Yahweh, have become their God. So then, Yahweh God, the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, confirm it forever, and do just as you have promised. Your name shall be great forever, {and they will say}, 'Yahweh of hosts [is] God over Israel'; and the house of your servant David shall be established before you. For you, O Yahweh of hosts, [are] God of Israel! You have revealed to the ear of your servant, 'I will build a house for you'; therefore your servant {has found courage} to pray this prayer to you. Now, my Lord Yahweh, you alone [are] God, and your words [are] true. You have promised this good to your servant. So then, be content and bless the house of your servant to be forever in your presence, for you, my Lord Yahweh, have spoken, and because of your blessing, may the house of your servant be blessed forever."

He said, "When the child [was] still alive, I fasted and I wept because I thought, 'Who knows? Yahweh may have mercy on me that the child will live.' But now he [is] dead. Why [should I be] fasting? [Am] I able to return him again? I [am] going to him, but he cannot return to me."


In my trouble I called on Yahweh, and to my God I cried for help. He heard my voice from his temple, and my cry for help came up before his presence into his ears.


O God, redeem Israel from all its troubles.


Then King David went and sat before Yahweh and said, "Who [am] I, my lord Yahweh, and what [is] my house that you have brought me up to {this place}? Still, this [was] {insignificant} in your eyes, my lord Yahweh, and also you have spoken about the house of your servant from afar, and this [may be] the teaching of humans, my lord Yahweh. {What more can David say to you}? You know your servant, my lord Yahweh. read more.
Because of your word and according to your heart, you have done all of this great thing, [in order] to let your servant know. Therefore you [are] great, my lord Yahweh, for there is no one like you, and there [is] no god except you, in all that we have heard with our ears. Who [is] like your people, like Israel? [Israel is] the one nation on earth whose God {led them}, [in order] to redeem a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to do for you the great and awesome things for your land in the presence of your people whom he redeemed for himself from Egypt, [from the] nations and their gods. You have established your people Israel for yourself as a people forever, and you, O Yahweh, have become their God. So then, Yahweh God, the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, confirm it forever, and do just as you have promised. Your name shall be great forever, {and they will say}, 'Yahweh of hosts [is] God over Israel'; and the house of your servant David shall be established before you. For you, O Yahweh of hosts, [are] God of Israel! You have revealed to the ear of your servant, 'I will build a house for you'; therefore your servant {has found courage} to pray this prayer to you. Now, my Lord Yahweh, you alone [are] God, and your words [are] true. You have promised this good to your servant. So then, be content and bless the house of your servant to be forever in your presence, for you, my Lord Yahweh, have spoken, and because of your blessing, may the house of your servant be blessed forever."


Then David blessed Yahweh in the sight of all the assembly, and David said, "Blessed [are] you, O Yahweh, God of Israel, our father forever and ever! To you, O Yahweh, [is] the greatness and the power and the splendor and the glory and the strength, for everything in the heavens and in the earth. Yours, O Yahweh, [is] the kingdom and exaltation over all as head! And wealth and glory [are] from you, and you rule over all. And in your hand [is] power and might. And in your hand [is power] to make great and to give strength to all. read more.
And now, our God, we give thanks to you and offer praise to the name of your splendor. And indeed, who [am] I, and who [are] my people that we retain power to offer according to these [offerings] willingly? For everything [is] from you, and from your hand we have given to you. For we [are] strangers before you and sojourners like all our ancestors. Our days [are] like the shadow upon earth, and there is no hope [of abiding]. O Yahweh our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build for you a house for your holy name is from your hand, and all [of it] is yours. And I know, my God, that you yourself test the heart and are pleased with uprightness. I, in the uprightness of my heart, have willingly offered all these [things], and now I have seen your people who are found here willingly offer to you. O Yahweh, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our ancestors, keep this forever as a plan [and] thoughts of the heart of your people, and establish their heart toward you. Grant to Solomon my son a heart of peace to keep your commands, your statutes, and your regulations to do everything, and to build the citadel for which I have provided."


When David returned to bless his household, Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David. She said, "How the king of Israel honored himself today {by uncovering himself} before the eyes of the maids of his servants, {as the total exposure of a worthless one}."


So I have provided for the house of my God according to all my strength, the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, and the wood for the things of wood, [along with] an abundance of onyx stones, stones for settings, stones of turquoise, and variegated stones, and all [kinds of] precious stones and alabaster stones.


When your days [are] full and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you who will go out from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

"I made a covenant with my chosen one; I swore [an oath] to David my servant: 'I will establish your descendants forever, and I will build up your throne {from generation to generation}.'" Selah

Once I have sworn by my holiness, 'I will surely not lie to David, His offspring will endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me.


Therefore, [because he] was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat {one of his descendants} on his throne,

I have set Yahweh before me always. Because [he is] at my right hand I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. Yes, my body will dwell in safety, for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol; you will not give your faithful one to see [the] grave. read more.
You will make known to me [the] path of life. In your presence [is] fullness of joy. At your right hand [are] pleasures forever.

For David says with reference to him, 'I saw the Lord before me {continually}, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken.


in order that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled, who said, "I will open my mouth in parables; I will proclaim what has been hidden since the creation."


"The spirit of Yahweh speaks through me, and his word [is] upon my tongue.


And he said: "I love you, O Yahweh, my strength." Yahweh [is] my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I have taken refuge, my shield and the horn of my deliverance, my stronghold.


One of the servants answered and said, "Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite [who is] skillful in playing a stringed instrument, a {brave man, a warrior, prudent in speech, and handsome}. And Yahweh [is] with him."


in order that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled, who said, "I will open my mouth in parables; I will proclaim what has been hidden since the creation."


David said to him, "How [is it that] you [were] not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy Yahweh's anointed one?"

Then David answered Recab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and he said to them, "{As Yahweh lives}, who redeemed my soul from all trouble, when the [one] who told me, "Look, Saul [is] dead," {thought that he [was] bringing good news}, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which [was] as my giving the news [back] to him. {How much more} when wicked men kill a righteous man in his house, on his bed! So then, shall I not seek his lifeblood from your hand, so that I may destroy you from the earth?" read more.
Then David commanded the young men, and they killed them, and they cut off their hands and their feet, and they hung [them] at the pool at Hebron, but the head of Ish-Bosheth they took and buried in the grave of Abner at Hebron.


Then David said to God, "Was it not I [who] gave a command to count the people? Now I [am] he who has sinned, and I have certainly done wickedness, but these sheep, what have they done? O Yahweh, my God, please let your hand be against me and against the house of my father, but against your people, [let there be] no plague."



Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against Yahweh!" Nathan said to David, "Yahweh has also forgiven your sin; you shall not die.


Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of Yahweh which you have spoken [is] good," and he thought, "Is it not that peace and security shall be in my days?"

But now he [is] dead. Why [should I be] fasting? [Am] I able to return him again? I [am] going to him, but he cannot return to me."

But if he says, 'I take no pleasure in you,' then {I am ready}. Let him do to me that which [is] good in his eyes.


But now he [is] dead. Why [should I be] fasting? [Am] I able to return him again? I [am] going to him, but he cannot return to me."


And he died in a good old age, full of days, wealth, and honor. And Solomon his son reigned in his place.


Yahweh rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.


David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper, and he took [the provisions] and went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the encampment while the troops [were] going to the battle line, and they raised the war cry.



I sought Yahweh and he answered me, and from all my terrors he delivered me.


I sought Yahweh and he answered me, and from all my terrors he delivered me.


Then {the anger of David was kindled} against the man, and he said to Nathan, "{As Yahweh lives}, the man who has done this {deserves to die}! He shall restore the ewe lamb fourfold because he has done this thing, and because he had no pity." Then Nathan said to him, "You [are] the man! Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: 'I anointed you as king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.


But the word of the king prevailed over Joab and over the commanders of the army, so Joab and the commanders of the army went out from before the king to count the people of Israel.


But the word of the king prevailed over Joab and over the commanders of the army, so Joab and the commanders of the army went out from before the king to count the people of Israel.


'I delight to do your will, O my God, and your law [is] {deep within me}.'"


Then David summoned Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab.

Of the sons of Elizaphan: Shemaiah the chief and two hundred of his brothers.


Then Samuel said to Jesse, "{Are all the young men here}?" And he said, "The youngest still remains, but look, he [is] shepherding the flock." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him, for we cannot {sit down} until he comes here."

And he chose David his servant and took him from [the] sheepfolds.

So then, thus you shall say to my servant David, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, "I took you from the pasture {from following} the sheep to be a leader over my people, over Israel,


So they sought a beautiful young woman in all the territory of Israel, and they found Abishag the Shunnamite and brought her to the king.


My heart is not haughty nor my eyes {arrogant}. And I do not {concern myself} with things too great and difficult for me. Rather I have soothed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother, like the weaned child [is] my soul with me.


For {I myself know} my transgressions, and my sin [is] ever before me.

saying, "I have sinned [by] betraying innocent blood!" But they said, "What [is that] to us? You see to [it]!"

The heart of David struck him after he had counted the people, and David said to Yahweh, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done! So then, O Yahweh, please forgive the guilt of your servant because I have acted very foolishly."

He brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there, and they gathered the bones of the executed.

[If] I have sinned, what have I done to you, watcher of humanity? Why have you made me as a target for yourself, so that I have become a burden to myself?

As for me, I said, "O Yahweh, be gracious [to] me. Heal me, for I have sinned against you."


So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon David from that day {on}. Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah.


David realized that Yahweh had established him as king over Israel and that he had exalted his kingdom because of his people Israel.


Because I have kept the ways of Yahweh, and have not acted wickedly against my God, because all his ordinances [are] before me, and his statutes I have not removed from me,


When the Arameans saw that they [were] defeated before Israel, they gathered themselves together. Then Hadadezer sent and brought out the Arameans who [were] beyond the Euphrates, and they came to Helam. Now Shobach, the commander of the army of Hadadezer, {was at their head}. David [was] told, so he gathered all Israel and crossed over the Jordan and came to Helam. Aram {arranged themselves in battle lines} to meet David, and they fought with him. read more.
And Aram fled before Israel, and David killed from [the] Arameans seven hundred chariot teams and forty thousand horsemen. He struck down Shobach, the commander of his army, and he died there. When all the kings, the servants of Hadadezer, saw that he had been defeated before Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them, and Aram [was] afraid to help the {Ammonites} any longer.


When the {Ammonites} saw that they had become odious to David, the {Ammonites} sent [word] and hired Aram Beth-Rehob and Aram-Zobah, twenty thousand infantry; and [they also hired] the king of Maacah, a thousand men, and the men of Tob, twelve thousand men. When David heard, he sent Joab and all the army of mighty warriors. The {Ammonites} came out and {drew up a battle formation} at the entrance of the gate, but Aram-Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah [were] alone in the open field. read more.
When Joab saw that {the battle was to be fought on two fronts}, he chose from all [the] members of the elite troops of Israel and {lined them up for battle} to meet Aram. The rest of the army he placed into the hand of his brother Abishai, who {arranged them in battle lines} to meet the {Ammonites}. Then he said, "If Aram [is] stronger than I [am], you must become my deliverer; but if the {Ammonites} [are] too strong for you, then I will come to rescue you. Be strong, and let us strengthen ourselves for the sake of the people and for the sake of the cities of our God. May Yahweh do [what is] good in his eyes. Joab and all the people who [were] with him moved forward into the battle against Aram, and they fled from before him. When the {Ammonites} saw that Aram had fled, they fled from before Abishai and entered the city. Then Joab returned from [fighting] against the {Ammonites} and came to Jerusalem.


King David dedicated them also to Yahweh [along] with the silver and the gold that he had dedicated from all of the nations which he had subdued; from Aram and from Moab and from the {Ammonites} and from [the] Philistines and from Amalek and from the plunder of Hadadezer the son of Rehob, the king of Zobah.


So David made a name for himself when he returned from defeating Aram in the Valley of Salt, eighteen thousand.


When Aram of Damascus came to help Hadadezer, the king of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand men of Aram.


David placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, so Aram became servants of David, bringing tribute. Yahweh protected David everywhere he went.


And moreover, with respect to my provisions for the house of my God I have a treasure of gold and silver that I have given to the house of my God above all that I have provided for the holy house:

And the king said to Nathan the prophet, "Look, please, I [am] living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God [is] staying in the middle of the tent."

And David said to Solomon his son, "I myself had in my heart to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God,

How he swore to Yahweh, he vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob: "I will not enter into the tent of my house, I will not go up to the couch of my bed, I will give no sleep to my eyes, [no] slumber to my eyelids, read more.
until I find a place for Yahweh, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob."


So I have provided for the house of my God according to all my strength, the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, and the wood for the things of wood, [along with] an abundance of onyx stones, stones for settings, stones of turquoise, and variegated stones, and all [kinds of] precious stones and alabaster stones. And moreover, with respect to my provisions for the house of my God I have a treasure of gold and silver that I have given to the house of my God above all that I have provided for the holy house: three thousand talents of gold from the gold of Ophir and seven thousand talents of refined silver to overlay the walls of the houses, read more.
gold for the golden things and silver for the silver things, for all the work by the hand of skilled craftsmen. Now who will offer willingly, {consecrating himself} today to Yahweh?"

And David commanded to assemble the resident aliens who [were] in the land of Israel and appointed stone craftsmen to cut dressed stones to build the house of God. And David provided much iron for nails for the doors of the gates and for the seams, and abundant copper [that] could not be weighed, and cedar timbers without number, for the Sidonians and Tyrians brought abundant cedars to David. read more.
Then David said, "Solomon my son [is] a boy and inexperienced, and the house built for Yahweh [must be] exceedingly great in fame and splendor throughout every land. I will make preparations for him." So David provided abundant [materials] before he died.

Now see, with great effort I have made provision for the house of Yahweh: 100,000 talents of gold, 1,000,000 talents of silver, and bronze and iron [that] cannot be weighed, for there is an abundance. Also timber and stone I have provided, but to these you should add. And with you [there is] an abundance of craftsmen: stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and everyone skilled in every [kind of] craftsmanship with gold, silver, bronze, and iron without number. Arise and work! Yahweh will be with you!"


"You knew David my father, that he was not able to build a house for the name of Yahweh his God, {in view of the warfare} which surrounded him, until Yahweh placed them under the soles of his feet.

but it happened [that] the word of Yahweh [came] over me, saying, 'You have shed much blood and have made much war; you shall not build a house for my name because you have shed much blood upon the ground before me.

"Go and tell my servant David, 'Thus says Yahweh: "[Are] you the one to build for me a house for my dwelling? For I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought up the {Israelites} from Egypt until this day; [rather,] I [was] going about in a tent and in a tabernacle. In all of my going about among all the {Israelites}, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, 'Why did you not build me a cedar house?'" ' read more.
So then, thus you shall say to my servant David, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, "I took you from the pasture {from following} the sheep to be a leader over my people, over Israel, and I have been with you {everywhere you went}. I have cut off all of your enemies from in front of you, and I will make a great name for you, as the name of the great [ones] who [are] on the earth.


Then he called to Solomon his son and commanded him to build a house for Yahweh, the God of Israel. And David said to Solomon his son, "I myself had in my heart to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God,

Now, my son, Yahweh will be with you, that you may succeed and build the house of Yahweh your God as he has spoken concerning you.


When your days [are] full and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you who will go out from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

He himself will build for me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.


And David commanded all the commanders of Israel to help Solomon his son, [saying], "Is not Yahweh your God with you? And has he [not] given you rest all around? For he has put in my hand the inhabitants of the land, and the land is subdued before Yahweh and before his people. Now set your heart and mind to seek Yahweh your Go, and arise and build the sanctuary of Yahweh God, that the ark of the covenant of Yahweh and the holy vessels of God might be brought into the house built for the name of Yahweh.


Then the commanders of the {families}, the commanders of the tribes of Israel, and the commanders of thousands and hundreds, and the commanders of the work of the king offered themselves willingly. And they gave for the service of the house of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze, and one hundred thousand talents of iron. And whoever had [precious] stones gave [them] to the treasury of the house of Yahweh under the authority of Jehiel the Gershonite. read more.
And the people rejoiced over their freewill offering, for with a whole heart they had willingly offered to Yahweh, and King David also rejoiced with great joy.


Grant to Solomon my son a heart of peace to keep your commands, your statutes, and your regulations to do everything, and to build the citadel for which I have provided."


It happened {late one afternoon} [that] David got up from his bed and walked about on the roof of the king's house, and he saw a woman bathing on her roof. Now the woman {was very beautiful}.


It happened {late one afternoon} [that] David got up from his bed and walked about on the roof of the king's house, and he saw a woman bathing on her roof. Now the woman {was very beautiful}. David sent and inquired about the woman, and [someone] said, "[Is] this not Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Then David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) And she returned to her house. read more.
The woman became pregnant, and she sent and told David, and she said, "I [am] pregnant."


So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-Gilead and said to them, "May you be blessed by Yahweh because you did this loyal love with your lord, with Saul, and you buried him. Now may Yahweh show loyal love and faithfulness with you. I will also show the good with you that you have done in this matter. So then, let your hands be strong and {be valiant}, for your lord Saul [is] dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me as king over them."


And now, our God, we give thanks to you and offer praise to the name of your splendor.


David said, "I will show loyal love with Hanun, the son of Nahash, as his father showed loyal love with me." So David sent to console him concerning his father, by the hand of his servants. And the servants of David came to the land of the {Ammonites}.


Regarding the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, you shall do loyal love and let them be among those who eat at your table, because they met me when I fled from Absalom your brother.


And now, our God, we give thanks to you and offer praise to the name of your splendor.


who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.


Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of Yahweh which you have spoken [is] good," and he thought, "Is it not that peace and security shall be in my days?"

But now he [is] dead. Why [should I be] fasting? [Am] I able to return him again? I [am] going to him, but he cannot return to me."

But if he says, 'I take no pleasure in you,' then {I am ready}. Let him do to me that which [is] good in his eyes.


'I delight to do your will, O my God, and your law [is] {deep within me}.'"


Your neck [is] like the tower of David, built in courses; a thousand {ornaments} are hung on it, all the shields of the warriors.


Therefore also God exalted him and graciously granted him the name above every name,

" '"And my servant David [will be] king over them, and one shepherd will be for all of them, and in my regulations they will go, and my statutes they will observe, and they will do them.

David reigned over all of Israel, and he was administering justice and righteousness for all his people.

Formerly you spoke in a vision to your faithful ones, and said, "I have bestowed help on a mighty man; I have exalted one chosen from [the] people. I have found David, my servant. With my holy oil I have anointed him,


" '"And my servant David [will be] king over them, and one shepherd will be for all of them, and in my regulations they will go, and my statutes they will observe, and they will do them.

David reigned over all of Israel, and he was administering justice and righteousness for all his people.

Formerly you spoke in a vision to your faithful ones, and said, "I have bestowed help on a mighty man; I have exalted one chosen from [the] people. I have found David, my servant. With my holy oil I have anointed him,


The king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why [are] you also coming with us? Return and stay with the king, for you [are] a foreigner; moreover, you [are] an exile. {You [are] far from your place}. Yesterday when you came and {today}, I have caused you to wander by going with us. Now I [am] going to where I [am] going; return and let your brothers return. [May] loyal love and faithfulness [be] with you."

Then he said to David, "You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me the good, but I have repaid you the evil.

Then David said to God, "Was it not I [who] gave a command to count the people? Now I [am] he who has sinned, and I have certainly done wickedness, but these sheep, what have they done? O Yahweh, my God, please let your hand be against me and against the house of my father, but against your people, [let there be] no plague."

Let those who wait for you not be put to shame because of me, O Lord Yahweh [of] hosts. Let those who seek you not be disgraced because of me, O God of Israel.

So three of the mighty warriors broke into the camp of [the] Philistines, and they drew water from the well of Bethlehem that [was] at the gate, and they carried [it] and brought [it] to David. But he [was] not willing to drink it, but poured it out to Yahweh. He said, "Far be it from me before Yahweh that I should do this. [Is this not] the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?" So he [was] not willing to drink it. These things the three mighty warriors did.


And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is for you.


And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is for you.


I lie awake and I am like a lone bird on a roof.


Then David said to God, "Was it not I [who] gave a command to count the people? Now I [am] he who has sinned, and I have certainly done wickedness, but these sheep, what have they done? O Yahweh, my God, please let your hand be against me and against the house of my father, but against your people, [let there be] no plague."


But Saul said to David, "You will not be able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, because you are [only] a boy, whereas [he has] been a man of war since his childhood!"


References

Fausets

Morish

Watsons