And now may Jehovah do kindness and truth to you. And I also do good to you, because you have done this thing.

And Joab said, As God lives, unless you had spoken, surely then in the morning the people would have gone up each one from following his brother.

So may God do to Abner, and more also, if I do not do to David as Jehovah has sworn,

And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf, saying, Whose is the land? He said, Cut your covenant with me, and, behold, my hand shall be with you, to bring about all Israel to you.

And he said, Good! I will cut a covenant with you, but one thing I ask of you, saying, You shall not see my face unless you first bring Michal, Saul's daughter, when you come to see my face.

And Abner also spoke in the ears of Benjamin. And Abner went also to speak in the ears of David in Hebron all that seemed good to Israel, and all that seemed good to the whole house of Benjamin.

And Abner returned to Hebron. And Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him privately. And he struck him there in the belly, and he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.

And all the people came to cause David to eat food while it was still day; David swore, saying, So let God do to me, and more also, if I taste bread or anything else until the sun is down.

And they came into the house, and he lay in his bed in his bedroom. And they struck him and killed him, and beheaded him and took his head and got away through the plain all night.

when one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good news, I took hold of him and killed him in Ziklag. I gave that to him as a reward.

And David commanded his young men, and they killed them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up over the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner in Hebron.

And David went on and became great, and Jehovah, the God of Hosts was with him.

And David arose and went with all the people with him from beyond Baale of Judah, to bring up the ark of God from there, which is called by the Name, the Name of Jehovah of Hosts who dwells above the cherubs.

And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab in Gibeah. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart.

And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab at Gibeah, going with the ark of God. And Ahio went before the ark.

And when they came to Nachon's threshing-floor, Uzzah reached out to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen upset it.

And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Uzzah. And God struck him there for the error. And he died there by the ark of God.

And they told King David, saying, Jehovah has blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God. And David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness.

the king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I live in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within curtains.

And I was with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies out of your sight, and have made you a great name like the name of the great ones in the earth.

And this was yet a small thing in Your sight, O Lord God. But You have spoken also of Your servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of men, O Lord God?

Therefore You are great, O Jehovah God. For there is none like You, neither is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

And what one nation in the earth is like Your people, like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to Himself, and to make Him a name, and to do for You great things and terrible, for Your land, before Your people, whom You redeemed to You from Egypt, from the nations and their gods?

For You have confirmed to Yourself Your people Israel to be a people to You forever. And You, Jehovah, have become their God.

And now, O Jehovah God, the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant, and concerning his house: establish it forever, and do as You have said.

And let Your name be magnified forever, saying, The Jehovah of Hosts is the God over Israel. And let the house of Your servant David be established before You.

For You, O Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, have revealed to Your servant, saying, I will build you a house. Therefore Your servant has found in his heart to pray this prayer to You.

And now, O Lord Jehovah, You are that God, and Your Words are true, and You have promised this goodness to Your servant.

And the king said, Is there not still any of the house of Saul, so that I may show the kindness of God to him? And Ziba said to the king, Jonathan still has a son, who is lame in his feet.

And Hanun took David's servants and shaved off half their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, to their buttocks, and sent them away.

And the sons of Ammon came out and put the battle in order at the entering in of the gate. And the Syrians of Zobah, and of Rehob, and Ishtob, and Maacah, were by themselves in the field.

Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people and for the cities of our God. And may Jehovah do that which seems good to Him.

And the messenger said to David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out to us to the field, and we were upon them even to the entering of the gate.

And Nathan said to David, You are the man! So says Jehovah, the God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.

And David prayed to God for the child. And David fasted, and went in and lay all night upon the earth.

And he said, While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, Who can tell if God will be gracious to me so that the child may live?

Then Amnon hated her with a great hatred. And the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, Get up and go.

And Absalom did not speak to his brother Amnon, neither good nor bad, for Absalom hated Amnon because he had forced his sister Tamar.

And the servants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. And all the king's sons arose. And they each got on his mule and fled.

Then she said, Please let the king remember Jehovah your God, that you would not allow the avengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they should destroy my son. And he said, As the Lord lives, there shall not one hair of your son fall to the earth.

And the woman said, Why then have you thought such a thing against the people of God? For the king speaks this thing as one who is at fault, in that the king does not bring his banished one home again.

For we must all die, and we are as water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. And God does not take a life, but has devised plans so that the outcast is not cast out from Him.

For the king will hear, to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God.

And your handmaid said, The word of my lord the king shall now be comforting. For as an angel of God, so is my lord the king, to see what is good and bad. And Jehovah your God will be with you.

Your servant Joab has done this thing to change the face of the matter. And my lord is wise according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all that is in the land.

And Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent to you, saying, Come here so that I may send you to the king, to say, Why have I come from Geshur? It was good for me to be there still. And now let me see the king's face, and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me.

And Absalom rose up early and stood beside the way of the gate. And it was so, if any man had a suit to come before the king for judgment, then Absalom called to him and said, What city are you from? And he said, Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.

And Absalom said to him, See! Your matters are good and right. But no listener from the king will hear you.

And lo, Zadok came also, and all the Levites were with him, carrying the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God. And Abiathar went up until all the people had finished passing out of the city.

And the king said to Zadok, Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I shall find favor in the eyes of Jehovah, He will bring me again and show it to me, and its dwelling place also.

But if He says this, I have no delight in you; behold me, and let Him do to me as seems good to Him.

And Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem. And they remained there.

And it happened when David had come to the top, where he worshiped God, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn and earth upon his head.

It may be that Jehovah will look on my affliction, and that Jehovah will repay me with good for his cursing this day.

And the advice of Ahithophel, which he advised in those days, was as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God. So was all the advice of Ahithophel, both with David and with Absalom.

And Hushai said to Absalom, The advice which Ahithophel has given is not good at this time.

And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For Jehovah had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Jehovah might bring evil on Absalom.

And the king said to them, I will do what is good in your eyes. And the king stood by the side of the gate, and all the people came out by hundreds and by thousands.

And Joab said to him, You shall not bear news today, but you shall bear good news some other day. But today you shall bear no tidings, because the king's son is dead.

And Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said yet again to Joab, Yet whatever, please let me also run after the Cushite. And Joab said, Why will you run, my son, since you have no good news ready?

And David sat between the two gates. And the watchman went up to the roof over the gate to the wall, and lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold, a man ran alone.

And the watchman said, I see the running of the first is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and comes with good news.

And Ahimaaz called and said to the king, Peace! And he fell down upon his face before the king, and said, Blessed be Jehovah your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king.

And, behold, Cushi came. And Cushi said, Good news, my lord the king, for Jehovah has avenged you this day of all those who rose up against you.

And the king was much moved, and went up to the room over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said this, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would God I had died for you, O Absalom, my son, my son!

And now get up and go out. Speak to the heart of your servants. For I swear by Jehovah if you do not go out, not a man shall stay with you tonight. And that will be worse to you than all the evil which has come to you from your youth until now.

Then the king arose and sat in the gate. And they told it to the people, saying, Behold, the king sits in the gate! And all the people came before the king. (For Israel had fled, every one to his tent.)

And you say to Amasa, Are you not of my bone and of my flesh? May God do so to me, and more also, if you are not commander of the army before me all the days instead of Joab.

And they had crossed over the ford to carry over the king's household, and to do what he thought good. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king as he had come over Jordan.

And he spoke slander against your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is as an angel of God. And do what is good in your eyes.

I am eighty years old today, and can I discern between good and evil? Can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I any more hear the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be still a burden to my lord the king?

Please let your servant return so that I may die in my own city by the grave of my father and of my mother. But behold your servant Chimham, let him go over with my lord the king. And do to him what shall seem good to you.

And the king answered, Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good to you. And whatever you shall ask of me, that I will do for you.

And David said to Abishai, And Sheba the son of Bichri shall do us more harm than Absalom. You take your lord's servants and pursue him, lest he get himself into fortified cities and escape us.

They were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, and Amasa had gone before them. And Joab was girded with his war-coat as his clothing. And upon it was a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins, in its sheath. And as he went forth, it fell out.

Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. And he blew the ram's horn, and they scattered from the city, each man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin in Zelah, in the tomb of his father Kish. And they did all that the king commanded. And afterward God heeded prayer for the land.

The God who is my Rock, in Him will I trust. He is my Shield, and the Horn of my salvation, my High Tower, and my Refuge, my Savior. You save me from violence.

In my distress I called upon Jehovah and cried to my God. And he heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry entered into His ears.

For I have kept the ways of Jehovah, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

For by You I have run through a troop. By my God I have leaped over a wall.

As for God, His way is perfect. The Word of Jehovah is tried. He is a shield to all those who seek refuge in Him.

For who is God, except Jehovah? And who is a rock except our God?

God is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect.

Jehovah lives! And blessed be my Rock, and exalted be the God, the Rock of my salvation.

It is God who avenges me and who brings down the peoples under me,

And these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said:

The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: he who rules over men justly, ruling in the fear of God,

Although my house is not so with God, yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure. For all my salvation, and all my desire, will He not make it grow?

And David longed and said, Oh that someone would give me a drink from the water of the well of Bethlehem by the gate!

And the three mighty men broke through the army of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it, but poured it out to Jehovah.

And Joab said to the king, And may Jehovah your God add to the people however many they be, a hundred times as many, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king delight in this thing?

And they passed over Jordan and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the Valley of Gad, and to Jazer.

And David rose up in the morning. And the Word of Jehovah came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,

And Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, Shall seven years of famine come upon you and on your land? Or will you flee three months before your enemies while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' plague in your land? And advise, and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me.

And David said to Gad, I am in great distress. Let us fall now into the hand of Jehovah, for His mercies are great. And do not let me fall into the hand of man.

And Gad came that day to David, and said to him, Go up! Rear an altar to Jehovah in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

And David went up, according to the saying of Gad, as Jehovah commanded.

And Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Behold, oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments, and instruments of the oxen for wood.

All these Araunah, like a king, gave to the king. And Araunah said to the king, May Jehovah your God accept you.