And he said unto me, I pray thee, take thy stand by me, and put me to death, for the cramp hath seized me, - even for as long as my life shall be in me.

but Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. By sunset, they had gone as far as the hill of Ammah, which is opposite Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.

Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ishbosheth, and said, "Am I a dog's head, then? That I, against Judah, do mercy unto the house of Saul thy father - and unto his brethren and kinsfolk - and have not delivered them into the hand of David? And thou layest a trespass to my charge this day for a woman's sake?

Thus will God do to Abner, and thus will he add to him, for as Jehovah sware to David that thus I will do to him:

And if I do not take away the kingdom from the family of Saul and make David ruler over Israel and Judah from Dan as far as Beer-sheba!

And David sent messengers to Ishbosheth Saul's son, saying, Deliver me my wife Michal, which I espoused to me for an hundred foreskins of the Philistines.

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.

They came as far as the middle of the house [as if] takers of wheat, and they struck him in the stomach. Then Recab and Baanah his brother escaped.

And David said, on that day - Whosoever is smiting the Jebusites, then let him reach as far as the aqueduct. But, as for the lame and the blind, they were the hated of David's soul, - for which cause, they kept on saying, Blind and lame! he will not enter the place.

When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the trees, act decisively. For at that moment the Lord is going before you to strike down the army of the Philistines."

Then David did so, just as the Lord had commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer.

And, when they came as far as the threshing-floor of Nachon, Uzzah thrust forth his hand unto the ark of God, and took hold of it, for the oxen were restive.

I am to him for a father, and he is to Me for a son; whom in his dealings perversely I have even reproved with a rod of men, and with strokes of the sons of Adam,

And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord GOD; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord GOD?

And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods?

Yea, Thou dost establish to Thee Thy people Israel, to Thee for a people unto the age, and Thou, Jehovah, hast been to them for God.

And David took from him a thousand and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David hocked all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for a hundred chariots.

and David putteth garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and Aram is to David for a servant, bearing a present; and Jehovah saveth David whithersoever he hath gone;

and Toi sendeth Joram his son unto king David to ask of him of welfare, and to bless him, (because that he hath fought against Hadadezer, and smiteth him, for a man of wars with Toi had Hadadezer been), and in his hand have been vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass,

Then Mephibosheth bowed and said, "Of what importance am I, your servant, that you show regard for a dead dog like me?"

And Mephibosheth is dwelling in Jerusalem, for at the table of the king he is eating continually, and he is lame of his two feet.

And Hanun took David's servants, and had the one half of their beards shaved off, and their raiment cut off in the midst, as far as their buttocks, and sent them away.

And the messenger said to David, The men prevailed against us, and came out against us into the field, and we were upon them as far as the entrance of the gate.

and the mourning passeth by, and David sendeth and gathereth her unto his house, and she is to him for a wife, and beareth to him a son; and the thing which David hath done is evil in the eyes of Jehovah.

But the poor man had nothing except for a little lamb he had acquired. He raised it, and it grew up alongside him and his children. It used to eat his food, drink from his cup, and sleep in his arms. It was just like a daughter to him.

'Wherefore hast thou despised the word of Jehovah, to do the evil thing in His eyes? Uriah the Hittite thou hast smitten by the sword, and his wife thou hast taken to thee for a wife, and him thou hast slain by the sword of the Bene-Ammon.

'And now, the sword doth not turn aside from thy house unto the age, because thou hast despised Me, and dost take the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be to thee for a wife;

And it so troubled Amnon, that he made himself ill on account of Tamar his sister, for, a virgin, was she, and it was monstrous in Amnon's own eyes, to do, anything, unto her.

But Absalom went on requesting him till he let Amnon and all the king's sons go with him. And Absalom made a great feast like a feast for a king.

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}.

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.

Then thine handmaid said, The word of my lord the king shall now be comfortable: for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad: therefore the LORD thy God will be with thee.

As far as Absalom, there was not a more handsome man in all of Israel to admire so much; from the sole of his foot up to his crown, there was no physical defect on him.

When he cut the hair of his head (for at the end of each year he cut it, because its weight was heavy on him) he weighed the hair of his head at 200 shekels by the king’s weight.

Then he would get up early, stand near the passageway to the palace gate, and when anyone arrived to file a legal complaint for a hearing before the king, Absalom would call to him and ask, "You're from what city?" If he replied, "Your servant is from one of Israel's tribes,"

Absalom did this to all the Israelites who came to the king for a settlement. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

for a vow hath thy servant vowed in my dwelling in Geshur, in Aram, saying, If Jehovah doth certainly bring me back to Jerusalem, then I have served Jehovah.'

Then said the king, unto Ittai the Gittite, Wherefore shouldest, thou also, go with us? return and abide with the king, for, a stranger, art thou, moreover also, an exile, art thou from thine own country.

and David saith to him, 'If thou hast passed on with me then thou hast been on me for a burden,

And, when King David had come as far as Bahurim, lo! from thence a man coming out, of the family of the house of Saul, whose name, was Shimei son of Gera, coming out and cursing as he came.

Jehovah hath turned back on thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned, and Jehovah doth give the kingdom in to the hand of Absalom thy son; and lo, thou art in thine evil, for a man of blood thou art.'

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.

But my suggestion is that all Israel, from Dan as far as Beer-sheba, comes together to you, a great army like the sands of the sea in number; and that you yourself go out among them.

And the people say, 'Thou dost not go out, for if we utterly flee, they do not set their heart upon us; and if half of us die, they do not set their heart unto us -- for now like us are ten thousand; and now, better that thou be to us from the city for an helper.'

So the victory of that day was turned to mourning as far as all the people were concerned. For the people heard on that day, "The king is grieved over his son."

And the king returned and came as far as the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to conduct the king over the Jordan.

The men of Judah went out as far as Gilgal to greet the king and escort him across the Jordan River while Gera's son Shimei, a descendant of Benjamin from Bahurim, accompanied them to meet King David.

And David saith, 'What -- to me and to you, O sons of Zeruiah, that ye are to me to-day for an adversary? to-day is any man put to death in Israel? for have I not known that to-day I am king over Israel?'

And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim; and he went on as far as Jordan with the king to take him across Jordan.

A son of eighty years I am to-day; do I know between good and evil? doth thy servant taste that which I am eating, and that which I drink? do I hearken any more to the voice of singers and songstresses? and why is thy servant any more for a burden unto my lord the king?

Your servant will cross the Jordan River with the king for a short distance, but why should the king offer me this reward?

So all the men of Israel, turning away from David, went after Sheba, the son of Bichri: but the men of Judah were true to their king, going with him from Jordan as far as Jerusalem.

The matter is not so; for a man of the hill-country of Ephraim -- Sheba son of Bichri his name -- hath lifted up his hand against the king, against David; give ye up him by himself, and I go away from the city.' And the woman saith unto Joab, 'Lo, his head is cast unto thee over the wall.'

And the king called the Gibeonites and spake unto them. Now these Gibeonites are not of the children of Israel, but a remnant of the Amorites - and the children of Israel sware unto them. And yet Saul sought to slay them, for a zeal that he had to the children of Israel and of Judah.

And -- Thou dost deliver me From the strivings of my people, Thou placest me for a head of nations; A people I have not known do serve me.

Foreigners lose their courage; they shake with fear as they leave their strongholds.

For -- not so is my house with God; For -- a covenant age-during He made with me, Arranged in all things, and kept; For -- all my salvation, and all desire, For -- He hath not caused it to spring up.

and Uriah the Hittite for a total of 37.

And the king said to Joab and the captains of the army, who were with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan as far as Beer-sheba, and have all the people numbered, so that I may be certain of the number of the people.

So David made selection of the disease; and the time was the days of the grain-cutting, when the disease came among the people, causing the death of seventy thousand men from Dan as far as Beer-sheba.

And Araunah saith unto David, 'Let my lord the king take and cause to ascend that which is good in his eyes; see, the oxen for a burnt-offering, and the threshing instruments, and the instruments of the oxen, for wood;'

And the king saith unto Araunah, 'Nay, for I do surely buy from thee for a price, and I do not cause to ascend to Jehovah my God burnt-offerings for nought;' and David buyeth the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver,