Then Saul said to his armor bearer, "Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me." But his armor bearer would not; for he was terrified. Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell on it.

In times past, even when Saul was king, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. Yahweh your God said to you, 'You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over my people Israel.'"

The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, "You shall not come in here." Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion. The same is the city of David.

David said, "Whoever strikes the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain." Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, and was made chief.

David longed, and said, "Oh that one would give me water to drink of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!"

and said, "My God forbid it me, that I should do this! Shall I drink the blood of these men who have put their lives in jeopardy?" For they risked their lives to bring it. Therefore he would not drink it. The three mighty men did these things.

Then the Spirit came on Amasai, who was chief of the thirty, [and he said], "We are yours, David, and on your side, you son of Jesse: peace, peace be to you, and peace be to your helpers; for your God helps you." Then David received them, and made them captains of the band.

David said to all the assembly of Israel, "If it seems good to you, and if it is of Yahweh our God, let us send abroad everywhere to our brothers who are left in all the land of Israel, with whom the priests and Levites are in their cities that have suburbs, that they may gather themselves to us;

All the assembly said that they would do so; for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.

David inquired of God, saying, "Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hand?" Yahweh said to him, "Go up; for I will deliver them into your hand."

So they came up to Baal Perazim, and David struck them there; and David said, God has broken my enemies by my hand, like the breach of waters. Therefore they called the name of that place Baal Perazim.

David inquired again of God; and God said to him, "You shall not go up after them. Turn away from them, and come on them over against the mulberry trees.

Then David said, "No one ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites. For Yahweh has chosen them to carry the ark of God, and to minister to him forever."

and said to them, "You are the heads of the fathers' [houses] of the Levites. Sanctify yourselves, both you and your brothers, that you may bring up the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it.

Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting. All the people said, "Amen," and praised Yahweh.

It happened, when David lived in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, "Behold, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of Yahweh is under curtains."

Nathan said to David, "Do all that is in your heart; for God is with you."

Then David the king went in, and sat before Yahweh; and he said, "Who am I, Yahweh God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?

David said, "I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me." So David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon to Hanun, to comfort him.

But the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, "Do you think that David honors your father, in that he has sent comforters to you? Haven't his servants come to you to search, to overthrow, and to spy out the land?"

Then there went certain persons, and told David how the men were served. He sent to meet them; for the men were greatly ashamed. The king said, "Stay at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return."

He said, "If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you are to help me; but if the children of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will help you.

David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, "Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring me word, that I may know the sum of them."

Joab said, "May Yahweh make his people a hundred times as many as they are. But, my lord the king, aren't they all my lord's servants? Why does my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of guilt to Israel?"

David said to God, "I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing. But now, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly."

So Gad came to David, and said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Take your choice:

David said to Gad, "I am in distress. Let me fall, I pray, into the hand of Yahweh; for his mercies are very great. Let me not fall into the hand of man."

God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was about to destroy, Yahweh saw, and he relented of the disaster, and said to the destroying angel, "It is enough; now stay your hand." The angel of Yahweh was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

David said to God, "Isn't it I who commanded the people to be numbered? It is even I who have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O Yahweh my God, be against me, and against my father's house; but not against your people, that they should be plagued."

Then David said to Ornan, "Give me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build thereon an altar to Yahweh. You shall sell it to me for the full price, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people."

Ornan said to David, "Take it for yourself, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes. Behold, I give the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meal offering. I give it all."

King David said to Ornan, "No; but I will most certainly buy it for the full price. For I will not take that which is yours for Yahweh, nor offer a burnt offering without cost."

Then David said, "This is the house of Yahweh God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel."

David said, "Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be built for Yahweh must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries. I will therefore make preparation for it." So David prepared abundantly before his death.

David said to Solomon his son, "As for me, it was in my heart to build a house to the name of Yahweh my God.

David said, "Of these, twenty-four thousand were to oversee the work of the house of Yahweh; six thousand were officers and judges;

For David said, "Yahweh, the God of Israel, has given rest to his people; and he dwells in Jerusalem forever.

But David didn't take the number of them from twenty years old and under, because Yahweh had said he would increase Israel like the stars of the sky.

Then David the king stood up on his feet, and said, "Hear me, my brothers, and my people! As for me, it was in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and for the footstool of our God; and I had prepared for the building.

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

He said to me, 'Solomon, your son, shall build my house and my courts; for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.

"All this," said David, "I have been made to understand in writing from the hand of Yahweh, even all the works of this pattern."

David said to Solomon his son, "Be strong and courageous, and do it. Don't be afraid, nor be dismayed; for Yahweh God, even my God, is with you. He will not fail you, nor forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of Yahweh is finished.

David the king said to all the assembly, "Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great; for the palace is not for man, but for Yahweh God.

Therefore David blessed Yahweh before all the assembly; and David said, "You are blessed, Yahweh, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever.

David said to all the assembly, "Now bless Yahweh your God!" All the assembly blessed Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads and prostrated themselves before Yahweh and the king.