And he [is] also a {valiant warrior}, whose heart [is] like the heart of the lion. He will {certainly melt} with fear, for all Israel knows that your father [is] a mighty warrior and [those] who [are] with him [are] {valiant warriors}.

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.

Then we will attack David wherever we find him, and we will descend on him like dew on the ground. Not even one will be left of all the men with him.

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.'

When a certain man saw [it], he told Joab, and he said, "Look, I saw Absalom hanging in the oak tree!"

Then Joab said to the man who [was] telling him, "Look, [if] you saw, why did you not strike him down to the ground there? {I would have gladly given you} ten pieces of silver and a leather belt."

Then Joab said, "I'm not going to wait like this with you." He took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.

Now David [was] sitting between the two gates, and the sentinel went up to the roof of the gate by the wall and he lifted up his eyes and watched, and look, a man [was] running by himself.

Then the sentinel saw another man running, so the sentinel called to the gatekeeper and said, "Look, a man running alone." The king said, "This one also [is] bringing good news."

And the watchman said, Me thinketh the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings.

The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom [my son] safe?” The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king, and all those who rise against you to do evil, be [dead] like that young man is.”

So they returned to the city quietly that day like people come in when they are humiliated after fleeing in battle.

So the king got up and he sat in the gate, and they told all the army, "Look, the king [is] sitting in the gate." Then all the army came before the king; [whereas] all of Israel had fled, each to his tent.

And the hearts of the men of Judah were moved like one man; so that they sent to the king, saying, Come back, with all your servants.

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."

But David said, "What do we have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? You are like my enemy today! Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Don't you realize that today I am king over Israel?"

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.}."

Then the king replied to him, "Why should you continue speaking like this? You and Ziba will inherit the field together."

But Barzillai said unto the king, - Like unto what, are the days of the years of my life, that I should come up with the king, to Jerusalem.

Let me return so that I may die in my own city near the grave of my father and my mother. But look, here is your servant Kimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king. Do for him whatever seems appropriate to you."

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.

I am a peaceful person, one of the faithful in Israel, but you’re trying to destroy a city that is like a mother in Israel. Why would you devour the Lord’s inheritance?”

That is not the matter. But a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name [is] Sheba the son Bicri, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David. Give only him to us, and I will depart from the city." The woman said to Joab, "Look, his head [is] being thrown down to you over the wall."

And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

He maketh my feet like hinds' feet: and setteth me upon my high places.

They look, and there is no saviour; Unto Jehovah, and He hath not answered them.

I beat them fine, like the dust of the earth; like the mire of the streets, I crushed them, I stamped them down.

And he shall be as the light or the morning, like the rising of the sun, A morning without clouds; When from the sunshine, after rain, The green grass springeth from the earth.

Is not my dynasty like this with God? Has he not made an eternal covenant with me, preparing every detail of it? And he has made it secure, including my complete salvation, has he not? He has been of continual help, has he not, even with respect to all of my desires?

“But the wicked and worthless are all to be thrown away like thorns,
Because they cannot be taken with the hand;

And Benaiah son of Jehoiada (son of a man of valour, great in deeds from Kabzeel), he hath smitten two lion-like men of Moab, and he hath gone down and smitten the lion in the midst of the pit in a day of snow.

Benaiah did things like this and gained a reputation comparable to the Three warriors.

David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel destroying among the people, and he said, "Look, I have sinned and I have done wrong, but these sheep, what did they do? Please let your hand be against me and against the house of my father."

And Araunah will look forth and see the king and his servants passing over to him: and Araunah will go forth and worship to the king, his face to the earth.

Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer what [is] good in his eyes. Look, here [are] the cattle for the burnt offering and the threshing sledge and the yokes of the oxen for the firewood.

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

so his servants suggested to him, "Let's look for a young virgin woman to take care of you, your majesty. She will be of use to you if you have her lie down near you so that your majesty may keep warm."

His father had never challenged him at any time during his life by asking him, "Why are you acting like this?" Adonijah was very handsome and had been born after Absalom.

Bathsheba bowed, and did obeisance to the king. The king said, "What would you like?"

But now, look! Adonijah has become king! And now, my lord the king, you do not know!

"For he went down today and sacrificed oxen, sheep, and fattened animals {in abundance}. He invited all the sons of the king, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest, and look, they are eating and drinking before him. They have also said, "Long live King Adonijah!

As he was still speaking, Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest arrived. Adonijah said, "Come in, for an important man like you must be bringing good news."

Solomon was told, "Look, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, and he has grasped the horns of the altar, saying, 'Let King Solomon swear to me {first} that he will surely not kill his servant with the sword!'"

and so that the LORD may fulfill his promise that he spoke about me when he said, "If your sons pay attention to how they live by walking truthfully in my presence with all their heart and with all their soul, you will never lack a man on the throne of Israel.'

"You know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me -- how he murdered two commanders of the Israelite armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. During peacetime he struck them down like he would in battle; when he shed their blood as if in battle, he stained his own belt and the sandals on his feet.

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.'

Now I'd like to ask you for just one thing. Please don't refuse me." She said, "Go ahead and ask."

and told him, "I would like to make a minor request of you. Please don't refuse me." "What is your request, mother?" the king asked her. "I won't turn you down."

Now therefore, as the LORD lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of my father David, and who has established a dynasty, just like he promised, Adonijah will surely be executed today."

But then, at the end of three years, two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. Shimei was informed, “Look, your slaves are in Gath.”

Somebody told Shimei, "Look! Your servants went to Gath!" So Shimei got up, saddled a donkey, and traveled to Gath to find his servants. He found them and brought them back from Gath.

Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.

And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.

If you will live life my way, keeping my statutes and my commands, just like your father David did, I'll also increase the length of your life."

Then Solomon awoke, and look, [it was] a dream, and he came [to] Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of [the] Lord, and he offered burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings, and he held a feast for all of his servants.

[The people of] Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand that is in abundance by the sea; they were eating and drinking and rejoicing.

And those officers provided food for King Solomon and for all who came to King Solomon's table, every man in his month. They did not lack anything.

Now God gave Solomon [exceptional] wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind, like the sand of the seashore.

Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants: and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians.

My servants will bring the timber down from Lebanon to the sea. I will send it by sea in raft-like bundles to the place you designate. There I will separate the logs and you can carry them away. In exchange you will supply the food I need for my royal court."

And in like manner, unto the door of the temple, he made posts of olive tree four square,

And his house where he dwelt had another court within the porch, which was of the like work. Solomon made also an house for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had taken to wife, like unto this porch.

And the great court round about had three courses of hewn stone, and a course of cedar beams; like as the inner court of the house of Jehovah, and the porch of the house.

The pillars contained two rows of ornaments shaped like pomegranates around the latticework covering the top of each pillar.

And the capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were shaped like lilies, six feet high.

The tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. Then the work of the pillars was completed.

And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.

The work of the bases was like this: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges;

Each cart had four bronze wheels equipped with bronze axles with four support feet. Beneath the basin were cast support structures made like wreaths on each side.

Its opening inside the crown at the top measured a cubit, and its opening was round like the design of a pedestal, a cubit and a half. Also on its opening were carvings, and their borders were square, not round.

And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axletrees, and their naves, and their felloes, and their spokes, were all molten.

He made the ten stands like this in one cast, with the same measurement and shape for each of them.

And he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart:

"LORD God of Israel, there is no one like you, God in heaven above or on the earth below, who watches over his covenant, showing gracious love to your servants who live their lives in your presence with all their hearts. It is you, LORD God, who have kept your promise to my father, your servant David, that you made to him. Indeed, you made a commitment to my father David and then personally fulfilled what you had promised today.

"Now therefore, LORD God of Israel, keep your promise that you made to my father, your servant David, when you said, "You will not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants will watch their lives, to live in my presence just as you have lived in my presence.'

and yet, will God truly reside on earth? Look! Neither the sky nor the highest heaven can contain you! How much less this Temple that I have built!

But look to the prayer of thy servant and his supplication, O LORD my God, to give an ear unto the voice and prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee this day,

Let your eyes always look toward this Temple night and day, toward the location where you have said "My name will reside there.' Listen to the prayer that your servant prays in this direction.

Thou dost hear in the heavens, the settled place of Thy dwelling, and hast done according to all that the stranger calleth unto Thee for, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know Thy name, to fear Thee like Thy people Israel, and to know that Thy name hath been called on this house which I have builded.

"Now as for you, if you commune with me like your father did, with an upright heart of integrity and doing everything that I've commanded you and keeping my statutes and ordinances,

then I'll make your royal throne secure forever, just as I agreed to do so for your father David when I said, "You are to not lack a man on the throne of Israel.'

So Hiram went out from Tyre to look over the towns that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them.

along with the storage cities that Solomon used for his chariots and for his cavalry, everything that Solomon felt like building in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in every territory under his control.

And she giveth to the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices very many, and precious stone; there came not like that spice any more for abundance that the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.

The king made the almug wood into steps for the Lord’s temple and the king’s palace and into lyres and harps for the singers. Never before had such almug wood come, and the like has not been seen again even to this very day.

And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.

And the king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem and cedars like the sycamore-trees of the lowlands in number.

And it cometh to pass, at the time of the old age of Solomon, his wives have turned aside his heart after other gods, and his heart hath not been perfect with Jehovah his God, like the heart of David his father.

and Solomon doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, and hath not been fully after Jehovah, like David his father.

And Pharaoh said to him, What then dost thou lack with me, that behold, thou desirest to go to thine own country? And he said, Nothing; but in any case let me depart.

He was Israel's enemy throughout Solomon's reign and, like Hadad, caused trouble. He loathed Israel and ruled over Syria.

Then he told Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces, for this is what the Lord God of Israel says: 'Look, I am about to tear the kingdom from Solomon's hand and I will give ten tribes to you.

Because they have forsaken Me, and bow themselves to Ashtoreth, goddess of the Zidonians, to Chemosh god of Moab, and to Milcom god of the sons of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways, to do that which is right in Mine eyes, and My statutes and My judgments, like David his father.

If you listen to everything that I command you to do, and if you live your life my way, and if you do what I consider to be right by observing my statutes and my commandments, just like my servant David did, then I will be with you, I will build an enduring dynasty for you, just like I did for David, and I'll give Israel to you.

So when all [the ten northern tribes of] Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people replied to the king, saying,“What portion do we have in David?
We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse;
To your tents, O Israel!
Look now after your own house, David!” Then Israel went back to their tents.

Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look and see your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"

And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.

Then he proclaimed against the altar by the word of Yahweh and said, "O altar, altar, thus says Yahweh: 'Look, a son will be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall burn on you.'"

He gave a sign on that day, saying, "This [is] the sign that Yahweh has predetermined: Look, [this] altar will be torn [apart], and the ashes that [are] on it will be poured out."

"Please!" the king begged the man of God, "Ask the LORD your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored for me!" So the man of God asked the LORD, and the king's hand was immediately and fully restored, just like it had been before.