The king said to Zadok, "Carry back the ark of God into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of Yahweh, he will bring me again, and show me both it, and his habitation;

Now David [was] told, "Ahithophel [was] among the conspirators with Absalom." Then David said, "Please frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel, O Yahweh."

Yahweh has returned on you all the blood of the household of Saul {whom you have supplanted as king}, and Yahweh has given the kingship into the hand of Absalom your son. Look, you [are] in disaster for you [are] a man of blood."

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.

Perhaps Yahweh will look {in my eye} and repay good for me in place of his curse this day.

Then Hushai said to Absalom, "No, rather, whom Yahweh and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, to him I will be, and with him I will remain.

Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, "The advice of Hushai the Arkite [is] better than the advice of Ahithophel." (Now Yahweh had ordained to frustrate the good counsel of Ahithophel in order for Yahweh to bring misery upon Absalom).

Now Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, "Please let me run and bring the good news to the king that Yahweh has vindicated him from the hand of his enemies."

Then Ahimaaz called and said to the king, "Peace." He bowed down to the king with his face to the ground, and he said, "May Yahweh your God be blessed, who has delivered the men who raised their hand against my lord the king."

Suddenly the Cushite arrived and said, "May my lord the king receive the good news, for Yahweh has vindicated you today from the power of all who stood up against you."

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!"

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?"

I [am] one of the faithful representatives of Israel. You [are] seeking to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why do you want to swallow the inheritance of Yahweh?"

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 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?"

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.

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.

Then David spoke to Yahweh the words of this song, on the day Yahweh delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

And he said: "Yahweh [is] my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.

I call [upon] Yahweh who is praiseworthy, and I [am] saved from those who hate me.

In my distress I called [upon] Yahweh, and to my God I called. He heard my voice from his temple, and my cry for help [was] to his ears.

Yahweh thundered from heaven, and the Most High {uttered his voice}.

Then the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare by the rebuke of Yahweh, At the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

They approached me on the day of my disaster, but Yahweh [was] my support.

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

For I have kept the ways of Yahweh; I have not acted wickedly against my God.

Yahweh has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness before his eyes.

For you, O Yahweh [are] my lamp, and Yahweh lightens my darkness.

This God, his way [is] blameless; the promise of Yahweh [is] flawless. He [is] a shield to all who take refuge in him.

For who [is] God apart from Yahweh? And who [is] a rock apart from our God?

They looked out, but there was no deliverer, [even] to Yahweh, but he did not answer them.

Yahweh lives! Blessed be my rock! May God, the rock of my salvation, be exalted!

Therefore I will extol you, Yahweh, among the nations! I will sing praises to your name!

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

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].

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.

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.

Again Yahweh [was] angry with Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go count Israel and Judah."

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?"

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."

When David got up in the morning, the word of Yahweh came to Gad the prophet, the seer of David, saying,

"Go and speak to David, 'Thus says Yahweh, three things I [am] laying on you; choose for yourself one of them and I will do it to you.'"

Then David said to Gad, "I [am] greatly distressed. Please let us fall into the hand of Yahweh, because he [is] great in his compassion; but into the hand of man don't let me fall."

Then Yahweh sent a plague into Israel from the morning {until the agreed time}, and from the people from Dan to Beersheba, seventy thousand men died.

When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, Yahweh regretted about the evil, and he said to the angel who brought destruction among the people, "Enough, now relax your hand." Now the angel of Yahweh [was] at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

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."

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 Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy from you the threshing floor, to build an altar to Yahweh who brought a halt to the plague on the people."

All of this Araunah hereby gives to the king." Then Araunah said to the king, "May Yahweh your God respond favorably for you."

Then the king said to Araunah, "No, but {I will certainly buy} it from you for a price; I don't want to offer to Yahweh my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the cattle for fifty shekels of silver.

David built an altar to Yahweh there, and he offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then Yahweh responded to [his] prayer for the land and brought the plague to a halt from upon Israel.

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!'

Then the king swore and said, "{As Yahweh lives}, who has saved my life from all trouble,

surely as I swore to you by Yahweh the God of Israel, saying, 'Solomon your son shall surely be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,' surely I shall do so this [very] day."

Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, "Amen! So may Yahweh, the God of my lord the king, confirm it!

As Yahweh was with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David."

What is more, the king said, 'May Yahweh the God of Israel be blessed, who has given this day one sitting on my throne, and my eyes are seeing [it]!'"

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,

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.'"

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.'

He said, "You know that the kingship was mine and that all Israel had set their face toward me as king, but the kingship turned around and became my brother's, for it was from Yahweh for him [to have it].

Then King Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, "Thus may God do to me and thus may he add, if Adonijah hasn't spoken this thing at the expense of his life.

So then, {as Yahweh lives}, who has established me and seated me on the throne of my father David and who has established for me a dynasty as he promised, then surely Adonijah will be put to death today."

To Abiathar the priest, the king said, "Go to Anathoth, to your field, for {you deserve to die}, but on this day I will not kill you, for you carried the ark of the Lord Yahweh before David my father, and because you endured hardship in all the hardship that my father endured."

So Solomon banished Abiathar from being priest to Yahweh, thus fulfilling the word which Yahweh had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

When the message came to Joab (now Joab {had supported} Adonijah but {had not supported} Absalom), he fled to the tent of Yahweh and grasped the horns of the altar.

It was told to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of Yahweh and was beside the altar. So Solomon sent [word] to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go and fall upon him."

So Benaiah went to the tent of Yahweh, and he said to him, "Thus says the king: 'Come out.'" And he said, "No, for I want to die here." So Benaiah returned a word to the king, saying, "Thus Joab spoke, and thus he answered me."

Yahweh will return his blood on his head, because he fell upon two men, more righteous and better than he, and he killed them with the sword, even though my father did not know it; [namely] Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.

And their blood will return on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever, but for David and his descendants and for his house and his throne, [there] will be peace forever from Yahweh."

the king sent and summoned Shimei, and he said to him, "Did I not make you swear by Yahweh? I warned you, saying, 'On the day you go out and you go {anywhere whatsoever}, know for certain that {you will surely die}.' And you said to me, 'The word is good; I accept.'

Why have you not kept the oath of Yahweh and the command which I commanded you?"

Then the king said to Shimei, "You know all the evil which your heart knows, what you did to David my father. Now Yahweh will return the evil on your head,

but King Solomon will be blessed and the throne of David will be established before Yahweh forever."

Solomon intermarried with Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and he took the daughter of Pharaoh and brought her to the city of David until he finished building his house, the house of Yahweh, and the walls of Jerusalem all around.

But the people [were] sacrificing on the high places, for the house for the name of Yahweh had not [yet] been built in those days.

Solomon loved Yahweh, by walking in the statutes of David his father; only he [was] sacrificing and offering incense on the high places.

Yahweh appeared to Solomon at Gibeon in a dream at night, and God said, "Ask what I should give to you."

So then, O Yahweh, you are my God. You have made your servant king in place of David my father [though] I [am] a young boy. I do not know going out or coming in.

Solomon awoke; and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.

"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 now Yahweh my God has given me rest all around me. There is no adversary, and there is no bad occurrence.

Here I am, intending to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, as Yahweh promised to my father David, saying, 'Your son, whom I will set in your place on your throne, shall build the house for my name.'

When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and he said, "Blessed be Yahweh this day, who has given to David a wise son over this great people."

Yahweh gave wisdom to Solomon as he promised to him, and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them {made} a covenant.

It happened in the four hundred and eightieth year [after] the {Israelites} went out from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year {of Solomon's rule} over Israel, the month of Ziv (that [is] the second month), that he began to build the house for Yahweh.

Now the house that King Solomon built for Yahweh [was] sixty cubits [in] its length and twenty cubits [in] its width and thirty cubits [in] its height.

Then the word of Yahweh came to Solomon, saying,

Now [in] the inner sanctuary in the middle of the temple he prepared the inside to place the ark of the covenant of Yahweh there.

In the fourth year, the house of Yahweh was founded in the month of Ziv.

The great courtyard all around had three rows of dressed stones and a row of cedar beams; for [both] the courtyard of the inner house of Yahweh and for the porch of the house.

Hiram also made the basins and the shovels and the bowls for drinking wine; and so Hiram finished doing all of the work {that he was to do} for King Solomon in the house of Yahweh:

and the pots, the shovels, and the bowls for drinking wine. All the vessels of the tent which Hiram had made for King Solomon [for] the house of Yahweh [were] polished bronze.

Solomon also made all of the vessels which [were] in the house of Yahweh: the golden altar and the golden table on which [was] the bread of the presence;

[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.

At that time, Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the {families} of the {Israelites} before King Solomon, in order to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh from the city of David, that is, Zion.