Ye mountains of Gilboa, upon you be neither dew nor rain, nor fields whence heave offerings come: For there the shields of the mighty were cast from them, the shield of Saul as though he had not been anointed with oil.

From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty.

I am in distress for you, my brother Jonathan. You have been most kind to me. Your love for me was extraordinary beyond love from women.

So David went up there {along with} his two wives, Ahinoam {from Jezreel} and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

Now, therefore, let your hands be made firm, and become ye sons of valour, for your lord Saul is dead, - and, me, moreover have the house of Judah anointed, to be king over them.

And Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.

And, Joab son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out from Hebron and met, by the pool of Gibeon, together, - and they sat down, these, by the pool, on the one side, and, those, by the pool, on the other side.

So they came forward and passed by in number: twelve for Benjamin and for Ish-Bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve from the servants of David.

And Asahel pursued after Abner; and in going he turned not to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner.

And Abner said to him, Turn thee aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and lay thee hold on one of the young men, and take thee his armour. But Asahel would not turn aside from following of him.

And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me: wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother?

And he refuseth to turn aside, and Abner smiteth him with the hinder part of the spear unto the fifth rib, and the spear cometh out from behind him, and he falleth there, and dieth under it; and it cometh to pass, every one who hath come unto the place where Asahel hath fallen and dieth -- they stand still.

Then Abner called to Joab, and said, Shall the sword devour for ever? knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? how long shall it be then, ere thou bid the people return from following their brethren?

And Joab said, As God liveth, unless thou hadst spoken, surely then in the morning the people had gone up every one from following his brother.

And Joab returned from following Abner: and when he had gathered all the people together, there lacked of David's servants nineteen men and Asahel.

Meanwhile, other soldiers of David had killed 360 of Abner's men from the tribe of Benjamin.

And sons [were] born to David in Hebron; his firstborn [was] Amnon by Ahinoam {from Jezreel}.

his second was Chileab by Abigail, widow of Nabal from Carmel, his third was Absalom by Maacah, daughter of King Talmai from Geshur,

To translate the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba.

And he was not able to turn back Abner a word from his fearing him.

He said, "Good. {I will make a covenant with you}. I am asking only one thing from you: You shall not see my face unless you bring Michal the daughter of Saul when you come to see {me}."

And Ishbosheth sent, and took her from her husband, even from Phaltiel the son of Laish.

Now then, do it [and make him king]! For the Lord has spoken of David, saying, ‘By the hand of My servant David I will save My people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and the hand of all their enemies.’”

And, behold, the servants of David and Joab came from pursuing a troop, and brought in a great spoil with them: but Abner was not with David in Hebron; for he had sent him away, and he was gone in peace.

And when Joab was come out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, which brought him again from the well of Sirah: but David knew it not.

And afterward when David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are guiltless before the LORD for ever from the blood of Abner the son of Ner:

Let it rest on the head of Joab, and on all his father's house; and let there not fail from the house of Joab one that hath an issue, or that is a leper, or that leaneth on a staff, or that falleth on the sword, or that lacketh bread.

and all the people know, even all Israel, in that day, that it hath not been from the king -- to put to death Abner son of Ner.

Two of the men, commanders of the raiding bands, were [for] the son of Saul. The name of one [was] Baanah, and the name of the other [was] Recab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite from the descendants of Benjamin; also, Beeroth [was] regarded [as belonging] to Benjamin.

(Now Jonathan the son of Saul had a son who [was] crippled in the feet. He [was] five years old when the message of Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse had picked him up and fled. It happened that as she [was] hurrying away to flee, he fell and became crippled. His name [was] Mephibosheth.)

And they took the head of Ish-bosheth to David in Hebron, and said to the king, Here is the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul your hater, who would have taken your life; the Lord has taken payment for the wrongs of my lord the king from Saul and his seed today.

Then David answered Recab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and he said to them, "{As Yahweh lives}, who redeemed my soul from all trouble,

How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? shall I not therefore now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?

So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward.

And David took him more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron: and there were yet sons and daughters born to David.

And David, desiring directions from the Lord, said, Am I to go up against the Philistines? will you give them up into my hands? And the Lord said, Go up, for I will certainly give up the Philistines into your hands.

So David inquired of Yahweh, but he said, "You shall not go up. [Rather,] go around to their rear and come to them from opposite the balsam trees.

When you hear the sound of marching coming from the tops of the balsam trees, then be sure to act quickly, since the LORD will have gone out ahead of you to cut down the Philistine army."

And David did so, as the LORD had commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gazer.

After this, David gathered together again 30,000 men from all of the choicest men of Israel.

And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims.

And they cause the ark of God to ride on a new cart, and lift it up from the house of Abinadab, which is in the height, and Uzzah and Ahio sons of Abinadab are leading the new cart;

and they lift it up from the house of Abinadab, which is in the height, with the ark of God, and Ahio is going before the ark,

Now David and all the house of Israel [were] dancing before Yahweh, with all kinds of [musical instruments made from] ash trees, and with zithers, harps, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.

And it was told king David, saying, The LORD hath blessed the house of Obededom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obededom into the city of David with gladness.

As the ark of the Lord was entering the city of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.

And David finisheth from causing to ascend the burnt-offering, and the peace-offerings, and blesseth the people in the name of Jehovah of Hosts,

and he apportioneth to all the people, to all the multitude of Israel, from man even unto woman, to each, one cake of bread, and one eshpar, and one ashisha, and all the people go, each to his house.

And Saul's daughter Michal bore no children from that day on until the day she died.

And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies;

The king said to Nathan the prophet, "Look! I am living in a palace made from cedar, while the ark of God sits in the middle of a tent."

But later that same night, this message came to Nathan from the LORD:

for I have not dwelt in a house even from the day of My bringing up the sons of Israel out of Egypt, even unto this day, and am walking up and down in a tent and in a tabernacle.

Wherever I have gone with all the Israelites, did I speak a word to any from the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, asking, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’”’

Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel:

and I have been with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee; and I will make thee a great name, like unto the name of the great ones that are in the earth.

And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house.

'When thy days are full, and thou hast lain with thy fathers, then I have raised up thy seed after thee which goeth out from thy bowels, and have established his kingdom;

I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to Me. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with a human rod and with blows from others.

But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.

And thy house and thy kingdom shall be made firm for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.

Still, this [was] {insignificant} in your eyes, my lord Yahweh, and also you have spoken about the house of your servant from afar, and this [may be] the teaching of humans, my lord Yahweh.

Because of your word and from your heart, you have done all this great work, and let your servant see it.

Truly you are great, O Lord God: there is no one like you and no other God but you, as is clear from everything which has come to our ears.

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?

so that Your Name may be magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts (armies) is God over Israel;’ and may the house (royal dynasty) of Your servant David be established before You.

So may it please you to bless the household of your servant, so that it might remain forever in your presence, because you, Lord GOD, have spoken, and from your blessing may the household of your servant be blessed forever."

It happened afterwards [that] David attacked [the] Philistines and subdued them, and he took Metheg Ammah from the hands of [the] Philistines.

David also attacked King Hadadezer, Rehob's son from Zobah, when he was attempting to restore his hegemony over the Euphrates River.

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

When Arameans came from Damascus to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, David killed 22,000 of them.

And David took their gold body-covers from the servants of Hadadezer and took them to Jerusalem.

And from Betah, and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, king David took exceeding much brass.

King David also dedicated these [gifts] to the Lord, along with the silver and gold that he had dedicated from all the nations which he subdued:

from Aram (Syria), Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amalek, and from the spoil of Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

And David gat him a name when he returned from smiting of the Syrians in the valley of salt, being eighteen thousand men.

David asked, “Is there anyone remaining from Saul’s family I can show kindness to because of Jonathan?”

Now there was a servant from Saul's house named Ziba, so he was summoned to David. The king asked him, "Are you Ziba?" He replied, "At your service."

At this the king asked, "Isn't there still someone left from Saul's household to whom I may show God's gracious love?" "There's Jonathan's son. He has maimed feet," Ziba answered.

And the king will say to him, Where is he? And Ziba will say to the king, Behold him in the house of Machir, son of Ammiel, from Lo-De-bar.

Then king David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lodebar.

You and your servants are to farm the land on his behalf and bring in the crops in order to provide for your master's grandson. Meanwhile, Mephibosheth, your master's grandson, will always have a place at my table." (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and 20 servants.)

When the Ammonites realized they had become repulsive to David, they hired 20,000 foot soldiers from the Arameans of Beth-rehob and Zobah, 1,000 men from the king of Maacah, and 12,000 men from Tob.

The Ammonites went out in battle formation at the entrance to the city gate, while the Arameans from Zobah and Rehob, along with the army from Tob and Maacah, were out by themselves in the open fields.

When Joab saw that {the battle was to be fought on two fronts}, he chose from all [the] members of the elite troops of Israel and {lined them up for battle} to meet Aram.

And Joab draweth nigh, and the people who are with him, to battle against Aram, and they flee from his presence;

And when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fled, then fled they also before Abishai, and entered into the city. So Joab returned from the children of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem.

Then Hadadezer sent for Arameans from beyond the Euphrates River, and they came to Helam. Shobach, the general in command of Hadadezer's army, led them.

and Aram fleeth from the presence of Israel, and David slayeth of Aram seven hundred charioteers, and forty thousand horsemen, and Shobach head of its host he hath smitten, and he dieth there.

And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.

And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.

And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.

And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house?

And David will say to Uriah, Dwell here also this day, and to-morrow I will send thee away. And Uriah dwelt in Jerusalem in that day and from the morrow.

And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.

The men of the city came out and fought with Joab. Some from the army from the servants of David fell; Uriah the Hittite also died.

And if so be that the king's wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall?

Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

So the man went, and came to David, and gave him all the news which Joab had sent him to give; then David was angry with Joab and said, Why did you go so near the town for the fight? was it not certain that their archers would be on the wall? who put Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, to death? did not a woman send a great stone down on him from the wall, putting him to death at Thebez? why did you go so near the wall?

And the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants; and some of the king's servants be dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.