But Amasa did not see danger from the sword which was now in Joab's left hand, and Joab put it through his stomach so that his inside came out on to the earth, and he did not give him another blow. So Joab and his brother Abishai went on after Sheba, the son of Bichri.

A young man stood over him, from the young men of Joab, and he said, "Whoever takes delight in Joab and whoever [is] for David, [follow] after Joab."

Now Amasa [was] wallowing in the blood in the middle of the highway; when the man saw that all the people stood [there], he turned Amasa over from the highway into the field, and he threw a garment over him because he had seen that all who had come by him had stopped.

When [the body of] Amasa was removed from the highway, everyone followed after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

Then a wise woman from the city called out, "Listen, listen! Please speak to Joab [to] come near here so that I may speak to you."

And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.

The matter is not so: but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David: deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall.

Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king.

So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites [were] not from the {Israelites}; they [were] from the remainder of the Amorites. Now the {Israelites} had sworn to them, but Saul tried to wipe them out in his zeal for the {Israelites} and Judah.

The Gibeonites said to him, “We are not asking for money from Saul or his family, and we cannot put anyone to death in Israel.”

“Whatever you say, I will do for you,” he said.

And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,

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."

And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.

And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabeshgilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa:

And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged.

And Ishbi-Benob who was from the children of Rephaim, and the weight of his spear three hundred weight of brass, and he being girded with a new one, and he will say to strike David.

At Gath there was still another battle. A huge man was there with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—24 in all. He, too, was descended from the giant.

These four [warriors] were descended from the giant in Gath, and they fell by the hands of David and his servants.

David spoke the words of this song to the Lord when the Lord rescued him from the hands of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

He said:“The Lord is my rock and my fortress [on the mountain] and my rescuer;

The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.

I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

Because deadly breakers engulfed me, while torrents of abuse from the ungodly overwhelmed me.

Binding ropes from Sheol entangled me while lethal snares hindered me.

In mine adversity I call Jehovah, And unto my God I call, And He heareth from His temple my voice, And my cry is in His ears,

There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, And fire out of his mouth devoured: Coals burned forth from it.

From the brightness before him Burned forth coals of fire.

The LORD thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice.

And seen are the streams of the sea, Revealed are foundations of the world, By the rebuke of Jehovah, From the breath of the spirit of His anger.

He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters;

He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.

For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

For all his judgments were before me: and as for his statutes, I did not depart from them.

I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity.

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

“He makes my feet like the doe’s feet [firm and swift];
He sets me [secure and confident] on my high places.

{My enemies you cause to retreat from me}; I destroy those who hate me.

Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people, thou hast kept me to be head of the heathen: a people which I knew not shall serve me.

Men of other countries will, with false hearts, put themselves under my authority: from the time when my name comes to their ears, they will be ruled by me.

Strangers have faded away, And they come trembling forth from their close places.

And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.

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.

He was with David and went on fighting the Philistines till his hand became tired and stiff from gripping his sword: and that day the Lord gave a great salvation, and the people came back after him only to take the goods of the Philistines.

And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentiles: and the people fled from the Philistines.

And David had a craving and said, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!”

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.

And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this: is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men.

Zeruiah's son Abishai, Joab's brother, was the lieutenant in charge of the platoons. He used his spear to fight and kill 300 men, gaining a reputation distinct from the Three.

From the three he was given honor and he became their officer, even though he was not one of the three.

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.

He also killed a good-looking Egyptian man, in whose hand [was] a spear. He went down against him with the staff and snatched the spear from the hand of the Egyptian and killed him with his spear

He received honor from the thirty warriors, though he was not one of the three elite warriors. David put him in charge of his bodyguard.

Included with the thirty were the following: Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem,

Shammah from Harod; Elika from Harod,

Helez the Paltite, Ikkesh's son Ira from Tekoa,

Abiezer from Anathoth, Mebunnai the Hushathite,

Heleb son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai son of Ribai from Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin,

Benaiah [the] Pirathonite, Hiddai from the wadis of Gaash,

Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth from Bahurim,

Eliahba from Shaalbon, Jashen's sons,

Shammah's son from Harar, Sharar the Hararite's son Ahiam,

Hezro from Carmel, Paarai the Arbite,

Igal son of Nathan from Zobah, Bani the Gadite,

Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai from Beeroth (the armor-bearer for Zeruiah's son Joab),

For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people.

Notwithstanding the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.

And they went over Jordan, and starting from Aroer, from the town which is in the middle of the valley, they went in the direction of the Gadites, and on to Jazer;

Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of the Hittites under Hermon; and they came to Dan, and from Dan they came round to Zidon,

So when they had gone to and from through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

Joab gave the king the total of the registration of the troops. There were 800,000 fighting men from Israel and 500,000 men from Judah.

When David got up in the morning, a revelation from the Lord had come to the prophet Gad, David’s seer:

Go and speak to David, Thus said Jehovah, Three I lay upon thee: choose to thee one from them, and I will do to thee.

Then Gad came to David, and he told him and said to him, "Shall seven years of famine in the land come to you? Or three months of your fleeing from your enemies while he [is] pursuing you? Or should there be three days of pestilence in your land? Now consider and decide what I must return to the one who sent me a word."

So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.

When the angel extended his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented from his judgment. He told the angel who was killing the people, "That's enough! Stop now!" (Now the Lord's angel was near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.)

And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people.

Araunah responded to David, "May your majesty the king take it and offer whatever pleases him. Here are oxen for a burnt offering, along with the threshing sledges and yokes from 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,

And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

and his father hath not grieved him all his days, saying, 'Wherefore thus hast thou done?' and he also is of a very good form, and his mother bare him after Absalom.

if from my lord the king this thing hath been, then thou hast not caused thy servant to know who doth sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.'

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

Then Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent, and he anointed Solomon. They blew on the trumpet, and all the people said, "Long live King Solomon!"

All the people followed him, playing flutes and rejoicing with such a great joy that the earth split open from the sound.

And Adonijah heard, and all the invited guests with him. And they stopped eating. And Joab heard the sound of the ram's horn, and said, What is this noise roaring from the city?

And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon: and they are come up from thence rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that ye have heard.

So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and bowed himself to king Solomon: and Solomon said unto him, Go to thine house.

so that Jehovah doth establish His word which He spake unto me, saying, If thy sons observe their way to walk before Me in truth, with all their heart, and with all their soul; saying, There is not cut off a man of thine from the throne of Israel.

But show kindness unto the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those that eat at thy table; for so they came to me when I fled from Absalom thy brother.

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.'

But do not let him be free from punishment, for you are a wise man; and it will be clear to you what you have to do with him; see that his white head goes down to the underworld in blood.

And he said, Thou knowest that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign: howbeit the kingdom is turned about, and is become my brother's: for it was his from the LORD.

Now one request I am asking from you, and you must {not refuse me}." Then she said to him, "Go on."

She said, "I have one small request I am asking from you. Do {not refuse me}." The king said to her, "Ask, my mother, for I will {not refuse you}."

So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the LORD; that he might fulfil the word of the LORD, which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

And the king said unto him, Do as he hath said, and fall upon him, and bury him; that thou mayest take away the innocent blood, which Joab shed, from me, and from the house of my father.

Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed for ever: but upon David, and upon his seed, and upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there be peace for ever from the LORD.

Then the king sent and summoned Shimei, and he said to him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but you must not go out {anywhere whatsoever} from there.

And it will be from the end of three years, and two servants to Shimei, will flee to Achish, son of Maachah, king of Gath: and they will announce to Shimci, saying, Behold, thy servants in Gath.

And Shimei arose, and saddled his ass, and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants: and Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath.