So the whole army cut down each one branch for himself and followed Abimelech, and they put [them] against the vault and set the vault ablaze with fire on those [inside], so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died, about a thousand men and women.

The man Micah had for himself {a shrine}, and he made an ephod and teraphim, and {he appointed one of his sons} who became a priest for him.

In those days there was no king in Israel; there was a man, a Levite, who dwelled as a foreigner in the remote areas of the hill country of Ephraim. And he took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.

and would thrust it into the pan or into the kettle or into the cauldron or into the cooking pot. All that the meat fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This [is] what they used to do to all of the Israelites who came there at Shiloh.

And Yahweh appeared again in Shiloh, for Yahweh revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh through the word of Yahweh.

He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and [those] {to do his plowing} and to reap his harvest, and [those] to make weapons of war and the equipment for his chariots.

So they inquired again of Yahweh, "{Did the man come here}?" And Yahweh said, "Look, he [is] hiding himself among the baggage."

He chose for himself three thousand from Israel. Two thousand [of these] were with Saul at Micmash in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. He sent away the rest of the people, each to his tent.

But now, your kingdom will not endure. Yahweh has sought for himself a man according to his [own] heart, and Yahweh has appointed him as leader over his people, because you have not kept what Yahweh commanded you."

Then Samuel got up early in the morning to meet Saul. Samuel was told, "Saul has gone to Carmel, and look, he [is] setting up a monument for himself." Then he turned around and crossed over and went down to Gilgal.

Then he took his staff in his hand, picked out for himself five smooth stones from the wadi, and he put them in his shepherd's bag, in the pouch. And with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.

Then Saul said, "This [is] what you must say to David: '{The king desires no bride price} except for a hundred foreskins of [the] Philistines, to avenge himself on the enemies of the king.'" (Now Saul had planned to allow David to fall by the hand of [the] Philistines.)

So David hid himself in the field. {When the new moon came}, {the king was seated at the feast}.

Then the king said to Doeg, "You turn and attack the priests!" So Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests himself, and on that day he killed eighty-five men who wore [the] linen ephod.

When it was told to Saul that David had gone to Keilah, Saul said, "God {has given him} into my hand, because he has shut himself in by going into a city [with] {two barred gates}.

He came to the sheep pens beside the road, and a cave [was] there. Then Saul went in {to relieve himself}. Now David and his men [were] sitting in the innermost part of the cave.

Then Abigail went to Nabal, and look, {he was holding a feast} in his house like the feast of the king. {Nabal was enjoying himself}, and he [was] very drunk, so she did not tell him a thing, {nothing at all}, until the light of morning.

Then David {thought to himself}, "Now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul! There is nothing better for me but [that] I must certainly escape to the land of [the] Philistines. Then Saul will desist from searching for me further in all of the territories of Israel, and so I will escape from his hand."

And Achish trusted David, saying, "{He has made himself utterly hated} among his people in Israel, and he will be my servant forever."

So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went {with two of his men}. And they came to the woman [by] night and he said, "Please consult a spirit for me through {the ritual pit}, and bring up for me [the one] whom I tell you."

But the commanders of [the] Philistines were angry with him and they said to him, "Send the man back so that he might return to his place where you have assigned him! But he will not go down with us into the battle, so that he does not become an adversary to us in the battle. By what could this fellow make himself favorable to his lord? Is it not with the heads of these men?

And {David was in a very precarious situation}, for the people spoke of stoning him, for the souls of all the people were bitter, each [one] over his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God.

As the war between the house of Saul and the house of David was [continuing], Abner was strengthening himself in the house of Saul.

However, David [was] not willing to bring the ark of Yahweh to himself, to the city of David, so David caused it to turn [to] the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.

When David returned to bless his household, Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David. She said, "How the king of Israel honored himself today {by uncovering himself} before the eyes of the maids of his servants, {as the total exposure of a worthless one}."

Who [is] like your people, like Israel? [Israel is] the one nation on earth whose God {led them}, [in order] to redeem a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to do for you the great and awesome things for your land in the presence of your people whom he redeemed for himself from Egypt, [from the] nations and their gods.

So David made a name for himself when he returned from defeating Aram in the Valley of Salt, eighteen thousand.

David stood up from the ground and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothing. Then he went [to] the house of Yahweh and worshiped, and he went to his [own] house. He asked, so they served him food, and he ate.

The king asked, "[Was] the hand of Joab with you in all of this?" The woman answered and said, "{As your soul lives}, my lord the king, surely [one cannot] go to the right or to the left from all that my lord the king has spoken. Yes, your servant Joab himself commanded me, and he put all of these words in the mouth of your servant.

It happened afterward that Absalom made himself a chariot with horses and fifty men running before him.

Now he has hidden himself in one of the caves or in one of the places. At the moment he falls on them the first time, {whoever hears} the report will say, 'There has been a defeat among the people who follow after Absalom.'

When Ahithophel saw that his advice [was] not followed, he saddled the donkey, and he set out and went up to his house in his city. {After he set his house in order}, he hanged himself, and he died and was buried in the tomb of his ancestors.

(Now Absalom had taken and set up for himself in his lifetime a stone pillar that [is] in the valley of the king, because he said, "I have no son in order to remember my name," and he called the stone pillar by his name. It [is] called the monument of Absalom until this day).

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 David said to Abishai, "Now Sheba the son of Bicri will do us more harm than Absalom. You take the servants of your lord and pursue after him, lest he find fortified cities for himself and escape from us."

Now Abishai the brother of Joab the son of Zeruiah [was] himself the leader of the thirty. He [was] wielding his spear against three hundred slain and {gained a name} among the thirty.

These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did and gained a name for himself among the three mighty warriors.

Now Adonijah the son of Haggith was exalting himself, saying, "I will be king," so he prepared for himself a chariot and horsemen and fifty men running before him.

But Hadad himself had fled, and some Edomite men from the servants of his father with him, to go to Egypt, when Hadad [was] a young boy.

It happened at that time that Jeroboam went out from Jerusalem, and he accidentally met Ahijah the Shilonite the prophet on the way. Now he had clothed himself with new clothing. While the two of them [were] alone in the field,

Then Jeroboam {said to himself}, "Now the kingdom will return to the house of David

It happened at the moment the king heard the word of the man of God that he cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him!" But his hand which he stretched out to him was paralyzed, and he was not able to draw it back to himself.

After this event, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but he returned and [again] made priests for the high places of people from {all walks of life}. He filled his hand with all [his] desire and became [one of] the priests of the high places [himself].

Yahweh will raise up a king for himself over Israel who will even now cut off the house of Jeroboam this day.

His servant Zimri the commander of half of the chariots conspired against him. Now he had been in Tirzah drinking [himself] drunk in the house of Arza who was over the palace in Tirzah.

He stretched himself out on the child three times and called to Yahweh and said, "O Yahweh my God, please let the life of this child return within him."

So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine [was] severe in Samaria.

So they divided the land for themselves in order to pass through it; Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

They went out at noon while Ben-Hadad [was] drinking [himself] drunk in the tents, he and the thirty-two kings helping him.

Then the prophet went and {waited} for the king along the road and disguised himself with a headband over his eyes.

Truly, there was no one like Ahab who had sold himself by doing evil in the eyes of Yahweh, whose wife Jezebel urged him on.

"Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring disaster in his days. I will bring the disaster on his house in the days of his son."

Zedekiah son of Kenaanah made horns of iron for himself and said, "Thus says Yahweh: 'With these you shall gore the Arameans until finishing them.'"

Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "[I will] disguise myself and go into the battle, but you wear your robes." So the king of Israel disguised himself, and he went into the battle.

A certain woman from the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead. Now you know that your servant was a fearer of Yahweh, but the creditor came to take two of my children for himself as slaves.

As far as this matter, may Yahweh pardon your servant when my master goes [into] the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he [is] leaning himself on my arm, that I also bow down [in] the house of Rimmon: when I bow down [in] the house of Rimmon, may Yahweh please pardon your servant in this matter."

They came to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed for himself eighty men outside, and he said, "The man who lets [anyone] escape from the men who I am {entrusting to you}, {he will pay with his life}!"

But in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and took the commanders of the hundreds of the Carites and the runners, and he brought them to himself to the temple of Yahweh. Then he {made} a covenant with them and made them swear in the house of Yahweh and showed them the son of the king.

It happened that when King Hezekiah heard, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went [to] the temple of Yahweh.

And Cush fathered Nimrod; he himself began to be mighty on earth.

And this [is] the numbering of the mighty warriors who [were] for David: Jashobeam son of Hachmoni [was] chief of the three. He himself raised his spear against three hundred [whom he] killed on one occasion.

He himself [was] with David at Pas-Dammim when the Philistines were gathered there for the battle. And there was a plot of the field filled with barley, and the people fled before the Philistines.

Now Abishai the brother of Joab was himself the head of the three. And he roused himself with his spear against three hundred [whom he] killed and [made] a name for himself among the three.

[And] Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was] {a strong man} from Kabzeel, [one who did] great deeds. He himself struck down two [sons of] Ariel of Moab. And he himself went down and struck down a lion within a pit on a snowy day.

And he himself struck down an Egyptian man, a large man five cubits [tall]. And in the hand of the Egyptian [was] a spear like a weaver's beam. But he went down to him with a club and seized the spear from the hand of the Egyptian and killed him with his own spear.

He himself was certainly distinguished among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David appointed him over his bodyguard.

So David did not move the ark to himself into the city of David but diverted it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.

And David built houses for himself in the city of David, and he established a place for the ark of God. And he pitched a tent for it.

He himself will build for me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

I myself will be a father to him, and he himself will be a son to me. And I will not remove my steadfast love from him as I took it away from whoever was before you.

And who [is] like your people Israel, [the] one nation upon earth whom God went to redeem for himself, to establish for you a reputation for great and awesome things, to drive out nations from before your people whom you redeemed from Egypt?

And again there was war in Gath. And there was a {very tall} man [there], and {he had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all}. He himself [was] also a descendant of the Rephaim.

Behold, a son shall be born to you; he himself will be a man of rest, and I will give rest to him from all his enemies all around, for his name will be Solomon, and peace and quietness I will give to Israel in his days.

He himself will build a house for my name, and he himself will be to me a son, and I [will be] to him as a father, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.'

And he said to me, 'Solomon your son, he himself shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him as a son to myself, and I myself will be as a father to him,

gold for the golden things and silver for the silver things, for all the work by the hand of skilled craftsmen. Now who will offer willingly, {consecrating himself} today to Yahweh?"

And Solomon the son of David strengthened himself concerning his kingdom, and Yahweh his God [was] with him and made him exceedingly great.

And Solomon planned to build a house for the name of Yahweh and a {royal palace for himself}.

And Solomon sent [word] to Huram king of Tyre, saying, "As you have dealt with David my father and sent cedar to him to build for himself a house in which to live, [please deal with me].

Then Huram said, "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who has made the heavens and the earth, who has given to King David a wise son knowing discretion and understanding, who will build for Yahweh a house and a royal palace for himself.

but you yourself will not build the house, but your son who will proceed from your loins; he himself will build the house for my name.'

Then Rehoboam took to himself as a wife Mahalath, the daughter of Yerimot son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse.

And when he humbled himself, the anger of Yahweh was turned away from him, so that he did not destroy [the city] completely. Moreover, matters were well in Judah.

But Abijah became strong, and he took to himself fourteen wives and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place, and he strengthened himself against Israel.

And Zedekiah the son of Kenaanah made for himself horns of iron, and he said, "Thus says Yahweh: 'With these you will gore Aram to their destruction.'"

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you, wear your garments." So the king of Israel disguised himself, and they went to war.

When Jehoram ascended to the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself and murdered all his brothers with the sword, and even some of the princes of Israel.

And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself and took with him into a covenant [relationship] the commanders of hundreds: Azariah the son of Jeroham, Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, Azariah the son of Obed, Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zicri.

And Jehoiada {made} a covenant between himself and all the people and the king, that they should be Yahweh's people.

Then Amaziah strengthened himself, and leading his army, he went [to] the Valley of Salt. And he struck [down] ten thousand men of Seir.

And it happened [that] after Amaziah came [back] from killing the Edomites, he brought the gods of the sons of Seir, and he stood them up to himself as gods and bowed down before them and make smoke offerings for them.

And Jotham strengthened himself, for he established his ways before Yahweh his God.

And he himself burned incense in the valley of Ben-Hinnom and burned his sons in the fire, according to the detestable [practices] of the nations whom Yahweh drove out before the Israelites.

Then Ahaz gathered the objects of the house of God, and he cut the objects of the house of God to pieces. And he shut the doors of the house of Yahweh and made for himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem.

After these things and these [acts of] faithfulness, Sennacherib the king of Assyria came, and he came against Judah. And he encamped against the fortified cities and planned to break them down for himself.

Then he strengthened himself and built up all the walls that were broken down, and raised towers upon [them] and another wall {outside}. And he strengthened the Millo of the city of David and made much weaponry and small shields.

And he appointed commanders for battle over the people and gathered them to himself into the public square of the gate of the city. And he spoke to their hearts, saying,

Has not Hezekiah himself removed his high places and his altars and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, saying, "You must bow down before one altar and upon it you must make offerings"?

But Hezekiah humbled himself with respect to the arrogance of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of Yahweh did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.