1 Then came all the tribes of Israel to David to Hebron, and said, "See, we are thy bones and thy flesh.
2 And thereto in time past when Saul was king over us, thou leddest Israel in and out. And the LORD hath said to thee, 'Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel.'"
3 And so all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron. And king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD. And they anointed David king over Israel.
4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months. And in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah.
6 Then went the king and his men to Jerusalem, unto the Jebusites the inhabiters of the land. And they said unto David, "Except thou take away the blind and the lame thou shalt not come in hither" - meaning thereby that David should not have come in thither.
7 Nevertheless David took the hold of Zion, which is in the city of David.
8 Then said David the same day, "Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites, and getteth up to the gutters of the houses: smite the lame and the blind that hate David's soul." Wherefore they said, "The blind and the lame shall not come into the house."
9 And David dwelt in the tower and called it the city of David. And David built round about it from Mello inward.
10 And David waxed great and the LORD God of hosts was with him.
11 And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David with cedar trees and carpenters and masons, to build David a house.
12 Whereby David perceived that the LORD had established him king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake.
13 And David took him more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were yet born to David.
14 And these be the names of the sons that were born him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama,
16 Eliada, and Eliphelet.
17 But when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, they came all up to seek David. And as soon as David heard of it, he gat him to a hold.
18 And the Philistines came and laid them along in the valley of Rephaim.
19 And David asked of the LORD, saying, "Shall I go to the Philistines? And wilt thou deliver them into my hands?" And the LORD said unto David, "Go, for I will deliver the Philistines into thy hands."
20 And David came to Baalperazim and smote them there, and said, "The LORD hath divided mine enemies asunder before me, as a man would divide water." And therefore he called the name of the said place, Baalperazim.
21 And there they left their images, and David and his men took them up.
22 And the Philistines came yet again and laid them in the valley Rephaim.
23 And David asked the LORD, and he said, "Go not. But compass them on the back side and come down upon them from the pear trees.
24 And when thou hearest the noise of a thing going in the tops of the pear trees, then move. For then the LORD is gone out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines."
25 And David did as the LORD commanded him, and smote the Philistines from Gibeah to Gezer.