The king said to Ziba, "Look, all that [was] Mephibosheth's is yours." Ziba said, "I hereby do obeisance; may I find favor in your eyes, my lord the king."

And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera: he came forth, and cursed still as he came.

Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Look, my son [Absalom] who came from my own body, is seeking my life; how much more [reason] now [does] this Benjamite [have to curse me]? Let him alone and let him curse, for [it could be that] the Lord has told him [to do it].

So David and his men proceeded along the road as Shimei was going along the ridge of the hill opposite him. As Shimei went, he cursed David, and threw stones and dirt at him.

When the king and all of the people who were with him arrived, he was weary, so he recovered there.

Now Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, had come to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel [was] with him.

And it came to pass, when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, was come unto Absalom, that Hushai said unto Absalom, God save the king, God save the king.

And furthermore, unto whom shall I do service but even to his son? And as I was servant before with thy father, even so shall I be with thee."

And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counseled in those days, was as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.

The word [was] right in the eyes of Absalom and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel.

And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we do after his saying? if not; speak thou.

Behold now, he hid in one of the pits, or in one of the places: and it being when there fell among them in the beginning, and he hearing heard and said, was a slaughter among the people which are after Absalom.

And Absalom and all the men of Israel said that the counsel of Hushai the Archite was better than the counsel of Ahithophel - For it was even the LORD's determination to destroy the counsel of Ahithophel, which was good, that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom.

Now Ahithophel's advice that he provided at that time was being compared to one who inquired of God, so highly regarded was Ahithophel's counsel by both David and Absalom.

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying in En Rogel. A female servant would go and inform them, and they would then go and inform King David. It was not advisable for them to be seen going into the city.

But a young man saw them on one occasion and informed Absalom. So the two of them quickly departed and went to the house of a man in Bahurim. There was a well in his courtyard, and they got down in it.

And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth, and spread ground corn upon it; and the thing was not known.

Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over Jordan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan.

And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and went home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died. and was buried in the sepulcher of his father.

And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab: which Amasa was a man's son, whose name was Ithra, an Israelite, that went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab's mother.

And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,

David assembled the army that was with him. He appointed leaders of thousands and leaders of hundreds.

The king gave this order to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai: "For my sake deal gently with the young man Absalom." Now the entire army was listening when the king gave all the leaders this order concerning Absalom.

So the people went out into the field against Israel: and the battle was in the wood of Ephraim;

Where the people of Israel were slain before the servants of David, and there was there a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men.

For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country: and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.

And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was suspended between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away.

Then Joab said to the man who [was] telling him, "Look, [if] you saw, why did you not strike him down to the ground there? {I would have gladly given you} ten pieces of silver and a leather belt."

Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.

And they took Absalom and cast him into a great pit that was in the wood, and cast a mighty great heap of stones upon him. And all Israel fled every man to his tent.

When he was alive, Absalom had set up a pillar for himself in the King’s Valley, for he had said, “I have no son to preserve the memory of my name.” So he gave the pillar his name. It is still called Absalom’s Monument today.

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.

And the watchman gave news of it to the king. And the king said, If he is coming by himself, then he has news. And the man was travelling quickly, and came near.

And the king said, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Ahimaaz answered, When Joab sent the king's servant, and me thy servant, I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was.

And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! O that I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!

And it was told to Joab, Behold, the king weepeth and mourneth for Absalom.

And the victory that day was turned into mourning to all the people: for the people heard it said that day how the king was grieved for his son.

The army {came secretly} into the city on that day because the army was disgraced when they fled in the battle,

To love those hating thee, and hating those loving thee, for thou announcedst this day that not to the chiefs and servants: for I knew this day that if Absalom lived and all we this day died, that then it was straight in thine eyes.

So the king got up and took his seat in the gateway. When the army was informed, "The king is sitting in the gateway!" they all gathered together in his presence.

Meanwhile, the Israelis had run away back to their own homes. Throughout the tribes of Israel, everyone was quarreling with one another: "The king delivered us from the domination of our enemies"." "He's the one who rescued us from Philistine control"." "Now he's fleeing the country because of Absalom"!"

And Absalom, whom we made a ruler over us, is dead in the fight. So now why do you say nothing about getting the king back? And word of what all Israel was saying came to the king.

And Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjaminite, who was of Bahurim, hasted and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David.

And there went over a ferry boat to carry over the king's household, and to do what he thought good. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, as he was come over Jordan;

Just as the king was about to ford the Jordan River, Gera's son Shimei fell down in front of the king and addressed him, "May your majesty not hold me guilty. Don't remember how your servant did wrong the day your majesty the king left Jerusalem. May the king not let it burden his heart,

And it came to pass, when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said unto him, Wherefore wentest not thou with me, Mephibosheth?

For there [was no one] in all the house of my father {who were not doomed to death} before my lord the king, but you set your servant among those who eat at your table. Do I have any righteousness any longer except to cry out to the king?"

Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even eighty years old: and he had provided the king with sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim: for he was a very great man.

Your servant's desire was only to take the king over Jordan; why is the king to give me such a reward?

And all the people went over Jordan. And when the king was come over, the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him; and he returned unto his own place.

Then all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, "Because the king [is] my close relative! Why [are] you this angry over this matter? {Have we by any means eaten [anything] from the king? Did we take by any means anything that was not ours}?"

And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more right in David than you: why then did you despise us, since our advice was first in bringing back our king? And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.

When David came to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the 10 concubines he had left to take care of the palace and placed them under guard. He provided for them, but he was not intimate with them. They were confined until the day of their death, living as widows.

And Amasa went to gather the men of Judah together: but tarried longer than the time which was appointed him.

When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Joab's garment that he had put on was girded to him, and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in its sheath; and as he went forth it fell out.

But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand: so he smote him in the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri.

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 he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.

And they came and besieged him in Abel-Beth-Maacah, and they cast up a bank against the city, and it was raised in the trench; and all the people that were with Joab sapped the wall, to throw it down.

And when he was come near to her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am he. Then she said to him, Hear the words of thy handmaid. And he answered, I do hear.

Then she said, In the old days, there was a saying, Let them put the question in Abel and in Dan, saying, Has what was ordered by men of good faith in Israel ever come to an end?

Now Joab was over all the host of Israel: and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites:

And Adoram was over the tribute: and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder:

And Sheva was scribe: and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests:

And Ira also the Jairite was a chief ruler about David.

Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.

let seven of his male descendants be turned over to us, and we will execute them before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, who was the Lord's chosen one." The king replied, "I will turn them over."

But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the LORD'S oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Saul to whom Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, had given birth; and the five sons of Saul's daughter Merab, whose father was Adriel, the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:

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

And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah the concubine of Saul had done.

he went and took the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan from the leaders of Jabesh Gilead. (They had secretly taken them from the plaza at Beth Shan. It was there that Philistines publicly exposed their corpses after they had killed Saul at Gilboa.)

And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son they buried in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulcher of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was entreated for the land.

There [was] war again for [the] Philistines with Israel, and David and his servants with him went down, and they fought [the] Philistines, and David grew weary.

And Ishbi-benob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.

And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, who was of the sons of the giant.

And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Beth-lehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.

And when he was purposing to put shame on Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimei, David's brother, put him to death.

and he said, - Yahweh, was my mountain crag and my stronghold, and my deliverer - mine;

My God, was my rock, I sought refuge in him, - My shield, and my horn of salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, My Saviour! from violence, thou didst save me.

I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I was delivered from my enemies.

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.

Then the earth shook and trembled: the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth.

He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.

And he rode upon a cherub, and flew: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.

The darkness around him was his canopies amassed water was his overhanging clouds!

From the shining light that was his presence coals of fire blazed into flame!

The Lord made thunder in the heavens, and the voice of the Highest was sounding out.

They fell upon me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my support.

He brought me out into a wide open place; he delivered me because he was pleased with me.

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

For, thou, wast my lamp, O Yahweh, - and, Yahweh, enlightened my darkness;

By your help I have made a way through the wall which was shutting me in: by the help of my God I have gone over a wall.

Teaching my hands, to war, - so that a bow of bronze was bent by mine arms;

They looked, but there was none to save; even to the LORD, but he answered them not.

Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,

The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, and his word was on my tongue.

When, not so, was my house with GOD, Then, a covenant age-abiding, he appointed me, Ordered in all things and guarded, Now that it is all my salvation and all my desire, Will he not make it shoot forth?