He said to the king, "Don't think badly of me, my lord, and don't recall the sin of your servant on the day when you, my lord the king, left Jerusalem! Please don't call it to mind!

But she said to him, "No, my brother! Don't humiliate me! This just isn't done in Israel! Don't do this foolish thing!

When it was reported to David, “Uriah didn’t go home,” David questioned Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a journey? Why didn’t you go home?”

Don't report it in Gath, don't spread the news in the streets of Ashkelon, or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice, the daughters of the uncircumcised will celebrate!

But the soldiers replied, "You should not do this! For if we should have to make a rapid retreat, they won't be too concerned about us. Even if half of us should die, they won't be too concerned about us. But you are like ten thousand of us! So it is better if you remain in the city for support."

But the king said to Absalom, "No, my son. We shouldn't all go. We shouldn't burden you in that way." Though Absalom pressed him, the king was not willing to go. Instead, David blessed him.

And tell Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my flesh and blood? May God punish me and do so severely if you don’t become commander of the army from now on instead of Joab!’”

From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, Jonathan's bow didn't turn back. Saul's sword didn't return empty.

Now get up and restore the morale of your army. I swear by the LORD that if you don't get out there, you won't have a single man left in your army by nightfall! You'll be in more trouble today than all the disasters you've been through from your boyhood until now!"

I'm now 80 years old! I can hardly tell the difference between what tastes good or bad! I can't tell what I eat or drink! I can't hear the voice of men and women when they sing! So why should your servant be an added burden to your majesty the king?

But the men from Israel answered the men from Judah: "We represent ten of the tribes of Israel! So we have more right to David than you do! Why haven't you taken us seriously? Weren't we the first to talk about bringing back our king?" But what the people of Judah had to say was harsher than what the people of Israel were saying.

Absalom commanded his servants, saying, "Mark now, when Amnon's heart is merry with wine; and when I tell you, 'Strike Amnon,' then kill him. Don't be afraid. Haven't I commanded you? Be courageous, and be valiant!"

Wasn't he most honorable of the three? therefore he was made their captain: however he didn't attain to the [first] three.

Then Abner called out to Joab, "Must the sword devour forever? Don't you realize that this will turn bitter in the end? When will you tell the people to turn aside from pursuing their brothers?"

So David asked the Lord what he should do. This time the Lord said to him, "Don't march straight up. Instead, circle around behind them and come against them opposite the trees.

And you didn't stop there, O Lord God! You have also spoken about the future of your servant's family. Is this your usual way of dealing with men, O Lord God?

David said to him, "Don't be afraid, because I will certainly extend kindness to you for the sake of Jonathan your father. You will be a regular guest at my table."

So I stood over him and put him to death, since I knew that he couldn't live in such a condition. Then I took the crown which was on his head and the bracelet which was on his arm. I have brought them here to my lord."

Now send word quickly to David and warn him, "Don't spend the night at the fords of the desert tonight. Instead, be sure you cross over, or else the king and everyone who is with him may be overwhelmed."

Joab replied to the man who was telling him this, "What! You saw this? Why didn't you strike him down right on the spot? I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a commemorative belt!"

The king replied, "How is the young man Absalom?" Ahimaaz replied, "I saw a great deal of confusion when Joab was sending the king's servant and me, your servant, but I don't know what it was all about."

You seem to love your enemies and hate your friends! For you have as much as declared today that leaders and servants don't matter to you. I realize now that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, it would be all right with you.

But David said, "What do we have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? You are like my enemy today! Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Don't you realize that today I am king over Israel?"

The king said to Shimei, "You won't die." The king vowed an oath concerning this.

When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, "Why didn't you go with me, Mephibosheth?"

Joab answered, "Get serious! I don't want to swallow up or destroy anything!

So David sent someone to inquire about the woman. The messenger said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"

if the king becomes angry and asks you, 'Why did you go so close to the city to fight? Didn't you realize they would shoot from the wall?

Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn't a woman throw an upper millstone down on him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?' just say to him, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.'"

David said to the messenger, "Tell Joab, 'Don't let this thing upset you. There is no way to anticipate whom the sword will cut down. Press the battle against the city and conquer it.' Encourage him with these words."

He asked Amnon, "Why are you, the king's son, so depressed every morning? Can't you tell me?" So Amnon said to him, "I'm in love with Tamar the sister of my brother Absalom."

But she said to him, "No I won't, for sending me away now would be worse than what you did to me earlier!" But he refused to listen to her.

Her brother Absalom said to her, "Was Amnon your brother with you? Now be quiet, my sister. He is your brother. Don't take it so seriously!" Tamar, devastated, lived in the house of her brother Absalom.

Now don't let my lord the king be concerned about the report that has come saying, 'All the king's sons are dead.' It is only Amnon who is dead."

So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He told her, "Pretend to be in mourning and put on garments for mourning. Don't anoint yourself with oil. Instead, act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for some time.

The king said, "Bring to me whoever speaks to you, and he won't bother you again!"

Then the king replied to the woman, "Don't hide any information from me when I question you." The woman said, "Let my lord the king speak!"

Absalom said to Hushai, "Do you call this loyalty to your friend? Why didn't you go with your friend?"

“As God lives,” Joab replied, “if you had not spoken up, the troops wouldn’t have stopped pursuing their brothers until morning.”

Abner was very angry about Ish-bosheth’s accusation. “Am I a dog’s head who belongs to Judah?” he asked. “All this time I’ve been loyal to the house of your father Saul, to his brothers, and to his friends and haven’t handed you over to David, but now you accuse me of wrongdoing with this woman!

May God punish Abner and do so severely if I don’t do for David what the Lord swore to him:

The king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites who inhabited the land. The Jebusites had said to David: “You will never get in here. Even the blind and lame can repel you”; thinking, “David can’t get in here.”

In all My journeys with all the Israelites, have I ever asked anyone among the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel: Why haven’t you built Me a house of cedar?’

the Ammonite leaders said to Hanun their lord, “Just because David has sent men with condolences for you, do you really believe he’s showing respect for your father? Instead, hasn’t David sent his emissaries in order to scout out the city, spy on it, and demolish it?”

On the seventh day the baby died. But David’s servants were afraid to tell him the baby was dead. They said, “Look, while the baby was alive, we spoke to him, and he wouldn’t listen to us. So how can we tell him the baby is dead? He may do something desperate.”

Where could I ever go with my disgrace? And you—you would be like one of the immoral men in Israel! Please, speak to the king, for he won’t keep me from you.”

Absalom didn’t say anything to Amnon, either good or bad, because he hated Amnon since he disgraced his sister Tamar.

We will certainly die and be like water poured out on the ground, which can’t be recovered. But God would not take away a life; He would devise plans so that the one banished from Him does not remain banished.

Then Absalom sent for Joab in order to send him to the king, but Joab was unwilling to come. So he sent again, a second time, but he still wouldn’t come.

Won’t Zadok and Abiathar the priests be there with you? Report everything you hear from the king’s palace to Zadok and Abiathar the priests.

Hushai continued, “You know your father and his men. They are warriors and are desperate like a wild bear robbed of her cubs. Your father is an experienced soldier who won’t spend the night with the people.

Joab replied to him, “You are not the man to take good news today. You may do it another day, but today you aren’t taking good news, because the king’s son is dead.”

However, Ahimaaz son of Zadok persisted and said to Joab, “No matter what, please let me also run behind the Cushite!”

Joab replied, “My son, why do you want to run since you won’t get a reward?”

Abishai son of Zeruiah asked, “Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the Lord’s anointed?”