And David said to him, How did the matter go? I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, The people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead, and Saul and Jonathan his son are also dead.

And David said to the young man who told him, How do thou know that Saul and Jonathan his son are dead?

And he said to me, Who are thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite.

And David said to the young man who told him, From where are thou? And he answered, I am the son of a sojourner, an Amalekite.

Thy glory, O Israel, is slain upon thy high places! How are the mighty fallen!

How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan is slain upon thy high places.

How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!

And afterward, when David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are guiltless before LORD forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner.

And I am this day weak, though anointed king, and these men the sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me. LORD reward the evil-doer according to his wickedness.

Then all the tribes of Israel came to David to Hebron, and spoke, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh.

And these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon,

And I have been with thee wherever thou went, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee. And I will make thee a great name, like the name of the great ones that are on the earth.

When thy days are fulfilled, and thou shall sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, who shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.

Therefore thou are great, O LORD God, for there is none like thee, neither is there any God besides thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

And now, O lord LORD, thou are God, and thy words are truth, and thou have promised this good thing to thy servant.

And there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David. And the king said to him, Are thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he.

And Uriah said to David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in booths, and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open field. Shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? A

And the shooters shot at thy servants from off the wall. And some of the king's servants are dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

And Nathan said to David, Thou are the man. Thus says LORD, the God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul.

And he said to him, Why, O son of the king, are thou emaciated this way from day to day? Will thou not tell me? And Amnon said to him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.

Now therefore let not my lord the king take the thing to his heart, to think that all the king's sons are dead, for only Amnon is dead.

For we must die, and are as water split on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again, neither does God take away life, but devises means that he who is banished be not an outcast from him.

Thy servant Joab has done this thing to change the face of the matter. And my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an agent of God, to know all things that are on the earth.

And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate. And it was so, that, when any man had a suit which should come to the king for judgment, then Absalom called to him, and said, Of what city are thou? And he said, Thy

And Absalom said to him, See, thy matters are good and right, but there is no man appointed by the king to hear thee.

And there came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom.

And the king's servants said to the king, Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king shall choose.

Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, Why do thou also go with us? Return, and abide with the king, for thou are a foreigner, and also an exile. [Return] to thine own place.

The king said also to Zadok the priest, Are thou [not] a seer? Return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz thy son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar.

And the king said to Ziba, What do thou mean by these? And Ziba said, The donkeys are for the king's household to ride on, and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine, that such as are faint in the wildern

LORD has returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul in whose stead thou have reigned. And LORD has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son, and, behold, thou are [taken] in thine own mischief because thou

And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go in to thy father's concubines that he has left to keep the house, and all Israel will hear that thou are abhorred by thy father. Then the hands of all who are with thee will be strong.

And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid. And all the people who are with him shall flee. And I will only smite the king,

Hushai said moreover, Thou know thy father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field. And thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.

Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some [other] place. And it will come to pass, when some of them are fallen at the first, that whoever hears it will say, There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.

And even he who is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt, for all Israel knows that thy father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are valiant men.

So we shall come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falls on the ground, and of him and of all the men who are with him we will not leave so much as one.

Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Do not lodge this night at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over, lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people who are with him.

And Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house, and they said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said to them, They have gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they return

and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David, and for the people who were with him, to eat. For they said, The people are hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.

But the people said, Thou shall not go forth. For if we flee away, they will not care for us, neither if half of us die, will they care for us, but thou are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore now it is better that thou be ready to

And the people slipped away that day into the city, as people who are ashamed sneak away when they flee in battle.

in that thou love those who hate thee, and hate those who love thee. For thou have declared this day that rulers and servants are nothing to thee. For this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, th

And king David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house? Since the speech of all Israel has come to the king, [to bring him] to

Ye are my brothers, ye are my bone and my flesh. Why then are ye the last to bring back the king?

And say ye to Amasa, Are thou not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if thou not be captain of the army before me continually in the place of Joab.

And Barzillai said to the king, How many are the days of the years of my life that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?

And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is near of kin to us. Why then are ye angry for this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king's cost, or has he given us any gift?

And he came near to her, and the woman said, Are thou Joab? And he answered, I am. Then she said to him, Hear the words of thy handmaid. And he answered, I do hear.

I am of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. Thou seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why will thou swallow up the inheritance of LORD?

And the afflicted people thou will save, but thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou may bring them down.

For thou are my lamp, O LORD. And LORD will lighten my darkness.

And I have consumed them, and smitten them through, so that they cannot arise. Yea, they are fallen under my feet.

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

These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the captains, the same was Adino the Eznite, against eight hundred slain at one time.

And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait. Let us fall now into the hand of LORD, for his mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hand of man.