David said to him, "How did it go? Please tell me." He answered, "The people have fled from the battle, and many of the people also have fallen and are dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also."

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

He said to me, 'Who are you?' I answered him, 'I am an Amalekite.'

David said to the young man who told him, "Where are you from?" He answered, "I am the son of a foreigner, an Amalekite."

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

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

David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead, and said to them, "Blessed are you by Yahweh, that you have shown this kindness to your lord, even to Saul, and have buried him.

Afterward, when David heard it, he said, "I and my kingdom are guiltless before Yahweh forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner.

I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me. May Yahweh reward the evildoer according to his wickedness."

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

David said on that day, "Whoever strikes the Jebusites, let him get up to the watercourse, and strike the lame and the blind, who are hated by David's soul." Therefore they say, "The blind and the lame can't come into the house."

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

I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you. I will make you a great name, like the name of the great ones who are in the earth.

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

Therefore you are great, Yahweh God. For there is none like you, neither is there any God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

"Now, O Lord Yahweh, you are God, and your words are truth, and you have promised this good thing to your servant.

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 you Ziba?" He said, "Your servant is he."

He said, "If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the children of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come and help you.

Uriah said to David, "The ark, Israel, and Judah, are staying in tents; 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? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing!"

The shooters shot at your servants from off the wall; and some of the king's servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also."

Nathan said to David, "You are the man. This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.

He said to him, "Why, son of the king, are you so sad from day to day? Won't you tell me?" Amnon said to him, "I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister."

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

Jonadab said to the king, "Behold, the king's sons are coming! It is as your servant said."

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

to change the face of the matter has your servant Joab done this thing. My lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth."

Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate. 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, "What city are you from?" He said, "Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel."

Absalom said to him, "Behold, your matters are good and right; but there is no man deputized by the king to hear you."

A messenger came to David, saying, "The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom."

The king's servants said to the king, "Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king chooses."

Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why do you also go with us? Return, and stay with the king; for you are a foreigner, and also an exile. Return to your own place.

The king said also to Zadok the priest, "Aren't you a seer? Return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar.

The king said to Ziba, What do you mean by these? 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 wilderness may drink.

Yahweh has returned on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned! Yahweh has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son! Behold, you are caught by your own mischief, because you are a man of blood!"

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

I will come on him while he is weary and exhausted, and will make him afraid. All the people who are with him shall flee. I will strike the king only;

Hushai said moreover, "You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are fierce in their minds, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Your father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.

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

So shall we come on him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light on 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, 'Don't 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.'"

Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house; and they said, "Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" The woman said to them, "They have gone over the brook of water." When they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

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, "You 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 you are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore now it is better that you are ready to help us out of the city."

The people snuck into the city that day, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.

in that you love those who hate you, and hate those who love you. For you have declared this day, that princes and servants are nothing to you. For today I perceive that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it would have pleased you well.

King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, "Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, 'Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house? Since the speech of all Israel has come to the king, to return him to his house.

You are my brothers, you are my bone and my flesh. Why then are you the last to bring back the king?'

Say to Amasa, 'Aren't you my bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if you aren't captain of the army before me continually in the room of Joab.'"

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?

All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, "Because the king is a close relative to us. Why then are you angry about this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king's cost? Or has he given us any gift?"

He came near to her; and the woman said, "Are you Joab?" He answered, "I am." Then she said to him, "Hear the words of your handmaid." He answered, "I do hear."

I am among those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up the inheritance of Yahweh?"

You will save the afflicted people, But your eyes are on the haughty, that you may bring them down.

For you are my lamp, Yahweh. Yahweh will light up my darkness.

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

David said to Gad, "I am in distress. Let us fall now into the hand of Yahweh; for his mercies are great. Let me not fall into the hand of man."