And David saith unto him, 'What hath been the matter? declare, I pray thee, to me.' And he saith, that 'The people hath fled from the battle, and also a multitude hath fallen of the people, and they die; and also Saul and Jonathan his son have died.'

Saul and Jonathan! They are loved and pleasant in their lives, And in their death they have not been parted. Than eagles they have been lighter, Than lions they have been mightier!

A son of forty years, is Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, in his reigning over Israel, and two years he hath reigned, only the house of Judah have been after David.

And the number of the days that David hath been king in Hebron, over the house of Judah, is seven years and six months.

And Abner saith to him, 'Turn thee aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and seize for thee one of the youths, and take to thee his armour;' and Asahel hath not been willing to turn aside from after him.

and the sixth is Ithream, of Eglah wife of David; these have been born to David in Hebron.

And it cometh to pass, in the war being between the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abner hath been strengthening himself in the house of Saul,

And the word of Abner was with the elders of Israel, saying, 'Heretofore ye have been seeking David for king over you,

and all the people know, even all Israel, in that day, that it hath not been from the king -- to put to death Abner son of Ner.

And the son of Saul heareth that Abner is dead in Hebron, and his hands are feeble, and all Israel have been troubled.

And two men, heads of troops, have been to the son of Saul, the name of the one is Baanah, and the name of the second Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin, for also Beeroth is reckoned to Benjamin,

And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, go, and come in at the heat of the day unto the house of Ish-Bosheth, and he is lying down -- the lying down of noon;

and thither they have come, unto the midst of the house, taking wheat, and they smite him unto the fifth rib, and Rechab and Baanah his brother have escaped;

And David answereth Rechab and Baanah his brother, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and saith to them, 'Jehovah liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity,

And all the tribes of Israel come unto David, to Hebron, and speak, saying, 'Lo, we are thy bone and thy flesh;

also heretofore, in Saul's being king over us, thou hast been he who is bringing out and bringing in Israel, and Jehovah saith to thee, Thou dost feed My people Israel, and thou art for leader over Israel.'

and David riseth and goeth, and all the people who are with him, from Baale-Judah, to bring up thence the ark of God, whose name hath been called -- the name of Jehovah of Hosts, inhabiting the cherubs -- upon it.

And David hath not been willing to turn aside unto himself the ark of Jehovah, to the city of David, and David turneth it aside to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite,

and I have been more vile than this, and have been low in mine eyes, and with the handmaids whom thou hast spoken of, with them I am honoured.'

Therefore Thou hast been great, Jehovah God, for there is none like Thee, and there is no God save Thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

Yea, Thou dost establish to Thee Thy people Israel, to Thee for a people unto the age, and Thou, Jehovah, hast been to them for God.

and Toi sendeth Joram his son unto king David to ask of him of welfare, and to bless him, (because that he hath fought against Hadadezer, and smiteth him, for a man of wars with Toi had Hadadezer been), and in his hand have been vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass,

of Aram, and of Moab, and of the Bene-Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer son of Rehob king of Zobah.

and Benaiah son of Jehoiada is over both the Cherethite and the Pelethite, and the sons of David have been ministers.

and thou hast served for him the land, thou and thy sons, and thy servants, and hast brought in, and there hath been to the son of thy lord bread, and he hath eaten it; and Mephibosheth son of thy lord doth eat continually bread at my table;' and Ziba hath fifteen sons and twenty servants.

And it cometh to pass afterwards, that the king of the Bene-Ammon dieth, and Hanun his son reigneth in his stead,

and David saith, 'I do kindness with Hanun son of Nahash, as his father did with me kindness;' and David sendeth to comfort him by the hand of his servants concerning his father, and the servants of David come in to the land of the Bene-Ammon.

And the heads of the Bene-Ammon say unto Hanun their lord, 'Is David honouring thy father in thine eyes because he hath sent to thee comforters? for to search the city, and to spy it, and to overthrow it, hath not David sent his servants unto thee?'

and they declare it to David, and he sendeth to meet them, for the men have been greatly ashamed, and the king saith, 'Abide in Jericho till your beard doth spring up -- then ye have returned.'

And the Bene-Ammon see that they have been abhorred by David, and the Bene-Ammon send and hire Aram of Beth-Rehob, and Aram of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah with a thousand men, and Ish-Tob with twelve thousand men;

And the Bene-Ammon come out, and set battle in array, at the opening of the gate, and Aram of Zoba, and Rehob, and Ish-Tob, and Maacah, are by themselves in the field;

and Joab seeth that the front of the battle hath been unto him before and behind, and he chooseth of all the chosen in Israel, and setteth in array to meet Aram,

and the rest of the people he hath given into the hand of Abishai his brother, and setteth in array to meet the Bene-Ammon.

And he saith, 'If Aram be stronger than I, then thou hast been to me for salvation, and if the Bene-Ammon be stronger than thou, then I have come to give salvation to thee;

and the Bene-Ammon have seen that Aram hath fled, and they flee from the presence of Abishai, and go in to the city; and Joab turneth back from the Bene-Ammon, and cometh in to Jerusalem.

And all the kings -- servants of Hadadezer -- see that they have been smitten before Israel, and make peace with Israel, and serve them; and Aram is afraid to help any more the Bene-Ammon.

And it cometh to pass, at the revolution of the year -- at the time of the going out of the messengers -- that David sendeth Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel, and they destroy the Bene-Ammon, and lay siege against Rabbah. And David is dwelling in Jerusalem,

and he writeth in the letter, saying, 'Place ye Uriah over-against the front of the severest battle, and ye have turned back from after him, and he hath been smitten, and hath died.'

then, it hath been, if the king's fury ascend, and he hath said to thee, Wherefore did ye draw nigh unto the city to fight? did ye not know that they shoot from off the wall?

and the messenger saith unto David, 'Surely the men have been mighty against us, and come out unto us into the field, and we are upon them unto the opening of the gate,

And Jehovah sendeth Nathan unto David, and he cometh unto him, and saith to him: 'Two men have been in one city; One rich and one poor;

'Wherefore hast thou despised the word of Jehovah, to do the evil thing in His eyes? Uriah the Hittite thou hast smitten by the sword, and his wife thou hast taken to thee for a wife, and him thou hast slain by the sword of the Bene-Ammon.

And the elders of his house rise against him, to raise him up from the earth, and he hath not been willing, nor hath he eaten with them bread;

And Joab fighteth against Rabbah of the Bene-Ammon, and captureth the royal city,

and now, gather the rest of the people, and encamp against the city, and capture it, lest I capture the city, and my name hath been called upon it.'

and the people who are in it he hath brought out, and setteth to the saw, and to cutting instruments of iron, and to axes of iron, and hath caused them to pass over into the brick-kiln; and so he doth to all the cities of the Bene-Ammon; and David turneth back, and all the people, to Jerusalem.

and taketh the frying-pan, and poureth out before him, and he refuseth to eat, and Amnon saith, 'Take ye out every one from me;' and they go out every one from him.

And he hath not been willing to hearken to her voice, and is stronger than she, and humbleth her, and lieth with her.

And she saith to him, 'Because of the circumstances this evil is greater than the other that thou hast done with me -- to send me away;' and he hath not been willing to hearken to her,

and Absalom her brother saith unto her, 'Hath Amnon thy brother been with thee? and now, my sister, keep silent, he is thy brother; set not thy heart to this thing;' and Tamar dwelleth -- but desolate -- in the house of Absalom her brother.

And the king saith unto Absalom, 'Nay, my son, let us not all go, I pray thee, and we are not too heavy on thee;' and he presseth on him, and he hath not been willing to go, and he blesseth him.

And Jonadab son of Shimeah, David's brother, answereth and saith, 'Let not my lord say, The whole of the young men, the sons of the king, they have put to death; for Amnon alone is dead, for by the command of Absalom it hath been appointed from the day of his humbling Tamar his sister;

And Jonadab saith unto the king, 'Lo, the sons of the king have come; as the word of thy servant, so it hath been.'

and the soul of king David determineth to go out unto Absalom, for he hath been comforted for Amnon, for he is dead.

and Joab sendeth to Tekoah, and taketh thence a wise woman, and saith unto her, 'Feign thyself a mourner, I pray thee, and put on, I pray thee, garments of mourning, and anoint not thyself with oil, and thou hast been as a woman these many days mourning for the dead,

and in his polling his head -- and it hath been at the end of year by year that he polleth it, for it is heavy on him, and he hath polled it -- he hath even weighed out the hair of his head -- two hundred shekels by the king's weight.

and Absalom sendeth unto Joab, to send him unto the king, and he hath not been willing to come unto him; and he sendeth again a second time, and he hath not been willing to come.

And he who is declaring tidings cometh in unto David, saying, 'The heart of the men of Israel hath been after Absalom.'

and David saith to him, 'If thou hast passed on with me then thou hast been on me for a burden,

and are there not with thee there Zadok and Abiathar the priests? and it hath been, the whole of the matter that thou hearest from the house of the king thou dost declare to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests.

And Ahithophel saith unto Absalom, 'Go in unto the concubines of thy father, whom he left to keep the house, and all Israel hath heard that thou hast been abhorred by thy father, and the hands of all who are with thee have been strong.'

lo, now, he is hidden in one of the pits, or in one of the places, and it hath been, at the falling among them at the commencement, that the hearer hath heard, and said, There hath been a slaughter among the people who are after Absalom;

and we have come in unto him in one of the places where he is found, and we are upon him as the dew falleth on the ground, and there hath not been left of him and of all the men who are with him even one.

And if unto a city he is gathered, then they have caused all Israel to bear unto that city ropes, and we have drawn it unto the brook till that there hath not been found there even a stone.'

and the woman taketh and spreadeth the covering over the face of the well, and spreadeth on it the ground corn, and the thing hath not been known.

And David riseth, and all the people who are with him, and they pass over the Jordan, till the light of the morning, till one hath not been lacking who hath not passed over the Jordan.

And it cometh to pass at the coming in of David to Mahanaim, that Shobi, son of Nahash, from Rabbah of the Bene-Ammon, and Machir son of Ammiel, from Lo-Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite, from Rogelim,

and the salvation on that day becometh mourning to all the people, for the people hath heard on that day, saying, 'The king hath been grieved for his son.'

my brethren ye are, my bone and my flesh ye are, and why are ye last to bring back the king?

And to Amasa say ye, Art not thou my bone and my flesh? Thus doth God do to me, and thus He doth add, if thou art not head of the host before me all the days instead of Joab.'

for all the house of my father have been nothing except men of death before my lord the king, and thou dost set thy servant among those eating at thy table, and what right have I any more -- even to cry any more unto the king?'

And the men of Israel answer the men of Judah, and say, 'Ten parts we have in the king, and also in David more than you; and wherefore have ye lightly esteemed us, that our word hath not been first to bring back our king?' And the word of the men of Judah is sharper than the word of the men of Israel.

And there hath been called there a man of worthlessness, and his name is Sheba, son of Bichri, a Benjamite, and he bloweth with a trumpet, and saith, 'We have no portion in David, and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; each to his tents, O Israel.'

and Amasa hath not been watchful of the sword that is in the hand of Joab, and he smiteth him with it unto the fifth rib, and sheddeth out his bowels to the earth, and he hath not repeated it to him, and he dieth; and Joab and Abishai his brother have pursued after Sheba son of Bichri.

When he hath been removed out of the highway, every man hath passed on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba son of Bichri.

And Joab is over all the host of Israel, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada is over the Cherethite, and over the Pelethite,

and also, Ira the Jairite hath been minister to David.

And they say unto the king, 'The man who consumed us, and who devised against us -- we have been destroyed from stationing ourselves in all the border of Israel --

and giveth them into the hand of the Gibeonites, and they hang them in the hill before Jehovah; and the seven fall together, and they have been put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, the commencement of barley-harvest.

And Rizpah daughter of Aiah taketh the sackcloth, and stretcheth it out for herself on the rock, from the commencement of harvest till water hath been poured out upon them from the heavens, and hath not suffered a fowl of the heavens to rest upon them by day, or the beast of the field by night.

And the battle is again in Gath, and there is a man of stature, and the fingers of his hands are six, and the toes of his feet are six, twenty and four in number, and he also hath been born to the giant,

these four have been born to the giant in Gath, and they fall by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

The cords of Sheol have surrounded me, Before me have been the snares of death.

Gone up hath smoke by His nostrils. And fire from His mouth devoureth, Brands have been kindled by it.

And after him is Eleazar son of Dodo, son of Ahohi, of the three mighty men with David; in their exposing themselves among the Philistines -- they have been gathered there to battle, and the men of Israel go up --

he hath arisen, and smiteth among the Philistines till that his hand hath been weary, and his hand cleaveth unto the sword, and Jehovah worketh a great salvation on that day, and the people turn back after him only to strip off.

And Benaiah son of Jehoiada (son of a man of valour, great in deeds from Kabzeel), he hath smitten two lion-like men of Moab, and he hath gone down and smitten the lion in the midst of the pit in a day of snow.

These things hath Benaiah son of Jehoiada done, and hath a name among three mighty.

Heleb son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai son of Ribai from Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin,

Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash,

Igal son of Nathan from Zobah, Bani the Gadite,

And David riseth in the morning, and the word of Jehovah hath been unto Gad the prophet, seer of David, saying,