Do not tell it in Gath,
don’t announce it in the marketplaces of Ashkelon,
or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice,
and the daughters of the uncircumcised will gloat.

Now, may the Lord show kindness and faithfulness to you, and I will also show the same goodness to you because you have done this deed.

Then Abner called out to Joab: “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize this will only end in bitterness? How long before you tell the troops to stop pursuing their brothers?”

Afterward, they carried Asahel to his father’s tomb in Bethlehem and buried him. Then Joab and his men marched all night and reached Hebron at dawn.

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

to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish the throne of David over Israel and Judah from Dan to Beer-sheba.”

Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Look here, Abner came to you. Why did you dismiss him? Now he’s getting away.

When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they all went in search of David, but he heard about it and went down to the stronghold.

So David did exactly as the Lord commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Geba to Gezer.

As the ark of the Lord was entering the city of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.

I will establish a place for My people Israel and plant them, so that they may live there and not be disturbed again. Evildoers will not afflict them as they have done

What You have done so far was a little thing to You, Lord God, for You have also spoken about Your servant’s house in the distant future. And this is a revelation for mankind, Lord God.

He also defeated the Moabites, and after making them lie down on the ground, he measured them off with a cord. He measured every two cord lengths of those to be put to death and one length of those to be kept alive. So the Moabites became David’s subjects and brought tribute.

When the Arameans of Damascus came to assist King Hadadezer of Zobah, David struck down 22,000 Aramean men.

David made a reputation for himself when he returned from striking down 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul came to David, bowed down to the ground and paid homage. David said, “Mephibosheth!”

“I am your servant,” he replied.

“Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “since I intend to show you kindness because of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all your grandfather Saul’s fields, and you will always eat meals at my table.”

Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant that you take an interest in a dead dog like me?”

Be strong! We must prove ourselves strong for our people and for the cities of our God. May the Lord’s will be done.”

But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed 700 of their charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobach commander of their army, who died there.

Then he said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king followed him.

But Uriah slept at the door of the palace with all his master’s servants; he did not go down to his house.

Then David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him, and David got him drunk. He went out in the evening to lie down on his cot with his master’s servants, but he did not go home.

In the letter he wrote:

Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest fighting, then withdraw from him so that he is struck down and dies.

However, the archers shot down on your soldiers from the top of the wall, and some of the king’s soldiers died. Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.”

David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this matter upset you because the sword devours all alike. Intensify your fight against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him.”

When the time of mourning ended, David had her brought to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. However, the Lord considered what David had done to be evil.

Because he has done this thing and shown no pity, he must pay four lambs for that lamb.”

Why then have you despised the command of the Lord by doing what I consider evil? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife as your own wife—you murdered him with the Ammonite’s sword.

Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend you’re sick. When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare food in my presence so I can watch and eat from her hand.’”

So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to him, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of cakes in my presence so I can eat from her hand.”

Then Tamar went to his house while Amnon was lying down. She took dough, kneaded it, made cakes in his presence, and baked them.

She brought the pan and set it down in front of him, but he refused to eat. Amnon said, “Everyone leave me!” And everyone left him.

“Don’t, my brother!” she cried. “Don’t humiliate me, for such a thing should never be done in Israel. Don’t do this horrible thing!

“No,” she cried, “sending me away is much worse than the great wrong you’ve already done to me!” But he refused to listen to her.

Her brother Absalom said to her: “Has your brother Amnon been with you? Be quiet for now, my sister. He is your brother. Don’t take this thing to heart.” So Tamar lived as a desolate woman in the house of her brother Absalom.

Now Absalom commanded his young men, “Watch Amnon until he is in a good mood from the wine. When I order you to strike Amnon, then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Am I not the one who has commanded you? Be strong and courageous!”

While they were on the way, a report reached David: “Absalom struck down all the king’s sons; not even one of them survived!”

In response the king stood up, tore his clothes, and lay down on the ground, and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn.

So now, my lord the king, don’t take seriously the report that says all the king’s sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead.”

So Joab sent someone to Tekoa to bring a clever woman from there. He told her, “Pretend to be in mourning: dress in mourning clothes and don’t put on any oil. Act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for a long time.

Then the king answered the woman, “I’m going to ask you something; don’t conceal it from me!”

“Let my lord the king speak,” the woman replied.

Joab your servant has done this to address the issue indirectly, but my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the Angel of God, knowing everything on earth.”

Joab went to the king and told him. So David summoned Absalom, who came to the king and bowed down with his face to the ground before him. Then the king kissed Absalom.

When a person approached to bow down to him, Absalom reached out his hand, took hold of him, and kissed him.

Zadok was also there, and all the Levites with him were carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set the ark of God down, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until the people had finished marching past.

I will attack him while he is weak and weary, throw him into a panic, and all the people with him will scatter. I will strike down only the king

Instead, I advise that all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba—as numerous as the sand by the sea—be gathered to you and that you personally go into battle.

Now send someone quickly and tell David, ‘Don’t spend the night at the wilderness ford of the Jordan, but be sure to cross over, or the king and all the people with him will be destroyed.’”

However, a young man did see them and informed Absalom. So the two left quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it.

Ahimaaz called out to the king, “All is well,” and then bowed down to the king with his face to the ground. He continued, “May the Lord your God be praised! He delivered up the men who rebelled against my lord the king.”

The king asked, “Is the young man Absalom all right?”

Ahimaaz replied, “When Joab sent the king’s servant and your servant, I saw a big disturbance, but I don’t know what it was.”

“Now get up! Go out and encourage your soldiers, for I swear by the Lord that if you don’t go out, not a man will remain with you tonight. This will be worse for you than all the trouble that has come to you from your youth until now!”

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!’”

Shimei son of Gera, a Benjaminite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David.

There were 1,000 men from Benjamin with him. Ziba, an attendant from the house of Saul, with his 15 sons and 20 servants also rushed down to the Jordan ahead of the king.

They forded the Jordan to bring the king’s household across and do whatever the king desired.

When Shimei son of Gera crossed the Jordan, he fell down before the king

and said to him, “My lord, don’t hold me guilty, and don’t remember your servant’s wrongdoing on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. May the king not take it to heart.

For your servant knows that I have sinned. But look! Today I am the first one of the entire house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.”

Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, also went down to meet the king. He had not taken care of his feet, trimmed his mustache, or washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he returned safely.

Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim and accompanied the king to the Jordan River to see him off at the Jordan.

Rizpah, Aiah’s daughter, took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock from the beginning of the harvest until the rain poured down from heaven on the bodies. She kept the birds of the sky from them by day and the wild animals by night.

When it was reported to David what Saul’s concubine Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, had done,

The Philistines again waged war against Israel. David went down with his soldiers, and they fought the Philistines, but David became exhausted.

He parted the heavens and came down,
a dark cloud beneath His feet.

He reached down from heaven
and took hold of me;
He pulled me out of deep waters.

God—He gives me vengeance
and casts down peoples under me.

but Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field, defended it, and struck down the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory.

Three of the 30 leading warriors went down at harvest time and came to David at the cave of Adullam, while a company of Philistines was camping in the Valley of Rephaim.

Benaiah son of Jehoiada was the son of a brave man from Kabzeel, a man of many exploits. Benaiah killed two sons of Ariel of Moab, and he went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.

He also killed an Egyptian, a huge man. Even though the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went down to him with a club, snatched the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and then killed him with his own spear.

So the king said to Joab, the commander of his army, “Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba and register the troops so I can know their number.”

They crossed the Jordan and camped in Aroer, south of the town in the middle of the valley, and then proceeded toward Gad and Jazer.

They went to Gilead and to the land of the Hittites and continued on to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon.

David’s conscience troubled him after he had taken a census of the troops. He said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I’ve done. Now, Lord, because I’ve been very foolish, please take away Your servant’s guilt.”

David answered Gad, “I have great anxiety. Please, let us fall into the Lord’s hands because His mercies are great, but don’t let me fall into human hands.”

So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the appointed time, and from Dan to Beer-sheba 70,000 men died.

When David saw the angel striking the people, he said to the Lord, “Look, I am the one who has sinned; I am the one who has done wrong. But these sheep, what have they done? Please, let Your hand be against me and my father’s family.”

Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants coming toward him, so he went out and bowed to the king with his face to the ground.