I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan. Very pleasant you have been to me. Your love to me was wonderful, more than the love of women.

And Abner was very angry over the words of Ishbosheth, and said, Am I a dog's head, who shows kindness against Judah this day to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not delivered you into the hand of David? Am I a dog's head that you charge me today with a fault concerning this woman today?

And he gave out among all the people, among all the multitude of Israel, to the women as well as men, to each one a cake of bread and one raisin-cake. And all the people departed, each one to his house.

of Syria, and of Moab, and of the sons of Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

And it happened after this, the king of the sons of Ammon died, and his son Hanun reigned in his stead.

And David said, I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me. And David sent to comfort him for his father, by the hand of his servants. And David's servants came to the land of the sons of Ammon.

And the leaders of the sons of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, Do you think that David honors your father, that he has sent comforters to you? Has not David sent his servants to you to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it?

And the sons of Ammon saw that they had begun to stink before David. And the sons of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zobah, twenty thousand footmen, and from King Maacah a thousand men, and from Ishtob twelve thousand men.

And the sons of Ammon came out and put the battle in order at the entering in of the gate. And the Syrians of Zobah, and of Rehob, and Ishtob, and Maacah, were by themselves in the field.

And the rest of the people he delivered into the hand of Abishai his brother, so that he might set in order against the sons of Ammon.

And he said, If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me. But if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come and help you.

And when the sons of Ammon saw that the Syrians had fled, then they fled also before Abishai, and entered into the city. And Joab returned from the sons of Ammon and came to Jerusalem.

And all the kings, the servants of Hadarezer, saw that they were beaten before Israel, and they made peace with Israel and served them. And the Syrians feared to help the sons of Ammon any more.

And it happened at the turn of the year, at the time kings go forth, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they destroyed the sons of Ammon and circled Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

And it happened one evening, David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing. And the woman was very beautiful to look upon.

And David sent and asked about the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?

And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.

Who struck Abimelech the son of Jerub-besheth? Did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go near the wall? And you shall say, Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

Why have you despised the Word of Jehovah, to do evil in His sight? You have stricken Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon.

And Joab fought against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and took the royal city.

And he brought forth the people that were in it, and put them to the saw, and to sharp tools of iron, and to axes of iron. And he made them go over into the brick-kiln. And so he did to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. And David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

And he called his servant who waited on him and said, And put this woman out from me, and bolt the door after her.

And Joab sent to Tekoah and brought a wise woman from there. And he said to her, Please pretend yourself to be a mourner, and put on mourning clothes now, and do not anoint yourself with oil. But be like a woman who has mourned for the dead a long time.

And the woman of Tekoah spoke to the king, and bowed and said, Save, O, King!

And the king said to the woman, Go to your house, and I will give command concerning you.

And the woman of Tekoah said to the king, My lord, O king, may the iniquity be on me and on my father's house. And may the king and his throne be without guilt.

Then the woman said, Please let your handmaid speak one more word to my lord the king. And he said, Say on!

And the woman said, Why then have you thought such a thing against the people of God? For the king speaks this thing as one who is at fault, in that the king does not bring his banished one home again.

And the king answered and said to the woman, Please do not hide from me the thing that I shall ask you. And the woman said, Let my lord the king now speak.

And the king said, Is the hand of Joab with you in all this? And the woman answered and said, As your soul lives, my lord the king, none shall turn to the right hand or to the left from anything which my lord the king has spoken. For your servant Joab commanded me. And he put all these words in the mouth of your handmaid.

And there were born three sons to Absalom, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar. She was a woman with a beautiful face.

And the king went forth, and all his household after him. And the king left ten women, concubines, to keep the house.

And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth, and spread ground grain on it, and the thing was not known.

And when Absalom's servants came to the woman, to the house, 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 searched and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

And it happened when David came to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah, of the sons of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,

I am eighty years old today, and can I discern between good and evil? Can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I any more hear the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be still a burden to my lord the king?

And David came to his house at Jerusalem. And the king took the ten women, his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and fed them but did not go in to them. And they were shut up till the day of their death, living in widowhood.

Then a wise woman cried out of the city, Hear, hear! Please say to Joab, Come near here so that I may speak with you.

And when he had come near her, the woman said, Are you Joab? And he answered, I am. And she said to him, Hear the words of your handmaid. And he answered, I hear.

The matter is not so. But a man of Mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David. Only deliver him, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said to Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall.

Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. And he blew the ram's horn, and they scattered from the city, each man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.