The young man who [was] reporting to him said, "I merely happened to be on Mount Gilboa. Here Saul [was] leaning on his spear, and look, the chariots and the horsemen [were] getting close to him.

When he turned around and saw me, he called to me, and I said, 'Here I [am].'

So I stood over him and killed him, for I knew that he could not live after his falling; I took the crown that [was] on his head and [the] bracelet which [was] on his arm; and here, I have brought them to my lord.

Saul had had a concubine, and her name [was] Rizpah the daughter of Aiah. Then [Ish-Bosheth] said to Abner, "Why {did you have sex with} my father's concubine?"

So Ish-Bosheth sent and took her from [her] husband, from Paltiel the son of Laish.

But her husband went with her, {weeping all along} after her as far as Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, "Go [and] return." So he returned.

Then Joab came to the king and said, "What have you done? Abner came here to you? Why have you dismissed him that he {actually went away}?

They brought the head of Ish-Bosheth to David at Hebron, and they said to the king, "Here [is] the head of Ish-Bosheth, the son of Saul your enemy, who sought your life. Yahweh has given to my lord the king vengeance this day on Saul and on his offspring."

So all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and they said, "Here we [are], {we are your flesh and blood}.

The king and his men went to Jerusalem, to the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land. They said to David, "You will not come here, for even the blind and the lame can turn you back, saying, 'David cannot come here.'"

{And it shall be} that when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then pay attention, for then Yahweh has gone out before you to strike down the army of [the] Philistines."

It happened that when the ark of Yahweh came [into] the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked down through the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before Yahweh, and she despised him in her heart.

So for Michal the daughter of Saul, she had no child until the day of her death.

The king said to him, "Where [is] he?" And Ziba said to the king, "{He [is] here} in the house of Makir the son of Ammiel in Lo Debar."

It happened {late one afternoon} [that] David got up from his bed and walked about on the roof of the king's house, and he saw a woman bathing on her roof. Now the woman {was very beautiful}.

Then David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) And she returned to her house.

David said to Uriah, "Remain here {today}, and tomorrow I will send you away." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem on that day and the next.

When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband [was] dead, she mourned over her husband.

When the mourning [was] over, David sent and brought her to his household, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing which David had done [was] evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

but the poor [man] had nothing except for one small ewe lamb which he had bought. He had nurtured her, and she grew up with him and with his children together. She used to eat from his morsel and drink from his cup, and she used to lie in his lap and became like a daughter for him.

David consoled Bathsheba his wife, and he went to her and slept with her. She bore a son, and he called him Solomon, and Yahweh loved him.

It happened afterwards that Absalom the son of David had a beautiful sister whose name [was] Tamar, and Amnon the son of David fell in love with her.

And Amnon {was so frustrated that he felt ill} because of Tamar his sister, because she [was] a virgin, and it [was] too difficult in Amnon's eyes to do anything with her.

Then Jonadab said to him, "Lie down on your bed and appear ill. If your father comes to see you, you shall say to him, 'Please let Tamar my sister come and give me food to eat, and let her prepare the food before my eyes, in order that I may see it and eat from her hand.'"

So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill, and the king came to see him. Amnon said to the king, "Please let Tamar my sister come, and let her bake two cakes before my eyes that I may eat from her hand."

Tamar went to the house of Amnon her brother. Now he [was] lying down, and she took the dough and kneaded [it] and made cakes before his eyes, and she baked the cakes.

Then Amnon said to Tamar, "Bring the food [to] the private room that I may eat from your hand." So Tamar took the cakes which she had made and brought them to Amnon her brother in the private room.

When she brought them near to him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, "Come, lie with me, my sister!"

But he [was] not willing to listen to her voice. He [was] stronger than she, and he forced her and lay with her.

Then Amnon hated her {very deeply}, for the hatred with which he hated her [was] greater than [the] love with which he had loved her. So Amnon said to her, "Get up [and] go."

She said to him, "No, because this evil in sending me away [is] greater than the other you have done to me." But he [was] not willing to listen to her.

Then he called his young man who [was] serving him and said, "Please send this woman from me to the outside, and bolt the door behind her!"

Now there [was] a long-sleeved robe on her, for so they clothed the daughters of the king who [were] virgins, in robes. His servant put her outside, and he bolted the door behind her.

Tamar put ashes on her head, and she tore the long-sleeved robe which [was] on her. She put her hand on her head, and {she went away, crying out as she went}.

Absalom her brother said to her, "[Was] Amnon your brother with you? But now, my sister, be quiet; he [is] your brother. {Do not take this matter to heart}." So Tamar remained a desolate woman in the house of Absalom her brother.

Then Absalom went to the king and said, "Look, here [are] your servant's shearers; please let the king and his servants go with your servant.

So Joab sent to Tekoa and took from there a wise woman, and he said to her, "Please pretend to mourn and put on garments of mourning. You should not anoint yourself [with] oil, and you must act like this woman who has been mourning over the dead for {a long time}.

Then you must go to the king and speak to him according to this word." [Thus] Joab put the words in her mouth.

So the Tekoite woman spoke to the king, and she fell on her face to the ground and did obeisance. She said, "Help me, O king!"

Then the king asked her, "{What do you want}?" And she said, "Truly I [am] a widow, and my husband [is] dead.

And look, all of the family has risen up against your servant, and they said, 'Give up the one who struck his brother, that we may kill him in exchange for the life of his brother whom he murdered. We will also wipe out the heir,' and so they would put out my embers which remain, by not preserving for my husband a name and a remnant on the face of the earth."

Then she said, "Please may the king remember Yahweh your God, {to prevent the increase of blood avengers who kill}, [so that they] not wipe out my son." He said, "{As Yahweh lives}, surely not one hair shall fall from your son to the ground."

When he shaved his head, it would happen {every year}, which he did because [it was] heavy on him, he would shave it off and weigh the hair of his head: two hundred shekels {by the king's weight}.

Absalom said to Joab, "Look, I have sent to you, saying, 'Come here that I may send you to the king to say, "Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me if I [were] still there." ' So then, let me see the face of the king; if there [is] guilt in me, then let him kill me."

Then Absalom sent scouts throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, "When you hear the sound of the trumpet, you shall shout 'Absalom has become king in Hebron!'"

[Will] not Zadok and Abiathar the priests [be] with you there? It shall be that all the words you hear from the house of the king you shall tell Zadok and Abiathar the priests.

Look, there with them [are] their two sons, Ahimaaz of Zadok and Jonathan of Abiathar. You shall send to me {by means of them} all the words that you hear."

And Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Go to the concubines of your father whom he left behind to watch over the house, then all of Israel will hear that you made yourself odious to your father, and {all of your followers will be motivated}!"

Then Absalom said, "Please call also for Hushai the Arkite, and let us hear {what he has to say} also."

Hushai continued, "You know your father and his men, that they [are] mighty warriors and they {are enraged} as a bear robbed of [her] offspring in the field. Your father [is] a man of war, so he will not spend the night with the troops.

Then the king said, "Turn aside, take your place here," so he turned aside and waited.

Then he said, "My lord the king, my servant deceived me, for your servant had said, 'Let me saddle the donkey that I may ride on her and go with the king,' for your servant [is] lame.

I [am] eighty years old today. Can I discern between good and bad? Or can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Or can I still hear the voice of singing men and women? Why should your servant be a burden any longer to my lord the king?

Please let your servant return, and let me die in my city in the tomb of my father and my mother. Here [is] your servant Kimham; let him cross over with my lord the king, and do for him that which [is] good in your eyes."

Then the king said to Amasa, "Summon for me the men of Judah [within] three days, {and be here yourself}."

Then a wise woman from the city called out, "Listen, listen! Please speak to Joab [to] come near here so that I may speak to you."

Then he came near to her, and the woman asked, "[Are] you Joab?" And he said, "I [am]." Then she said to him, "Listen to the words of your servant." He said, "I [am] listening."

The woman went to all of the people with her wise plan, so they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bicri and threw [it] to Joab. Then he blew the horn and dispersed from the city, each to his tent. Then Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer what [is] good in his eyes. Look, here [are] the cattle for the burnt offering and the threshing sledge and the yokes of the oxen for the firewood.