In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned 33 years over all Israel and Judah.

The king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites who inhabited the land. The Jebusites had said to David: “You will never get in here. Even the blind and lame can repel you”; thinking, “David can’t get in here.”

After he arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.

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

David took the gold shields of Hadadezer’s officers and brought them to Jerusalem.

However, Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem because he always ate at the king’s table. His feet had been injured.

When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they too fled before Abishai and entered the city. So Joab withdrew from the attack against the Ammonites and went to Jerusalem.

In the spring when kings march out to war, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.

“Stay here today also,” David said to Uriah, “and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.

He removed the people who were in the city and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and iron axes, and to labor at brickmaking. He did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then he and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.

So Joab got up, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.

Absalom resided in Jerusalem two years but never saw the king.

For your servant made a vow when I lived in Geshur of Aram, saying: If the Lord really brings me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the Lord in Hebron.”

Two hundred men from Jerusalem went with Absalom. They had been invited and were going innocently, for they knew nothing about the whole matter.

David said to all the servants with him in Jerusalem, “Get up. We have to flee, or we will not escape from Absalom! Leave quickly, or he will soon overtake us, heap disaster on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”

So Zadok and Abiathar returned the ark of God to Jerusalem and stayed there.

So Hushai, David’s personal adviser, entered Jerusalem just as Absalom was entering the city.

“Where is your master’s grandson?” the king asked.

“Why, he’s staying in Jerusalem,” Ziba replied to the king, “for he said, ‘Today, the house of Israel will restore my grandfather’s kingdom to me.’”

Now Absalom and all the Israelites came to Jerusalem. Ahithophel was also with him.

Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house and asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”

“They passed by toward the water,” the woman replied to them. The men searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.

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.

When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, “Mephibosheth, why didn’t you come with me?”

The king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me, and I’ll provide for you at my side in Jerusalem.”

Barzillai replied to the king, “How many years of my life are left that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king?

So all the men of Israel deserted David and followed Sheba son of Bichri, but the men of Judah from the Jordan all the way to Jerusalem remained loyal to their king.

When David came to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the 10 concubines he had left to take care of the palace and placed them under guard. He provided for them, but he was not intimate with them. They were confined until the day of their death, living as widows.

So Joab’s men, the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and all the warriors marched out under Abishai’s command; they left Jerusalem to pursue Sheba son of Bichri.

The woman went to all the people with her wise counsel, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So he blew the ram’s horn, and they dispersed from the city, each to his own tent. Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.

When they had gone through the whole land, they returned to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and 20 days.

Then the angel extended his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, but the Lord relented concerning the destruction and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough, withdraw your hand now!” The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.