The Benjaminites formed their ranks behind Abner and were like a single army, standing at the top of a certain hill.

The king chanted the following lament for Abner: "Should Abner have died like a fool?

They brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David in Hebron, saying to the king, "Look! The head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who sought your life! The Lord has granted vengeance to my lord the king this day against Saul and his descendants!"

All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron saying, "Look, we are your very flesh and blood!

So David marched against Baal Perazim and defeated them there. Then he said, "The Lord has burst out against my enemies like water bursts out." So he called the name of that place Baal Perazim.

The king said to Nathan the prophet, "Look! I am living in a palace made from cedar, while the ark of God sits in the middle of a tent."

Therefore you are great, O Lord God, for there is none like you! There is no God besides you! What we have heard is true!

Who is like your people, Israel, a unique nation on the earth? Their God went to claim a nation for himself and to make a name for himself! You did great and awesome acts for your land, before your people whom you delivered for yourself from the Egyptian empire and its gods.

Then Mephibosheth bowed and said, "Of what importance am I, your servant, that you show regard for a dead dog like me?"

But the poor man had nothing except for a little lamb he had acquired. He raised it, and it grew up alongside him and his children. It used to eat his food, drink from his cup, and sleep in his arms. It was just like a daughter to him.

He called his personal attendant and said to him, "Take this woman out of my sight and lock the door behind her!"

Absalom instructed his servants, "Look! When Amnon is drunk and I say to you, 'Strike Amnon down,' kill him then and there. Don't fear! Is it not I who have given you these instructions? Be strong and courageous!"

Jonadab said to the king, "Look! The king's sons have come! It's just as I said!"

So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He told her, "Pretend to be in mourning and put on garments for mourning. Don't anoint yourself with oil. Instead, act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for some time.

The woman said, "Why have you devised something like this against God's people? When the king speaks in this fashion, he makes himself guilty, for the king has not brought back the one he has banished.

Certainly we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground that cannot be gathered up again. But God does not take away life; instead he devises ways for the banished to be restored.

So your servant said, 'May the word of my lord the king be my security, for my lord the king is like the angel of God when it comes to deciding between right and wrong! May the Lord your God be with you!'"

Your servant Joab did this so as to change this situation. But my lord has wisdom like that of the angel of God, and knows everything that is happening in the land."

So he said to his servants, "Look, Joab has a portion of field adjacent to mine and he has some barley there. Go and set it on fire." So Absalom's servants set Joab's portion of the field on fire.

Absalom said to Joab, "Look, I sent a message to you saying, 'Come here so that I can send you to the king with this message: "Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there."' Let me now see the face of the king. If I am at fault, let him put me to death!"

Absalom would then say to him, "Look, your claims are legitimate and appropriate. But there is no representative of the king who will listen to you."

It seems like you arrived just yesterday. Today should I make you wander around by going with us? I go where I must go. But as for you, go back and take your men with you. May genuine loyal love protect you!"

Look, I will be waiting at the fords of the desert until word from you reaches me."

This seemed like a good idea to Absalom and to all the leaders of Israel.

My advice therefore is this: Let all Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba -- in number like the sand by the sea! -- be mustered to you, and you lead them personally into battle.

We will come against him wherever he happens to be found. We will descend on him like the dew falls on the ground. Neither he nor any of the men who are with him will be spared alive -- not one of them!

But the soldiers replied, "You should not do this! For if we should have to make a rapid retreat, they won't be too concerned about us. Even if half of us should die, they won't be too concerned about us. But you are like ten thousand of us! So it is better if you remain in the city for support."

Joab replied, "I will not wait around like this for you!" He took three spears in his hand and thrust them into the middle of Absalom while he was still alive in the middle of the oak tree.

The king asked the Cushite, "How is the young man Absalom?" The Cushite replied, "May the enemies of my lord the king and all who have plotted against you be like that young man!"

But David said, "What do we have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? You are like my enemy today! Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Don't you realize that today I am king over Israel?"

But my servant has slandered me to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like an angel of God. Do whatever seems appropriate to you.

Then the king replied to him, "Why should you continue speaking like this? You and Ziba will inherit the field together."

Let me return so that I may die in my own city near the grave of my father and my mother. But look, here is your servant Kimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king. Do for him whatever seems appropriate to you."

Yet another battle occurred with the Philistines in Gob. On that occasion Elhanan the son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

I grind them as fine as the dust of the ground; I crush them and stomp on them like clay in the streets.

is like the light of morning when the sun comes up, a morning in which there are no clouds. He is like the brightness after rain that produces grass from the earth.

But evil people are like thorns -- all of them are tossed away, for they cannot be held in the hand.

When he saw the angel who was destroying the people, David said to the Lord, "Look, it is I who have sinned and done this evil thing! As for these sheep -- what have they done? Attack me and my family."

Araunah told David, "My lord the king may take whatever he wishes and offer it. Look! Here are oxen for burnt offerings, and threshing sledges and harnesses for wood.