David inquired, "How were things going? Tell me!" He replied, "The people fled from the battle and many of them fell dead. Even Saul and his son Jonathan are dead!"

When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me. I answered, 'Here I am!'

He asked me, 'Who are you?' I told him, 'I'm an Amalekite.'

He said to me, 'Stand over me and finish me off! I'm very dizzy, even though I'm still alive.'

So I stood over him and put him to death, since I knew that he couldn't live in such a condition. Then I took the crown which was on his head and the bracelet which was on his arm. I have brought them here to my lord."

O mountains of Gilboa, may there be no dew or rain on you, nor fields of grain offerings! For it was there that the shield of warriors was defiled; the shield of Saul lies neglected without oil.

I grieve over you, my brother Jonathan! You were very dear to me. Your love was more special to me than the love of women.

So David sent messengers to the people of Jabesh Gilead and told them, "May you be blessed by the Lord because you have shown this kindness to your lord Saul by burying him.

Now may the Lord show you true kindness! I also will reward you, because you have done this deed.

Now be courageous and prove to be valiant warriors, for your lord Saul is dead. The people of Judah have anointed me as king over them."

So Abner spoke again to Asahel, "Turn aside from following me! I do not want to strike you to the ground. How then could I show my face in the presence of Joab your brother?"

Now Saul had a concubine named Rizpah daughter of Aiah. Ish-bosheth said to Abner, "Why did you have sexual relations with my father's concubine?"

These words of Ish-bosheth really angered Abner and he said, "Am I the head of a dog that belongs to Judah? This very day I am demonstrating loyalty to the house of Saul your father and to his relatives and his friends! I have not betrayed you into the hand of David. Yet you have accused me of sinning with this woman today!

Then Abner sent messengers to David saying, "To whom does the land belong? Make an agreement with me, and I will do whatever I can to cause all Israel to turn to you."

So David said, "Good! I will make an agreement with you. I ask only one thing from you. You will not see my face unless you bring Saul's daughter Michal when you come to visit me."

David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth son of Saul with this demand: "Give me my wife Michal whom I acquired for a hundred Philistine foreskins."

Act now! For the Lord has said to David, 'By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel from the Philistines and from all their enemies.'"

Abner said to David, "Let me leave so that I may go and gather all Israel to my lord the king so that they may make an agreement with you. Then you will rule over all that you desire." So David sent Abner away, and he left in peace.

When David later heard about this, he said, "I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the Lord of the shed blood of Abner son of Ner!

May his blood whirl over the head of Joab and the entire house of his father! May the males of Joab's house never cease to have someone with a running sore or a skin disease or one who works at the spindle or one who falls by the sword or one who lacks food!"

Then all the people came and encouraged David to eat food while it was still day. But David took an oath saying, "God will punish me severely if I taste bread or anything whatsoever before the sun sets!"

Today I am weak, even though I am anointed as king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too much for me to bear! May the Lord punish appropriately the one who has done this evil thing!"

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!"

David replied to Recab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, "As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered my life from all adversity,

when someone told me that Saul was dead -- even though he thought he was bringing good news -- I seized him and killed him in Ziklag. That was the good news I gave to him!

In the past, when Saul was our king, you were the real leader in Israel. The Lord said to you, 'You will shepherd my people Israel; you will rule over Israel.'"

So David asked the Lord, "Should I march up against the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?" The Lord said to David, "March up, for I will indeed hand the Philistines over to you."

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.

David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, "How will the ark of the Lord ever come to me?"

David replied to Michal, "It was before the Lord! I was celebrating before the Lord, who chose me over your father and his entire family and appointed me as leader over the Lord's people Israel.

I am willing to shame and humiliate myself even more than this! But with the slave girls whom you mentioned let me be distinguished!"

"Go, tell my servant David: 'This is what the Lord says: Do you really intend to build a house for me to live in?

Wherever I moved among all the Israelites, I did not say to any of the leaders whom I appointed to care for my people Israel, "Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?"'

"So now, say this to my servant David: 'This is what the Lord of hosts says: I took you from the pasture and from your work as a shepherd to make you leader of my people Israel.

I will establish a place for my people Israel and settle them there; they will live there and not be disturbed any more. Violent men will not oppress them again, as they did in the beginning

and during the time when I appointed judges to lead my people Israel. Instead, I will give you relief from all your enemies. The Lord declares to you that he himself will build a dynastic house for you.

He will build a house for my name, and I will make his dynasty permanent.

I will become his father and he will become my son. When he sins, I will correct him with the rod of men and with wounds inflicted by human beings.

But my loyal love will not be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.

Your house and your kingdom will stand before me permanently; your dynasty will be permanent.'"

King David went in, sat before the Lord, and said, "Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you should have brought me to this point?

so you may gain lasting fame, as people say, 'The Lord of hosts is God over Israel!' The dynasty of your servant David will be established before you,

Now, O sovereign Lord, you are the true God! May your words prove to be true! You have made this good promise to your servant!

Now be willing to bless your servant's dynasty so that it may stand permanently before you, for you, O sovereign Lord, have spoken. By your blessing may your servant's dynasty be blessed on into the future!"

Then David asked, "Is anyone still left from the family of Saul, so that I may extend kindness to him for the sake of Jonathan?"

The king asked, "Is there not someone left from Saul's family, that I may extend God's kindness to him?" Ziba said to the king, "One of Jonathan's sons is left; both of his feet are crippled."

David said to him, "Don't be afraid, because I will certainly extend kindness to you for the sake of Jonathan your father. You will be a regular guest at my table."

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

You will cultivate the land for him -- you and your sons and your servants. You will bring its produce and it will be food for your master's grandson to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master's grandson, will be a regular guest at my table." (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

Ziba said to the king, "Your servant will do everything that my lord the king has instructed his servant to do." So Mephibosheth was a regular guest at David's table, just as though he were one of the king's sons.

David said, "I will express my loyalty to Hanun son of Nahash just as his father was loyal to me." So David sent his servants with a message expressing sympathy over his father's death. When David's servants entered the land of the Ammonites,

Messengers told David what had happened, so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, "Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown again; then you may come back."

Joab said, "If the Arameans start to overpower me, you come to my rescue. If the Ammonites start to overpower you, I will come to your rescue.

The woman conceived and then sent word to David saying, "I'm pregnant."

So David sent a message to Joab that said, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent Uriah to David.

Uriah replied to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah reside in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and my lord's soldiers are camping in the open field. Should I go to my house to eat and drink and have marital relations with my wife? As surely as you are alive, I will not do this thing!"

Why have you shown contempt for the word of the Lord by doing evil in my sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and you have taken his wife as your own! You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

So now the sword will never depart from your house. For you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!'

But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Am I able to bring him back? I will go to him, but he cannot return to me!'"

So now assemble the rest of the army and besiege the city and capture it. Otherwise I will capture the city and it will be named for me."

He asked Amnon, "Why are you, the king's son, so depressed every morning? Can't you tell me?" So Amnon said to him, "I'm in love with Tamar the sister of my brother Absalom."

Jonadab replied to him, "Lie down on your bed and pretend to be sick. When your father comes in to see you, say to him, 'Please let my sister Tamar come in so she can fix some food for me. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I can watch. Then I will eat from her hand.'"

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

As she brought them to him to eat, he grabbed her and said to her, "Come on! Get in bed with me, my sister!"

But she said to him, "No, my brother! Don't humiliate me! This just isn't done in Israel! Don't do this foolish thing!

How could I ever be rid of my humiliation? And you would be considered one of the fools in Israel! Just speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you."

But she said to him, "No I won't, for sending me away now would be worse than what you did to me earlier!" But he refused to listen to her.

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

Her brother Absalom said to her, "Was Amnon your brother with you? Now be quiet, my sister. He is your brother. Don't take it so seriously!" Tamar, devastated, lived in the house of her brother Absalom.

Then Absalom went to the king and said, "My shearers have begun their work. Let the king and his servants go with me."

But the king said to Absalom, "No, my son. We shouldn't all go. We shouldn't burden you in that way." Though Absalom pressed him, the king was not willing to go. Instead, David blessed him.

Then Absalom said, "If you will not go, then let my brother Amnon go with us." The king replied to him, "Why should he go with you?"

Jonadab, the son of David's brother Shimeah, said, "My lord should not say, 'They have killed all the young men who are the king's sons.' For only Amnon is dead. This is what Absalom has talked about from the day that Amnon humiliated his sister Tamar.

Now don't let my lord the king be concerned about the report that has come saying, 'All the king's sons are dead.' It is only Amnon who is dead."

So the Tekoan woman went to the king. She bowed down with her face to the ground in deference to him and said, "Please help me, O king!"

The king replied to her, "What do you want?" She answered, "I am a widow; my husband is dead.

Now the entire family has risen up against your servant, saying, 'Turn over the one who struck down his brother, so that we can execute him and avenge the death of his brother whom he killed. In so doing we will also destroy the heir.' They want to extinguish my remaining coal, leaving no one on the face of the earth to carry on the name of my husband."

The Tekoan woman said to the king, "My lord the king, let any blame fall on me and on the house of my father. But let the king and his throne be innocent!"

The king said, "Bring to me whoever speaks to you, and he won't bother you again!"

She replied, "In that case, let the king invoke the name of the Lord your God so that the avenger of blood may not kill! Then they will not destroy my son!" He replied, "As surely as the Lord lives, not a single hair of your son's head will fall to the ground."

Then the woman said, "Please permit your servant to speak to my lord the king about another matter." He replied, "Tell me."

I have now come to speak with my lord the king about this matter, because the people have made me fearful. But your servant said, 'I will speak to the king! Perhaps the king will do what his female servant asks.

Yes! The king may listen and deliver his female servant from the hand of the man who seeks to remove both me and my son from the inheritance God has given us!'

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!'"

Then the king replied to the woman, "Don't hide any information from me when I question you." The woman said, "Let my lord the king speak!"

The king said, "Did Joab put you up to all of this?" The woman answered, "As surely as you live, my lord the king, there is no deviation to the right or to the left from all that my lord the king has said. For your servant Joab gave me instructions. He has put all these words in your servant's mouth.

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."

Then Joab bowed down with his face toward the ground and thanked the king. Joab said, "Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord the king, because the king has granted the request of your servant!"

But the king said, "Let him go over to his own house. He may not see my face." So Absalom went over to his own house; he did not see the king's face.

Then Joab got up and came to Absalom's house. He said to him, "Why did your servants set my portion of 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, "If only they would make me a judge in the land! Then everyone who had a judicial complaint could come to me and I would make sure he receives a just settlement."

After four years Absalom said to the king, "Let me go and repay my vow that I made to the Lord while I was in Hebron.

For I made this vow when I was living in Geshur in Aram: 'If the Lord really does allow me to return to Jerusalem, I will serve the Lord.'"

Then Absalom sent spies through all the tribes of Israel who said, "When you hear the sound of the horn, you may assume that Absalom rules in Hebron."

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!"

But Ittai replied to the king, "As surely as the Lord lives and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king is, whether dead or alive, there I will be as well!"

Then the king said to Zadok, "Take the ark of God back to the city. If I find favor in the Lord's sight he will bring me back and enable me to see both it and his dwelling place again.

However, if he should say, 'I do not take pleasure in you,' then he will deal with me in a way that he considers appropriate."

The king said to Zadok the priest, "Are you a seer? Go back to the city in peace! Your son Ahimaaz and Abiathar's son Jonathan may go with you and Abiathar.