And Abner said to David, Now I will go, and make all Israel come to my lord the king, so that they may make an agreement with you, and your kingdom may be as wide as your heart's desire. Then David sent Abner away and he went in peace.

it doth stay on the head of Joab, and on all the house of his father, and there is not cut off from the house of Joab one having an issue, and leprous, and laying hold on a staff, and falling by a sword, and lacking bread.'

Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel.

So then, thus you shall say to my servant David, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, "I took you from the pasture {from following} the sheep to be a leader over my people, over Israel,

I will be a father to him, and he will be a son for me, whom I will punish when he does wrong, with a rod of men and with blows of the {human beings}.

And who is like thy people, like Israel, the one nation in the earth that God went to redeem to be a people to himself, and to make himself a name, and to do for them great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thyself from Egypt, from the nations and their gods?

And thou didst establish to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever; and thou, Jehovah, becamest their God.

And David said, Is there still anyone of Saul's family living, so that I may be a friend to him, because of Jonathan?

And the king said, Is there anyone of Saul's family still living, to whom I may be a friend in God's name? And Ziba said, There is a son of Jonathan, whose feet are damaged.

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."

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.)

And David said, I will be a friend to Hanun, the son of Nahash, as his father was a friend to me. So David sent his servants, to give him words of comfort on account of his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon.

And all the kings, servants of Hadadezer, will see that they were smitten before Israel, and they will be at peace with Israel, and serve them. And Aram will be afraid yet to save the sons of Ammon.

And it will be at the return of the year, at the time of the going forth of kings, and David will send Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they will destroy the sons of Ammon, and they will watch closely against Rabbah And David will dwell in Jerusalem.

And it will be at the time of the evening, and David will rise from off his bed, and will go upon the roof of the king's house: and he will see from the roof a woman washing herself; and the woman good of aspect exceedingly.

Then David said to the man, Go and say to Joab, Do not let this be a grief to you; for one man may come to his death by the sword like another: put up an even stronger fight against the town, and take it: and do you put heart into him.

And I, whither shall I cause my shame to go? and as for thee, thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, I pray thee, speak unto the king; for he will not withhold me from thee.

And her brother Absalom said to her, Has your brother Amnon been with you? but now, let there be an end to your crying, my sister: he is your brother, do not take this thing to heart. So Tamar went on living uncomforted in her brother's house.

The king said to Absalom, "No my son, not all of us shall go, so that we not be a burden to you." And he urged him, but he [was] not willing to go, but he blessed him.

But Absalom fled. And the young man that kept the watch lifted up his eyes and looked about. And behold, there came much people by a way that was behind his back along by a hill's side.

And it will be as he finished to speak, and behold, the king's sons came, and they will lift up their voice and weep: and the king and all his servants wept a very great weeping.

And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman, and said unto her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and anoint not thyself with oil, but be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead:

For we will certainly die and are like water that is spilled on the ground and cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not [simply] take away life, but devises plans so that the one who is banished is not driven away from Him.

Who will appoint me to be a judge in the land? When anyone arrived to file a legal complaint or other cause, he could approach me for justice and I would settle it!"

And all his servants passing by upon his hand; and all the Cherethites and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men which came at his foot from Gath, passing by at the face of the king.

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!"

Unto whom David said, If thou passest on with me, then thou shalt be a burden unto me:

but if you want to return to the city and say to Absalom, 'I [am] your servant, O king. I used to be a servant of your father, but from then and now I [will be] your servant,' then you can frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel for me.

Now just as David happened to have passed the summit of the Mount of Olives, suddenly Mephibosheth's servant Ziba met him, accompanied by a couple of saddled donkeys loaded with 200 loaves of bread, 100 clusters of raisins, 100 pieces of summer fruit, and a skin of wine!

And it will be, as Hushai the Archite, David's friend, came to Absalom, and Hushai will say to Absalom, The king shall live, the king shall live.

and I will bring all the people [who follow David] back to you. The return of everyone depends on the [death of the] man you are seeking; then all the people will be at peace [and accept you as king].”

Lo! by this time, hath, he, hidden himself in some pit, or other place, - and it shall be, as soon as he falleth upon them at the first, that he that hearkeneth for tidings will hear of it , and will say - There is a defeat among the people that are following Absolom:

Then even men who would otherwise be as brave as lions will be scared, because every Israeli knows your father is a mighty man, and they know his men are valiant!

Therefore I counsel - that there be a general gathering together unto thee of all Israel, from Dan even unto Beer-sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude, - and that, thine own presence, be going on in their midst.

and now, send hastily, and declare to David, saying, Lodge not to-night in the plains of the wilderness, and also, certainly pass over, lest there be a swallowing up of the king and of all the people who are with him.'

And it will be as David went to Mahanaim, and Shobi, son of Nahash of Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and Machir son of Ammiel of Lo-Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,

And Joab said to him, Thou shalt not be a bearer of news to-day, but thou shalt carry the news another day; but to-day thou shalt carry no news, because the king's son is dead.

And the king said unto Cushi, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Cushi answered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is.

David said, “What business is this of yours, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should be an adversary to me today? Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? For do I not know that today I am king over Israel?”

And the king said, Say nothing more about these things. I say, Let there be a division of the land between Ziba and you.

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?

Now, in that place, there happened to be an abandoned man, whose name, was Sheba son of Bichri, a man of Benjamin, - so he blew a horn, and said - We have no share in David, Nor inheritance have we in the son of Jesse, Every man to his home, O Israel!

And one of Joab's men that stood by him said, "What is he that he would be as Joab, and what is he that would be unto David instead of Joab?"

And Joab, answering her, said, Far, far be it from me to be a cause of death or destruction;

And there came to be a famine, in the days of David, for three years, year after year, so then David sought the face of Yahweh, - and Yahweh said - It respecteth Saul and his house, as to bloodshed, in that he put to death the Gibeonites.

And there will be yet war in Gath, and there will be a man of Midian, and the fingers of his hands and the toes of his feet, six and six; twenty and four of number: and also he child to Rephah

These four giants, who had been fathered by a giant in Gath, were killed at the hands of David and his servants.

They will anticipate me in the day of misfortune, And Jehovah will be a support to me:

He who is holy will see that you are holy; but to the man whose way is not straight you will be a hard judge.

And thou deliveredst me from the dissension of my people, and keepest me to be a head over nations, for the people which I knew not became my servants.

He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, A morning without clouds, When the tender grass'springeth out of the earth, Through clear shining after rain.

But all of the ungodly shall be as thorns to be thrust away, because they can't be taken with the hand,

Next in command was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines assembled at Lehi, where there happened to be an area of a field that was full of lentils, the army retreated before the Philistines.

And David, moved by a strong desire, said, If only someone would give me a drink of water from the water-hole of Beth-lehem, by the doorway into the town!

And Joab said unto the king, Now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?