(He gave instructions that the people of Judah should be taught "The Bow." Indeed, it is written down in the Book of Yashar.)

Afterward David inquired of the Lord, "Should I go up to one of the cities of Judah?" The Lord told him, "Go up." David asked, "Where should I go?" The Lord replied, "To Hebron."

And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me: Why should I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother?

And Abner had communication with the elders of Israel, saying, "Ye have long gone about that David should be king over you.

Then Joab went to the king, and said, "What hast thou done? See, Abner came unto thee, why hast thou sent him away, that he should escape quite?

The king sang a lament for Abner and said, "Should Abner have died the death of a fool?

when one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead! and he was in his own sight a messenger of good, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag to whom forsooth I should give a reward for his good tidings:

Surely when wicked men have killed an innocent man as he slept in his own house, should I not now require his blood from your hands and remove you from the earth?"

Then went the king and his men to Jerusalem, unto the Jebusites the inhabiters of the land. And they said unto David, "Except thou take away the blind and the lame thou shalt not come in hither" - meaning thereby that David should not have come in thither.

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 asked the Lord what he should do. This time the Lord said to him, "Don't march straight up. Instead, circle around behind them and come against them opposite the trees.

And David was then afraid of the LORD and said, "How should the Ark of the LORD come to my house?"

Nathan replied to the king, "You should go and do whatever you have in mind, for the Lord is with you."

“Go and say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Are you the one who should build Me a house to dwell in?

Now therefore you shall tell my servant David this, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "I took you from the sheep pen, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people, over Israel.

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?

And he bowed himself and said, What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?

And it chanced in an evening that David arose from his couch and walked upon the roof of the king's palace; and from the roof saw a very beautiful woman washing herself. And he sent to enquire what woman it should be.

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!"

Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his apparel, and went into the house of the LORD and prayed; and after came to his own house and bade that they should set meat before him, and he did eat.

But now he is dead, Why should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.

and sent word through Nathan the prophet that he should be named Jedidiah for the Lord's sake.

“Don’t, my brother!” she cried. “Don’t humiliate me, for such a thing should never be done in Israel. Don’t do this horrible thing!

As for me, where should I take my disgrace? You will be as one of the fools in Israel. So please, speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you."

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 said Absalom, If not, I pray thee, let my brother Amnon go with us. And the king said to him, Why should he go with thee?

But Absalom pressed him that he should let Amnon and all the king's sons go with him.

Then Jonadab the son of Shimeah, the brother of David, responded and said, "My lord should not think that all the young men, the sons of the king, [are] dead, because only Amnon [is] dead. {Absalom was talking about it}, as it was being determined from the day he raped Tamar his sister.

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}.

And go to the king and speak of thus manner unto him." And so Joab taught her what she should say.

Then she said, Please let the king remember Jehovah your God, that you would not allow the avengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they should destroy my son. And he said, As the Lord lives, there shall not one hair of your son fall to the earth.

And the woman said, "Wherefore then hast thou determined on this same manner against the people of God? - That the king should speak this thing and be faulty therein, so that the king should not fetch home again his banished.

And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that, when any man had a suit which should come to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.

Then Absalom said moreover, "Oh, that I were a judge in the land, and that all men which have pleas and matter in the law, should come to me. For I would do them justice."

And David said to all his servants that were with him at Jerusalem, Arise, and let us flee; for we shall not else escape from Absalom: make speed to depart, lest he should overtake us suddenly, and bring evil upon us, and smite the city with the edge of the sword.

Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why should you come with us? Go back and stay with the new king, for you are a foreigner and an exile from your own country.

Whereas thou camest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and down with us? seeing I go whither I may; return thou, and take back thy brethren: mercy and truth be with thee.

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."

Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah to the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head.

And again, whom should I serve? should I not serve in the presence of his son? as I have served in thy father's presence, so will I be in thy presence.

Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, "Give us your advice. What should we do?"

So Hushai came to Absalom. Absalom said to him, "Here is what Ahithophel has advised. Should we follow his advice? If not, what would you recommend?"

At this very moment he is hiding out in one of the caves or in some other similar place. If it should turn out that he attacks our troops first, whoever hears about it will say, 'Absalom's army has been slaughtered!'

Therefore I counsel that all Israel should be generally gathered to thee, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou shouldst go to battle in thy own person.

honey, butter, sheep and cheese of kine - for David, and all the people that were with him, to eat. For they supposed that the people should be hungry, fainty, and thirsty in the wilderness.

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."

Then said Joab to the man that was telling him, Lo! since thou sawest him, why didst thou not smite him there, to the ground? then should I have been bound to give thee ten pieces of silver, and a girdle.

And the man said to Joab, Though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver in my hand, yet would I not put forth my hand against the king's son: for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware that none touch the young man Absalom.

Otherwise I should have wrought falsehood against my own life: for there is no matter hid from the king, and thou thyself wouldst have set thyself against me.

Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said again to Joab, “But whatever happens, please let me also run after the Cushite.” Joab said, “Why should you run, my son, seeing you will have no messenger’s reward for going [because you have only bad news]?”

Then King David sent a message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests saying, "Tell the elders of Judah, 'Why should you delay any further in bringing the king back to his palace, when everything Israel is saying has come to the king's attention.

My brothers, you [are] my bones and you [are] my flesh. Why should you be the last to bring back the king?'

And he bowed the hearts of all the men of Judah, as a man would bow the heart of one man: so that they sent word to the king, that he should return with all his servants.

And said to the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity to me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.

Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah responded and said, "Because of this, should not Shimei be put to death, for he cursed the anointed one of Yahweh?"

And David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries to me? shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? for do not I know that I am this day king over Israel?

For all my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king; yet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right therefore have I yet that I should cry any more unto the king?

Then the king said to him, "Why should you speak any more [about] the matter? I have decided: you and Ziba shall divide the land."

And Barzillai said to the king, How long have I to live, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?

I am this day eighty years old: and can I discern between good and evil? can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing-men and singing-women? why then should thy servant be yet a burden to my lord the king?

Thy servant will go a little way over Jordan with the king: and why should the king recompense me with such a reward?

And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more right in David than ye: why then did ye despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king? And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

I represent the peaceful and the faithful in Israel. You are attempting to destroy an important city in Israel. Why should you swallow up the Lord's inheritance?"

And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.

He asked the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? How can I make atonement so that you will bring a blessing on the Lord’s inheritance?”

Then the Gibeonites said to him, "{It is not a matter for us of} silver or gold with Saul or with his household. It is not for us to put to death anyone in Israel." He asked, "What [are] you saying [that] I should do for you all?"

And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining within the borders of Israel,

And thou madest me space to walk in, that my feet should not stumble.

And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this: is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men.

Then Gad came to David, and he told him and said to him, "Shall seven years of famine in the land come to you? Or three months of your fleeing from your enemies while he [is] pursuing you? Or should there be three days of pestilence in your land? Now consider and decide what I must return to the one who sent me a word."