(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: wherefore 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 chanted the following lament for Abner: "Should Abner have died like 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 thus thou shall say to my servant David, Thus says LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, that thou 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?

Again Mephibosheth lay himself face down and said, “What is your servant, that you would be concerned for a dead dog like me?”

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, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

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

She replied, “No, my brother! Do not violate me, for such a thing is not done in Israel; do not do this disgraceful 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 unto 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.

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.

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 unto 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!'

I give the advice that all of Israel from Dan to Beersheba should be completely gathered to you, as the sand which [is] on the seashore for abundance, with {you personally} going into the battle.

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 unto Joab, Though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver in mine hand, yet would I not put forth mine 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 mine own life: for there is no matter hid from the king, and thou thyself wouldest 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.

You are my brothers -- my very own flesh and blood! Why should you delay any further in bringing the king back?'

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 unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto 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.

Abishai son of Zeruiah replied, "For this should not Shimei be put to death? After all, he cursed the Lord's anointed!"

And David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries unto 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 household was nothing but dead men before my lord the king; yet you set your servant among those who ate at your own table. What right do I have yet that I should complain anymore to the king?”

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

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

I am this day fourscore 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? wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king?

Thy servant will go a little way over Jordan with the king: and why should the king recompense it 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?”

And the Gibeonites said unto him - It is not a matter with us of silver or gold, with Saul or with his house, neither would we have a man put to death in Israel. And he said, - What do ye say I should do for you?

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

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

And he said, Be it far from me, Jehovah, that I should do this thing! is it not the blood of the men that went at the risk of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.

Gad went to David and told him, "Shall seven years of famine come upon your land? Or shall you flee for three months from your enemy with him in hot pursuit? Or shall there be three days of plague in your land? Now decide what I should tell the one who sent me."