Then David gave way to bitter grief, and so did all the men who were with him:

Saul and Jonathan were loved and pleasing; in their lives and in their death they were not parted; they went more quickly than eagles, they were stronger than lions.

O daughters of Israel, have sorrow for Saul, by whom you were delicately clothed in robes of red, with ornaments of gold on your dresses.

And David took all his men with him, every man with his family: and they were living in the towns round Hebron.

There were three sons of Zeruiah there, Joab and Abishai and Asahel: and Asahel was as quick-footed as a roe of the fields.

And Joab came back from fighting Abner: and when he had got all his men together, it was seen that nineteen of David's men, in addition to Asahel, were not with them.

And the sixth, Ithream, whose mother was David's wife Eglah. These were the sons of David, whose birth took place in Hebron.

So Abner, with twenty men, came to Hebron, to David. And David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him.

And David said to Joab and all the people who were with him, Go in grief and put haircloth about you, in sorrow for Abner. And King David went after the dead body.

And they put Abner's body to rest in Hebron; and the king and all the people were weeping loudly by the resting-place of Abner's body.

Your hands were free, your feet were not chained: like the downfall of a man before evil men, so was your fall. And the weeping of the people over him went on again.

And all the people took note of it and were pleased: like everything the king did, it was pleasing to the people.

And when Saul's son Ish-bosheth had news that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands became feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.

Now Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son whose feet were damaged. He was five years old when news of the death of Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and the woman who took care of him took him up and went in flight: and while she was getting him away as quickly as she was able, he had a fall and his feet were damaged. His name was Mephibosheth.

And David, and all the people who were with him, went to Baal of Judah to get the ark of God, over which the holy name is named, the name of the Lord of armies, whose place is between the winged ones.

And they put the ark of God on a new cart and took it out of the house of Abinadab which was on the hill: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were the drivers of the cart.

And when they came to Nacon's grain-floor, Uzzah put his hand on the ark of God to keep it safe in its place, for the oxen were out of control.

And when those who were lifting the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he made an offering of an ox and a fat young beast.

And I will do even worse than this, and make myself even lower in your eyes: but the servant-girls of whom you were talking will give me honour.

And I have been with you wherever you went, cutting off before you all those who were against you; and I will make your name great, like the name of the greatest ones of the earth.

And I will make a resting-place for my people Israel, planting them there, so that they may be living in the place which is theirs, and never again be moved; and never again will they be troubled by evil men as they were at the first,

And he overcame the Moabites, and he had them measured with a line when they were stretched out on the earth; marking out two lines for death and one full line for life. So the Moabites became servants to David and gave him offerings.

And Zadok and Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, were priests; and Seraiah was the scribe;

And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David's sons were priests.

And Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica. And all the people living in the house of Ziba were servants to Mephibosheth.

When David had news of it, he sent men out with the purpose of meeting them on their way, for the men were greatly shamed: and the king said, Go to Jericho till your hair is long again, and then come back.

And the children of Ammon came out and put their forces in position at the way into the town: and the Aramaeans of Zobah and of Rehob, with the men of Tob and Maacah, were by themselves in the field.

Now when Joab saw that their forces were in position against him in front and at his back, he took the best of the men of Israel and put them in line against the Aramaeans;

And Hadadezer sent for the Aramaeans who were on the other side of the River: and they came to Helam, with Shobach, the captain of Hadadezer's army, at their head.

And when all the kings who were servants of Hadadezer saw that they were overcome by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became their servants. So the Aramaeans, in fear, gave no more help to the children of Ammon.

And when Uriah came to him, David put questions to him about how Joab and the people were, and how the war was going.

So while Joab was watching the town, he put Uriah in the place where it was clear to him the best fighters were.

And when the days of weeping were past, David sent for her, and took her into his house, and she became his wife and gave him a son. But the Lord was not pleased with the thing David had done.

And the Lord sent Nathan to David. And Nathan came to him and said, There were two men in the same town: one a man of great wealth, and the other a poor man.

And then on the seventh day the child's death took place. And David's servants were in fear of giving him the news of the child's death: for they said, Truly, while the child was still living he gave no attention when we said anything to him: what will he do to himself if we give him word that the child is dead?

But when David saw that his servants were talking together quietly, he was certain that the child was dead: and he said to his servants, Is the child dead? and they said, He is.

Then his servants said to him, Why have you been acting in this way? you were weeping and going without food while the child was still living; but when the child was dead, you got up and had a meal.

And he took the crown of Milcom from his head; the weight of it was a talent of gold, and in it were stones of great price; and it was put on David's head. And he took a great store of goods from the town.

Now she had on a long robe, such as in past times the king's virgin daughters were dressed in. Then the servant put her out, locking the door after her.

Now while they were on their way, news was given to David that Absalom had put to death all the sons of the king and that not one of them was still living.

Then the king got up in great grief, stretching himself out on the earth: and all his servants were by his side, with their clothing parted.

And while he was talking, the king's sons came, with weeping and loud cries: and the king and all his servants were weeping bitterly.

And with Absalom, at his request, went two hundred men from Jerusalem, who were completely unconscious of his designs.

And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, one of David's helpers, from Giloh his town, while he was making the offerings. And the design against David became strong, for more and more people were joined to Absalom.

And David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, Come, let us go in flight, or not one of us will be safe from Absalom: let us go without loss of time, or he will overtake us quickly and send evil on us, and put the town to the sword.

So the king went out, taking with him all the people of his house, but for ten of his women, who were to take care of the house.

And David went up the slopes of the Mount of Olives weeping all the way, with his head covered and no shoes on his feet: and all the people who were with him, covering their heads, went up weeping.

And when David had gone a little way past the top of the slope, Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, came to him, with two asses on which were two hundred cakes of bread and a hundred stems of dry grapes and a hundred summer fruits and a skin of wine.

In those days the opinions of Ahithophel were valued as highly as if through him a man might get direction from God; so were they valued by David as much as by Absalom.

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting by En-rogel; and a servant-girl went from time to time and gave them news and they went with the news to King David, for it was not wise for them to let themselves be seen coming into the town.

So David and all the people who were with him went up over Jordan: when dawn came, every one of them had gone over Jordan.

And David had the people who were with him numbered, and he put over them captains of thousands and captains of hundreds.

And the people of Israel were overcome there by the servants of David, and there was a great destruction that day, and twenty thousand men were put to the sword.

And the fighting went on over all the face of the country: and the woods were responsible for more deaths than the sword.

And through all the tribes of Israel the people were having arguments, saying, The king made us safe from the hands of those who were against us and made us free from the hands of the Philistines; and now he has gone in flight from the land, because of Absalom.

And the hearts of the men of Judah were moved like one man; so that they sent to the king, saying, Come back, with all your servants.

For all my father's family were only dead men before my lord the king: and still you put your servant among those whose place is at the king's table. What right then have I to say anything more to the king?

And in answer to the men of Judah, the men of Israel said, We have ten parts in the king, and we are the first in order of birth: why did you make nothing of us? and were we not the first to make suggestions for getting the king back? And the words of the men of Judah were more violent than the words of the men of Israel.

So all the men of Israel, turning away from David, went after Sheba, the son of Bichri: but the men of Judah were true to their king, going with him from Jordan as far as Jerusalem.

And David came to his house at Jerusalem: and the king took the ten women to whom he had given the care of the house, and had them shut up, and gave them the necessaries of life, but did not go near them. So they were shut up till the day of their death, living as widows.

When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came face to face with them. Now Joab had on his war-dress, and round him a band from which his sword was hanging in its cover; and while he was walking, it came out, falling to the earth.

And Amasa was stretched out in a pool of blood in the middle of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people were stopping, he took Amasa out of the highway and put him in a field, with a cloth over him, when he saw that everyone who went by came to a stop.

And Sheva was the scribe, and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

In the days of David they were short of food for three years, year after year; and David went before the Lord for directions. And the Lord said, On Saul and on his family there is blood, because he put the Gibeonites to death.

Then the king sent for the Gibeonites; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but were the last of the Amorites, to whom the children of Israel had given an oath; but Saul, in his passion for the children of Israel and Judah, had made an attempt on their lives:)

And they said to the king, As for the man by whom we were wasted, and who made designs against us to have us completely cut off from the land of Israel,

And the Philistines went to war again with Israel; and David went down with his people, and while they were at Gob they had a fight with the Philistines:

These four were of the offspring of the Rephaim in Gath; and they came to their end by the hands of David and his servants.

The cords of hell were round me: the nets of death came on me.

Then the earth was moved with a violent shock; the bases of heaven were moved and shaking, because he was angry.

There went up a smoke from his nose, and a fire of destruction from his mouth: coals were lighted by it.

The heavens were bent, so that he might come down; and it was dark under his feet.

And he sent out his arrows, driving them in all directions; by his flames of fire they were troubled.

Then the deep beds of the sea were seen, and the bases of the world were uncovered, because of the Lord's wrath, because of the breath of his mouth.

He made me free from my strong hater, from those who were against me, because they were stronger than I.

For all his decisions were before me, and I did not put away his laws from me.

They were crying out, but there was no one to come to their help: even to the Lord, but he gave them no answer.

Then they were crushed as small as the dust of the earth, stamped down under my feet like the waste of the streets.

These were the acts of Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, who had a great name among the thirty men of war.

And the king said to Joab and the captains of the army, who were with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan as far as Beer-sheba, and have all the people numbered, so that I may be certain of the number of the people.

And Joab gave the king the number of all the people: there were in Israel eight hundred thousand fighting men able to take up arms; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand.