The young man who [was] reporting to him said, "I merely happened to be on Mount Gilboa. Here Saul [was] leaning on his spear, and look, the chariots and the horsemen [were] getting close to him.

David grabbed [at] his clothes and tore them, [as did] all of the men who [were] with him.

David said to him, "How [is it that] you [were] not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy Yahweh's anointed one?"

Saul and Jonathan [were] beloved and pleasant in their lives and [were] not separated in their death. They [were] swifter than eagles, stronger than lions.

{I am distressed} over you, my brother Jonathan. you [were] very dear to me; your love [was] more wonderful to me than the love of women.

Also, David brought up his men who [were] with him, each {with} his household, and they settled in the towns of Hebron.

Then the battle {became increasingly fierce} on that day, and Abner and the men of Israel [were] defeated before the servants of David.

The three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab and Abishai and Asahel. Now Asahel [was] swift with his feet as one of the gazelles which [is] in the open field.

After Joab returned from [pursuing] Abner, he gathered all the people; nineteen of the servants of David [were] missing [along] with Asahel.

And sons [were] born to David in Hebron; his firstborn [was] Amnon by Ahinoam {from Jezreel}.

The sixth [was] Ithream by Eglah the wife of David. These [were] born to David in Hebron.

The word of Abner {came to} the elders of Israel, saying, "{For quite some time} you were seeking David as king over you.

Then Abner came to David in Hebron and with him [were] twenty men. David had prepared a feast for Abner and for the men who [were] with him.

David said to Joab and to all the people who [were] with him, "Tear your clothing and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner." Now King David [was] following after the bier.

Your hands [were] not tied and your feet [were] not in contact with bronze fetters. You have fallen as one who falls before sons of wickedness." Then {all the people wept over him again}.

Two of the men, commanders of the raiding bands, were [for] the son of Saul. The name of one [was] Baanah, and the name of the other [was] Recab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite from the descendants of Benjamin; also, Beeroth [was] regarded [as belonging] to Benjamin.

{For some time}, when Saul was king over us, {you were leading Israel in and out}. Yahweh had said to you, 'You shall be the shepherd of my people Israel, and you will be the leader over Israel.'"

David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters [were] born to him.

David got up and went and all the people who [were] with him, from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God which [is] called the name, the name of Yahweh of hosts, {upon which the cherubim sit}.

They loaded the ark of God on a new utility cart, and they carried it from the house of Abinadab, which [was] on the hill. Now Uzza and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, [were] driving the new utility cart along.

Now David and all the house of Israel [were] dancing before Yahweh, with all kinds of [musical instruments made from] ash trees, and with zithers, harps, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.

So David and all the house of Israel [were] bringing up the ark of Yahweh with shouts of joyful acclaim and with the sound of the trumpet.

Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar [were] priests and Seraiah [was] scribe.

Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was over] the Kerethites and the Pelethites, and the sons of David [were] priests.

When they told David, he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, "Remain in Jericho until your beards have grown, and then you can return."

The {Ammonites} came out and {drew up a battle formation} at the entrance of the gate, but Aram-Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah [were] alone in the open field.

Joab and all the people who [were] with him moved forward into the battle against Aram, and they fled from before him.

When the Arameans saw that they [were] defeated before Israel, they gathered themselves together.

Then Hadadezer sent and brought out the Arameans who [were] beyond the Euphrates, and they came to Helam. Now Shobach, the commander of the army of Hadadezer, {was at their head}.

{When Joab was besieging} the city, he put Uriah toward the place which he knew {there were valiant warriors}.

So Yahweh sent Nathan to David, and he came to him and said, "Two men were in a certain city; one [was] rich and the other [was] poor.

It happened on the seventh day that the child died, and the servants of David [were] afraid to tell him that the child [was] dead, for they said, "Look, when the child [was] alive, we spoke to him, but he would not listen to our voice. How can we tell him, 'The child [is] dead'? He may do [something] evil."

When David saw that his servants [were] whispering together, he realized that the child [was] dead. Then David said to his servants, "[Is] the child dead?" And they said, "He [is] dead."

He also brought out the people who [were] in it and put them to the saws and to the iron picks and to the iron axes, and he sent them to the place of the brickmakers. Thus he used to do to all the cities of the {Ammonites}, and he and all of the army returned to Jerusalem.

Now there [was] a long-sleeved robe on her, for so they clothed the daughters of the king who [were] virgins, in robes. His servant put her outside, and he bolted the door behind her.

{About two full years later}, Absalom's shearers were in Baal Hazor, which [is] near Ephraim, and Absalom summoned all the sons of the king.

{While they were on the way}, the message came to David, "Absalom has killed all the sons of the king, and not one of them [was] left."

Then the king rose and tore his garments, and he lay on the ground, and all his servants standing by [were] tearing their garments.

So Absalom fled, and the young man who [was] keeping watch lifted up his eyes and saw, and there were many people coming from the road behind him from the side of the mountain.

Three sons [were] born to Absalom and one daughter, whose name [was] Tamar. She [was] a woman beautiful of appearance.

Absalom said to Joab, "Look, I have sent to you, saying, 'Come here that I may send you to the king to say, "Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me if I [were] still there." ' So then, let me see the face of the king; if there [is] guilt in me, then let him kill me."

Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, the advisor of David, from his city Giloh, while he offered the sacrifices. The conspiracy {grew in strength}, and the people [were] going and {increasing} with Absalom.

Then David said to all his servants who [were] with him in Jerusalem, "Get up and let us flee, for there will be no escape for us from Absalom! Hurry to go, otherwise he will come quickly and overtake us! And he will bring disaster on us and evil! He will attack the city with the edge of the sword!"

All his servants [were] passing {by him}: all of the Kerethites and all of the Pelethites and all of the Gittites--six hundred men {who had followed him} from Gath--passing {before the king}.

Then David said to Ittai, "Go and pass over." So Ittai the Gittite passed over and all his men and all of the little children who [were] with him.

All of the land [was] weeping [with] a loud voice as all the people [were] passing by and the king [was] crossing through the Wadi Kidron, and all the people [were] passing {on the road to the wilderness}.

Now David [was] going up on the Ascent of the Olives, {weeping as he went}, with his head covered and going barefoot. All the people who [were] with him each covered their head {and wept as they went}.

Now David passed a little from beyond the summit, and suddenly Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth [was] there to meet him [with] a pair of saddled donkeys; on them [were] two hundred loaves of bread and a hundred raisin cakes, [with] a hundred summer fruits and a skin of wine.

When the king and all of the people who were with him arrived, he was weary, so he recovered there.

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz [were] staying at En Rogel, so a servant girl used to go and tell them, then they would go and tell King David, for they [were] not able to be seen coming to the city.

So David and all the people who [were] with him set out, and they crossed over the Jordan until morning light until {there was no one} missing who had not crossed over the Jordan.

honey, curds, sheep, cheese, and cattle for David and for the people who [were] with him to eat. For they had thought, "The troops [are] hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness."

Then David mustered the people who [were] with him, and he appointed over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds.

by loving those who hate you and hating those who love you. Indeed, you have made clear this day that you have no [regard for your] commanders or officers, for I have realized today that [were] Absalom alive, and all of us were dead, then [that would] have been right in your eyes!

Then it happened that all the people [were] disputing among all the tribes of Israel, saying, "The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies, and he saved us from the hand of [the] Philistines, but now he has fled from the land because of Absalom.

and a thousand men [were] with him from Benjamin. Too, Ziba the servant of the household of Saul and fifteen of his sons and twenty of his servants [were] with him, and they rushed to the Jordan before the king.

For there [was no one] in all the house of my father {who were not doomed to death} before my lord the king, but you set your servant among those who eat at your table. Do I have any righteousness any longer except to cry out to the king?"

Suddenly, all the men of Israel [were] coming to the king. They said to the king, "Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen away and brought the king and his household over the Jordan, with all the men of David?"

Then the people of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, "I have {ten times as much} in the king, moreover in David I have more than you. Why did you treat me with contempt {by not giving me first chance} to bring back my king?" But the words of the men of Judah [were] fiercer than the word of the men of Israel.

David went up to his house in Jerusalem, then the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to look after the house, and he put them {under confinement}. However, he provided for them, but {he did not sleep with them}. So they were confined until the day of their death, like a lifetime of widowhood.

They [were] near the big rock that [is] in Gibeon, and Amasa came before them. Joab {was dressed in his military clothing}, [with] a utility belt on him and a sword strapped to his waist in its scabbard. Now he went out, and it fell out.

And they came and besieged him in Abel Beth Maacah. They threw up a siege ramp against the city, and they stood against the ramparts. And all the army who [were] with Joab [were] battering to cause the wall to fall.

Shiya [was] secretary, and Zadok and Abiathar [were] priests.

So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites [were] not from the {Israelites}; they [were] from the remainder of the Amorites. Now the {Israelites} had sworn to them, but Saul tried to wipe them out in his zeal for the {Israelites} and Judah.

Then they said to the king, "The man who consumed us and who plotted against us [so that] we were destroyed from existing in all of the territory of Israel,

He gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they executed them on the mountain in the presence of Yahweh, and the seven fell together. Now they were put to death in the days of the harvest, at the beginning of the harvest of barley.

Once again there [was] battle at Gath, and there [was] {a man of great size}. The fingers of his hand and the toes of his feet [were] six and six, twenty-four in number. He [was] also born to the Raphah.

These four [were] born for the Raphah in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

Then the channels of water of the sea were exposed, the foundations of the world, at the rebuke of Yawheh, from the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

He delivered me from my strong enemies, from those who hate me, for they [were] mightier than I.

For all of his ordinances [were] before me, and I did not turn aside from his statutes.

These [are] the names of the mighty warriors who [were] David's: Josheb-Basshebeth a Tahkemonite [was] chief of three officers; first Adino, whose spear [was] against eight hundred slain on one occurrence.

Then three of the thirty leaders went down and came to David {at the time of the harvest} to the cave of Adullam, while a group of [the] Philistines [were] camping in the valley of [the] Rephaim.

Among the thirty [were] Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem,

Then Joab gave the number of the counting of the people to the king. Israel [was] eight hundred thousand {valiant warriors} wielding the sword, and the men of Judah [were] five hundred thousand.