Then David took hold on his clothes, and tore them; and likewise all the men who were with him.

They mourned, and wept, and fasted until evening, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of Yahweh, and for the house of Israel; because they were fallen by the sword.

David said to him, "How were you not afraid to put forth your hand to destroy Yahweh's anointed?"

Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives. In their death, they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles. They were stronger than lions.

David brought up his men who were with him, every man with his household. They lived in the cities of Hebron.

The men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. They told David, saying, "The men of Jabesh Gilead were those who buried Saul."

The three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel: and Asahel was as light of foot as a wild gazelle.

But Joab and Abishai pursued after Abner: and the sun went down when they were come to the hill of Ammah, that lies before Giah by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon.

To David were sons born in Hebron: and his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess;

and the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah, David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron.

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

David said to Joab, and to all the people who were with him, Tear your clothes, and clothe yourselves with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. King David followed the bier.

Your hands were not bound, nor your feet put into fetters. As a man falls before the children of iniquity, so you fell." All the people wept again over him.

When [Ishbosheth], Saul's son, heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands became feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.

[Ishbosheth], Saul's son, [had] two men who were captains of bands: the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin (for Beeroth also is reckoned to Benjamin:

David took him more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron; and there were yet sons and daughters born to David.

These are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon,

David arose, and went with all the people who were with him, from Baale Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, even the name of Yahweh of Armies who sits [above] the cherubim.

David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem.

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

and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was over] the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David's sons were chief ministers.

Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Mica. All that lived in the house of Ziba were servants to Mephibosheth.

When they told it to David, he sent to meet them; for the men were greatly ashamed. The king said, "Wait at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return."

When the children of Ammon saw that they were become odious to David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth Rehob, and the Syrians of Zobah, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah with one thousand men, and the men of Tob twelve thousand men.

The children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entrance of the gate: and the Syrians of Zobah and of Rehob, and the men of Tob and Maacah, were by themselves in the field.

So Joab and the people who were with him drew near to the battle against the Syrians: and they fled before him.

When the Syrians saw that they were defeated by Israel, they gathered themselves together.

Hadadezer sent, and brought out the Syrians who were beyond the River: and they came to Helam, with Shobach the captain of the army of Hadadezer at their head.

When all the kings who were servants to Hadadezer saw that they were defeated before Israel, they made peace with Israel, and served them. So the Syrians feared to help the children of Ammon any more.

It happened, when Joab kept watch on the city, that he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew that valiant men were.

The messenger said to David, "The men prevailed against us, and came out to us into the field, and we were on them even to the entrance of the gate.

Yahweh sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, "There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.

But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; and David said to his servants, "Is the child dead?" They said, "He is dead."

He took the crown of their king from off his head; and its weight was a talent of gold, and [in it were] precious stones; and it was set on David's head. He brought forth the spoil of the city, exceeding much.

He brought forth the people who were therein, and put them under saws, and under iron picks, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick kiln: and he did so to all the cities of the children of Ammon. David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

She had a garment of various colors on her; for with such robes were the king's daughters who were virgins dressed. Then his servant brought her out, and bolted the door after her.

It happened, while they were in the way, that the news came to David, saying, "Absalom has slain all the king's sons, and there is not one of them left!"

But Absalom fled. The young man who kept the watch lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, many people were coming by way of the hillside behind him.

To Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar: she was a woman of a beautiful face.

Absalom said moreover, "Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man who has any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice!"

Two hundred men went with Absalom out of Jerusalem, who were invited, and went in their simplicity; and they didn't know anything.

David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, "Arise, and let us flee; for else none of us shall escape from Absalom. Make speed to depart, lest he overtake us quickly, and bring down evil on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword."

The king went forth, and all his household after him. The king left ten women, who were concubines, to keep the house.

David said to Ittai, "Go and pass over." Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones who were with him.

David went up by the ascent of the [Mount of] Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered, and went barefoot: and all the people who were with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.

He cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left.

The king, and all the people who were with him, came weary; and he refreshed himself there.

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En Rogel; and a female servant used to go and tell them; and they went and told king David. For they might not be seen to come into the city.

Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they passed over the Jordan. By the morning light there lacked not one of them who had not gone over the Jordan.

and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David, and for the people who were with him, to eat: for they said, "The people are hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness."

David numbered the people who were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them.

The people of Israel were struck there before the servants of David, and there was a great slaughter there that day of twenty thousand men.

All the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, "The king delivered us out of the hand of our enemies, and he saved us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now he has fled out of the land from Absalom.

There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went through the Jordan in the presence of the king.

For all my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king; yet you set your servant among those who ate at your own table. What right therefore have I yet that I should cry any more to the king?"

The men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, "We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more claim to David than you. Why then did you despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king?" The words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in custody, and provided them with sustenance, but didn't go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood.

When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Joab was clothed in his apparel of war that he had put on, and on it was a sash with a sword fastened on his waist in its sheath; and as he went forth it fell out.

He went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and to Beth Maacah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him.

They came and besieged him in Abel of Beth Maacah, and they cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart; and all the people who were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down.

Then she spoke, saying, "They were used to say in old times, 'They shall surely ask counsel at Abel;' and so they settled it.

Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. They cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. He blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

and Sheva was scribe; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

The king called the Gibeonites, and said to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn to them: and Saul sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah);

He delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the mountain before Yahweh, and all seven of them fell together. They were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of barley harvest.

and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son: and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged.

These four were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death caught me.

Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.

Smoke went up out of his nostrils. Fire out of his mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it.

At the brightness before him, coals of fire were kindled.

Then the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare by the rebuke of Yahweh, At the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.

For all his ordinances were before me. As for his statutes, I did not depart from them.

I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them. I didn't turn again until they were consumed.

After him was Eleazar the son of Dodai the son of an Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines who were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away.

After him was Shammah the son of Agee a Hararite. The Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils; and the people fled from the Philistines.

Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.