Then David asked the young man who [was] reporting to him, "How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan died?"

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.

Then he said to me, 'Who [are] you?' And I said to him, 'I [am] an Amalekite.'

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

Then David said to the young man who [was] reporting to him, "Where [are] you from?" And he said, "I [am] the son of an alien man. I [am] an Amalekite."

O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, the one who clothed you with crimson, the one who {adorned your clothing with golden ornaments}.

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

But he refused to turn away, so Abner struck him in the stomach with the butt of the spear, and the spear went out of his back. He fell there and he died {on the spot}. {Then} all who came to the place where Asahel fell and died [just] stood there.

His second [was] Kileab by Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; the third [was] Absalom the son of Maacah, [who was] the daughter of Talmai the king of Geshur.

Abner sent messengers to David {where he was}, saying, "To whom does the land [belong]? {Make your covenant with me}! Look, my hand [is] with you to bring all of Israel over to you!"

Then David sent messengers to Ish-Bosheth the son of Saul, saying, "Give [me] my wife Michal whom I betrothed to myself for a hundred foreskins of [the] Philistines."

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.

May [the blood] come down on the head of Joab and all the house of his father. {May the house of Joab never lack} [one with] a bodily discharge or [one with] leprosy or [one who] grasps the distaff or [one who] falls by the sword or [one who is] lacking food."

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}.

(Now Jonathan the son of Saul had a son who [was] crippled in the feet. He [was] five years old when the message of Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse had picked him up and fled. It happened that as she [was] hurrying away to flee, he fell and became crippled. His name [was] Mephibosheth.)

They brought the head of Ish-Bosheth to David at Hebron, and they said to the king, "Here [is] the head of Ish-Bosheth, the son of Saul your enemy, who sought your life. Yahweh has given to my lord the king vengeance this day on Saul and on his offspring."

Then David answered Recab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and he said to them, "{As Yahweh lives}, who redeemed my soul from all trouble,

when the [one] who told me, "Look, Saul [is] dead," {thought that he [was] bringing good news}, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which [was] as my giving the news [back] to him.

David had said, "On that day {when we attack the Jebusites}, one must attack the lame and the blind, [those] who hate the soul of David, by [means of] the water supply." For thus the blind and the lame would say, "He cannot come into the house."

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}.

So David said to Michal, "[In the] presence of Yahweh who chose me {over} your father and {over} his household, to appoint me [as] leader over the people of Yahweh, over Israel, I have celebrated before Yahweh.

I will demean myself again more than this, and I will be abased in my eyes, but with the maids whom you mentioned, with them I will be honored."

In all of my going about among all the {Israelites}, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, 'Why did you not build me a cedar house?'" '

and I have been with you {everywhere you went}. I have cut off all of your enemies from in front of you, and I will make a great name for you, as the name of the great [ones] who [are] on the earth.

When your days [are] full and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you who will go out from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

I will be a father to him, and he will be a son for me, whom I will punish when he does wrong, with a rod of men and with blows of the {human beings}.

But my loyal love shall not depart from him as I took [it] from Saul, whom I removed from before you.

Then King David went and sat before Yahweh and said, "Who [am] I, my lord Yahweh, and what [is] my house that you have brought me up to {this place}?

Who [is] like your people, like Israel? [Israel is] the one nation on earth whose God {led them}, [in order] to redeem a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to do for you the great and awesome things for your land in the presence of your people whom he redeemed for himself from Egypt, [from the] nations and their gods.

Then David said, "[Is] there still anyone who [is] left for the house of Saul that I may show loyal love to him for the sake of Jonathan?"

Then the king said, "But [is] there still anyone of Saul's household that I may show the loyal love of God with him?" And Ziba said to the king, "There [is] still a son of Jonathan [who is] lame in the feet."

The rest of the army he placed into the hand of his brother Abishai, who {arranged them in battle lines} to meet the {Ammonites}.

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

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}.

Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerub-bosheth, if not a woman who threw an upper millstone on him from [atop] the wall and he died at Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?' Then you shall say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.'"

And a visitor came to the rich man, but he {was reluctant} to take from his flocks or from his herds to prepare a meal for the traveler when he came to him. So he took the ewe lamb of the poor man and prepared it for the man who had come to him."

Then {the anger of David was kindled} against the man, and he said to Nathan, "{As Yahweh lives}, the man who has done this {deserves to die}!

He said, "When the child [was] still alive, I fasted and I wept because I thought, 'Who knows? Yahweh may have mercy on me that the child will live.'

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.

Then he called his young man who [was] serving him and said, "Please send this woman from me to the outside, and bolt the door behind her!"

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.

Absalom commanded his servants, saying, "Please watch. At the moment the heart of Amnon [is] {tipsy} with wine, then I shall say to you, 'Strike Amnon down,' and you shall kill him! Don't be afraid. [Is] it not I myself who has commanded you? Be courageous and be {valiant!}

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.

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 look, all of the family has risen up against your servant, and they said, 'Give up the one who struck his brother, that we may kill him in exchange for the life of his brother whom he murdered. We will also wipe out the heir,' and so they would put out my embers which remain, by not preserving for my husband a name and a remnant on the face of the earth."

Then she said, "Please may the king remember Yahweh your God, {to prevent the increase of blood avengers who kill}, [so that they] not wipe out my son." He said, "{As Yahweh lives}, surely not one hair shall fall from your son to the ground."

For the king will listen, to deliver his servant from the hand of the man [who seeks] to destroy me and my son together from the inheritance of God.'

Absalom used to rise early in the morning, and he stood {beside} the road [at] the gate; {anyone} who had a legal dispute to bring to the king for judgment Absalom would call to him and say, "{Where are you from?}" And he would say, "Your servant [is] from one of the tribes of Israel."

Then Absalom would say, "{Oh, that someone would} appoint me as judge in the land, that {anyone} might come to me who had a legal dispute or a case, and I would give him justice."

Absalom did like this to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment; so Absalom stole the hearts of the people of Israel.

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.

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}.

Yahweh has returned on you all the blood of the household of Saul {whom you have supplanted as king}, and Yahweh has given the kingship into the hand of Absalom your son. Look, you [are] in disaster for you [are] a man of blood."

The king said, "{What do we have in common}, sons of Zeruiah? If he curses because Yahweh has said to him 'Curse David,' who can say, "Why have you done this?"

David said to Abishai and to all his servants, "Look, my son who came out of my loins [is] seeking my life. Now {as far as} [this] Benjaminite, leave him alone and let him curse, for Yahweh has spoken to him.

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

Then Hushai said to Absalom, "No, rather, whom Yahweh and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, to him I will be, and with him I will remain.

{Furthermore}, for whom have I served? [Is] it not in the presence of his son that I have served before your father? {So shall I serve you}!"

And Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Go to the concubines of your father whom he left behind to watch over the house, then all of Israel will hear that you made yourself odious to your father, and {all of your followers will be motivated}!"

I will come upon him while he [is] weary and {weak}. I will startle him, and all of the people who [are] with him will flee. Then I will strike down the king [while] he [is] alone.

Then I will return all the people to you; when all have returned, the man whom you [are] seeking [will be dead], but all the people will be safe."

So Hushai came to Absalom, who said to him, "Shall we do according to this word [that] Ahithophel has spoken? If not, then you tell [us]."

Now he has hidden himself in one of the caves or in one of the places. At the moment he falls on them the first time, {whoever hears} the report will say, 'There has been a defeat among the people who follow after Absalom.'

And he [is] also a {valiant warrior}, whose heart [is] like the heart of the lion. He will {certainly melt} with fear, for all Israel knows that your father [is] a mighty warrior and [those] who [are] with him [are] {valiant warriors}.

Then we will come to him in one of the places where he may be found, and we shall come upon him as the dew falls on the ground. He and all the men who are with him will not survive, [not] even one!

So then, send quickly and tell David, 'Don't spend the night at the fords of the wilderness! Moreover, by all means cross over lest the king and all the people who [are] with him be swallowed up.'"

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.

Absalom had appointed Amasa in place of Joab over the army. Now Amasa [was] the son of a man whose name [was] Ithra the Israelite, {who had married} Abigail the daughter of Nahash the sister of Zeruiah, the mother of Joab.

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.

Then Joab said to the man who [was] telling him, "Look, [if] you saw, why did you not strike him down to the ground there? {I would have gladly given you} ten pieces of silver and a leather belt."

Then ten of the young men who bore the weapons of Joab surrounded [him] and struck and killed Absalom.

Then Ahimaaz called and said to the king, "Peace." He bowed down to the king with his face to the ground, and he said, "May Yahweh your God be blessed, who has delivered the men who raised their hand against my lord the king."

Suddenly the Cushite arrived and said, "May my lord the king receive the good news, for Yahweh has vindicated you today from the power of all who stood up against you."

The king said to the Cushite, "[Is] it peace for the young man Absalom?" Then the Cushite answered, "May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up against you {to harm you} be like the young man!"

Then Joab came to the king's house and said, "Today you have humiliated the faces of all of your servants who have saved your life this day, and the life of your sons and your daughters, the life of your wives, and the life of your concubines,

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!

Now Absalom whom we anointed [as king] over us has died in the battle; so then, why [are] you taking no action to restore the king?"

Then Shimei the son of Gera, the son of the Benjaminite, who [was] from Bahurim quickly came down with the men of Judah to meet King David,

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?"

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.

Now Amasa [was] wallowing in the blood in the middle of the highway; when the man saw that all the people stood [there], he turned Amasa over from the highway into the field, and he threw a garment over him because he had seen that all who had come by him had stopped.

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.

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,

So the king took two of the sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, namely Armoni and Mephibosheth, and five of the sons of Michal the daughter of Saul whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.

So David left and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the rulers of Jabesh Gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth Shan, where [the] Philistines hung them {when} [the] Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa.

Now Yishbi in Nob, who [was] among the descendents of Raphah (now the weight of his spearhead [was] three hundredweight of bronze, and he [was] newly armed), said that he would kill David.

It happened afterward that there [was] again battle at Gob with [the] Philistines. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph who [was] among the descendants of the Raphah.

I call [upon] Yahweh who is praiseworthy, and I [am] saved from those who hate me.

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

Humble people you will deliver, but your eyes [are] on the haughty, [whom] you bring down.

This God, his way [is] blameless; the promise of Yahweh [is] flawless. He [is] a shield to all who take refuge in him.

For who [is] God apart from Yahweh? And who [is] a rock apart from our God?

I pursued those who hate me, and I destroyed them. I did not turn back until finishing them.

You have girded me with physical strength for the battle; you caused those who rose up against me to kneel under me.

{My enemies you cause to retreat from me}; I destroy those who hate me.

He brings me out from my enemies, and from those who rose up against me you lift me up, and from men of violence you rescue me.