Now may Yahweh show loyal love and faithfulness with you. I will also show the good with you that you have done in this matter.

Then Abner called to Joab and said, "Will [the] sword devour forever? Do you not know that [there] will be bitterness in the end? {How long} will you not tell the people to turn {away from pursuing} their brothers?"

He said, "Good. {I will make a covenant with you}. I am asking only one thing from you: You shall not see my face unless you bring Michal the daughter of Saul when you come to see {me}."

{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.'"

The king and his men went to Jerusalem, to the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land. They said to David, "You will not come here, for even the blind and the lame can turn you back, saying, 'David cannot come here.'"

And David inquired of Yahweh, saying, "Shall I go up to the Philistines? Will you give them into my hands?" Yahweh said to David, "Go up, for {I will certainly give} [the] Philistines into your hand."

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."

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.

I will make a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them so that they can dwell {in their own place}. They will not tremble [any] longer, and the children of wickedness will not afflict them again, as in the former days.

{In the manner that} I appointed judges over my people Israel, I will give you rest from all your enemies. And Yahweh declares to you that Yahweh will build a house for you.

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.

He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

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}.

Your name shall be great forever, {and they will say}, 'Yahweh of hosts [is] God over Israel'; and the house of your servant David shall be established before you.

For you, O Yahweh of hosts, [are] God of Israel! You have revealed to the ear of your servant, 'I will build a house for you'; therefore your servant {has found courage} to pray this prayer to you.

Then David said to him, "Don't be afraid, for {I will certainly show} loyal love to you for the sake of Jonathan your father, and I will restore to you all the lands of Saul your father. And you shall always eat food at my table."

Ziba said to the king, "According to all that my master the king commands his servant, so your servant will do." So Mephibosheth [was] eating at his table as one of the sons of the king.

David said, "I will show loyal love with Hanun, the son of Nahash, as his father showed loyal love with me." So David sent to console him concerning his father, by the hand of his servants. And the servants of David came to the land of the {Ammonites}.

Then he said, "If Aram [is] stronger than I [am], you must become my deliverer; but if the {Ammonites} [are] too strong for you, then I will come to rescue you.

Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah [are] living in the booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord [are] camping on the surface of the open field; and I, shall I go to my house to eat and to drink and to sleep with my wife? [By] your life and the life of your soul, I surely will not do this thing."

David said to Uriah, "Remain here {today}, and tomorrow I will send you away." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem on that day and the next.

Then David said to the messenger, "Thus you shall say to Joab, '{Do not feel badly about this matter}; {now one and then another} the sword will devour. Intensify your attack on the city and overthrow it.'" And he encouraged him.

So then, a sword will not turn away from your house forever, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife!'

Thus says Yahweh, 'Look, I [am] going to raise up evil against you from [within] your house, and I will take your women before your eyes, and I will give them to your neighbor, and he shall sleep with your wives {in broad daylight}.

Though you did this in secret, I will do this thing before all of Israel {in broad daylight}!'"

But because you have {utterly scorned} Yahweh in this matter, the son born for you {will certainly 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.'

And he said to him, "Why [are] you so sullen {every morning}, O son of the king? Will you not tell me?" And Amnon said to him, "I [am] in love with Tamar, the sister of my brother Absalom."

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."

So Absalom said, "But [will you] not let Amnon my brother go with us?" And the king said to him, "Why should he go with you?"

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 the king said to the woman, "Go to your house, and I myself will give the command concerning you."

The king said, "[Whoever] has spoken to you, bring him to me, and he will not touch you again."

For {we must certainly die}, and [we are] as the waters spilled to the ground which cannot be gathered. God will not take a life but devises plans for a banished person not to be cast out from him.

Now I have come to speak this word to my lord the king, because the people made me afraid, and your servant thought, 'I will speak to the king, perhaps the king will grant the request of his servant.

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.'

Then the king said to Joab, "Look, please, I will grant this thing. Go and bring back the young man Absalom."

for your servant made a vow while I [was] staying in Geshur in Aram, saying, '{If Yahweh will indeed let me return} to Jerusalem, then I will worship Yahweh.'"

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!"

But Ittai answered the king and said, "{As Yahweh lives} and {my lord the king lives}, surely in the place wherever my lord the king shall be, if for death or if for life, surely there your servant will be."

The king said to Zadok, "Let the ark of God return to the city. If I find favor in the eyes of Yawheh, he will let me return and let me see him in his dwelling place.

David said to him, "If you move on with me, you will be a burden to me,

but if you want to return to the city and say to Absalom, 'I [am] your servant, O king. I used to be a servant of your father, but from then and now I [will be] your servant,' then you can frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel for me.

[Will] not Zadok and Abiathar the priests [be] with you there? It shall be that all the words you hear from the house of the king you shall tell Zadok and Abiathar the priests.

Perhaps Yahweh will look {in my eye} and repay good for me in place of his curse this day.

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.

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}!"

Then Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Please let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will set out and pursue after David {tonight}.

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."

Hushai continued, "You know your father and his men, that they [are] mighty warriors and they {are enraged} as a bear robbed of [her] offspring in the field. Your father [is] a man of war, so he will not spend the night with the troops.

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!

[Even] if he withdraws to a city, all Israel will bring up ropes to that city, and they will drag him away to the valley until there [is] not even a pebble to be found."

David sent forth a third of the troops {under the command of Joab}, and a third {under the command of Abishai}, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, and the remaining third {under the command of Ittai} the Gittite. And the king said to the troops, "I, even I, {will certainly go out} with you."

Then the troops said, "You will not go out, for {if we must flee}, then {they will not care about us}; even if half of us die, {they will not care about us}, but now, you [are] like ten thousand of us. And so then, [it is] better for us that you be in the city to help."

The king said to them, "I will do what seems good in your eyes." So the king stood at the side of the gate [while] all of the troops went out by hundreds and by thousands.

Joab said, "No longer will I wait in your presence." Then he took three spears in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he [was] still alive in the oak tree.

Joab said to him, "You [will] not [be] a man {bringing} good news this day! You may bring good news on another day, but today you will not be bringing good news because the king's son is dead."

The sentinel said, "I [am] seeing [that] the running of the first [is] like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zakok." The king said, "He [is] a good man; he will come, for good news."

So then, get up and go out and {speak kindly to your servants}, for I swear by Yahweh, if you do not go out, no man will lodge this night with you, and this disaster [will be] greater for you than any disaster that has come upon you from your childhood until now!"

The king said to Barzillai, "You cross over with me, and I will provide for you [to dwell] with me in Jerusalem."

The king said, "Let Kimham go over with me, and I will do for him the good in your eyes, and all that you desire of me I will do for you."

Then David said to Abishai, "Now Sheba the son of Bicri will do us more harm than Absalom. You take the servants of your lord and pursue after him, lest he find fortified cities for himself and escape from us."

That is not the matter. But a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name [is] Sheba the son Bicri, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David. Give only him to us, and I will depart from the city." The woman said to Joab, "Look, his head [is] being thrown down to you over the wall."

let seven men from his sons be given over to us, and we will execute them before Yahweh in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen one of Yahweh." Then the king said, "I will give them over."

I take refuge in God, my rock, my shield, and the {strength} of my salvation. My stronghold and my refuge, O my savior, you will save me from violence!

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

Therefore I will extol you, Yahweh, among the nations! I will sing praises to your name!

Yet not so [is] my house with God, for he made an everlasting covenant for me, arranging everything. He has secured all my deliverance, and all my desire he will cause to happen.

"Go and speak to David, 'Thus says Yahweh, three things I [am] laying on you; choose for yourself one of them and I will do it to you.'"

Then the king said to Araunah, "No, but {I will certainly buy} it from you for a price; I don't want to offer to Yahweh my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the cattle for fifty shekels of silver.