Ozem, the sixth, David, the seventh;

Now these were David's sons, whose birth took place in Hebron: the oldest Amnon, by Ahinoam of Jezreel; the second Daniel, by Abigail the Carmelite woman;

All these were the sons of David, in addition to the sons of his servant-wives; and Tamar was their sister.

And at Beth-marcaboth, and at Hazarsusim, and at Beth-biri, and at Shaaraim. These were their towns till David became king.

And these are those whom David made responsible for the music in the house of the Lord, after the ark had rest.

And the sons of Tola: Uzzi and Rephaiah and Jeriel and Jahmai and Ibsam and Shemuel, heads of their families; they were men of war; in the record of their generations their number in the time of David was twenty-two thousand, six hundred.

There were two hundred and twelve whose business it was to keep the doorway. These were listed by families in the country places where they were living, whom David and Samuel the seer put in their responsible positions.

And not to the Lord: for this reason, he put him to death and gave the kingdom to David, the son of Jesse.

Then all Israel came together to David at Hebron, and said, Truly, we are your bone and your flesh.

So all the responsible men of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and David made an agreement with them in Hebron before the Lord; and they put the holy oil on David and made him king over Israel, as the Lord had said by Samuel.

Then David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (which is Jebus); and the Jebusites, the people of the land, were there.

And the people of Jebus said to David, You will not come in here. But still, David took the strong place of Zion, which is the town of David.

And David said, The first to overcome the Jebusites will be chief and captain. And Joab, the son of Zeruiah, went up first, and became chief.

And David took the strong tower for his living-place, so it was named the town of David.

And David became greater and greater in power, because the Lord of armies was with him.

Now these are the chief of David's men of war who were his strong supporters in the kingdom, and, with all Israel, made him king, as the Lord had said about Israel.

This is the list of David's men of war: Ishbaal, the son of a Hachmonite, the chief of the three: he put to death three hundred at one time with his spear.

He was with David at Pas-dammim, where the Philistines had come together for the fight, near a bit of land full of barley; and the people went in flight before the Philistines.

And three of the thirty went down to David, to the rock, into the strong place of Adullam; and the army of the Philistines had taken up their position in the valley of Rephaim.

At that time David had taken cover in the strong place, and an armed force of the Philistines was in Beth-lehem.

And David, moved by a strong desire, said, If only someone would give me a drink of the water from the water-hole of Beth-lehem by the doorway into the town!

So the three, forcing a way through the Philistine army, got water from the water-hole of Beth-lehem, by the doorway into the town, and took it back to David; but David would not take it, but made an offering of it, draining it out to the Lord,

He was honoured over the thirty, but he was not equal to the first three: and David put him over his servants.

Now these are the men who came to David at Ziklag, while he was still shut up, because of Saul, the son of Kish; they were among the strong men, his helpers in war.

And some of the Gadites, siding with David, went to his strong place in the waste land, great and strong men, trained for war, expert in the use of arms, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were quick-footed like roes on the mountains;

And some of the children of Benjamin and Judah came to David in his strong place.

And David went out to them, and said to them, If you have come in peace to give me help, my heart will be united with yours; but if you have come to give me up to those who would take my life, though my hands are clean from wrongdoing, then may the God of our fathers see it and give you punishment.

Then the spirit came on Amasai, who was chief of the captains, and he said, We are yours, David, we are on your side, O son of Jesse: may peace be with you and peace be with your helpers; for God is your helper. Then David took them into his army and made them captains of the band.

And some of the men of Manasseh came over to David, when he went with the Philistines to the war against Saul, but he gave them no help: for the lords of the Philistines, after discussion, sent him away, saying, He will go back to his master Saul, at the price of our lives.

And they gave David help against the armed bands, for they were all great men of war, and captains in the army.

And from day to day more supporters came to David, till he had a great army like the army of God.

These are the numbers of the chiefs of the armed men, ready for war, who came to David at Hebron, to give the kingdom of Saul into his hands, as the Lord had said.

And from the half-tribe of Manasseh, eighteen thousand, listed by name, came to make David king.

All these men of war, expert in ordering the fight, came to Hebron with the full purpose of making David king over all Israel; and all the rest of Israel were united in their desire to make David king.

For three days they were there with David, feasting at his table, for their brothers had made ready food for them.

Then David had discussions with the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds and with every chief.

And David said to all the men of Israel who had come together there, If it seems good to you and if it is the purpose of the Lord our God, let us send to all the rest of our brothers, everywhere in the land of Israel, and to the priests and the Levites in their towns and the country round them, and get them to come together here to us;

So David sent for all Israel to come together, from Shihor, the river of Egypt, as far as the way into Hamath, to get the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.

And David went up, with all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim in Judah, to get up from there the ark of God, over which the holy Name is named, the name of the Lord whose place is between the winged ones.

Then David and all Israel made melody before God with all their strength, with songs and corded instruments of music, and with brass instruments and horns.

And David was angry because of the Lord's outburst of wrath against Uzza, and he gave that place the name Perez-uzza, to this day.

And so great was David's fear of God that day, that he said, How may I let the ark of God come to me?

So David did not let the ark come back to him to the town of David, but had it turned away and put into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

And Hiram, king of Tyre, sent men to David with cedar-trees, and stoneworkers and woodworkers for the building of his house.

And David saw that the Lord had made his position safe as king over Israel, lifting up his kingdom on high because of his people Israel.

And while he was living in Jerusalem, David took more wives and became the father of more sons and daughters.

And when the Philistines had news that David had been made king over all Israel, they went up in search of David, and David, hearing of it, went out against them.

And David, desiring directions from God, said, Am I to go up against the Philistines? and will you give them into my hands? And the Lord said, Go up; for I will give them into your hands.

So they went up to Baal-perazim, and David overcame them there, and David said, God has let the forces fighting against me be broken by my hand, as a wall is broken down by rushing water; so they gave that place the name of Baal-perazim.

And the Philistines did not take their images with them in their flight; and at David's orders they were burned with fire.

And David went for directions to God; and God said to him, You are not to go up after them; but, turning away from them, come face to face with them opposite the spice-trees.

And David did as the Lord had said; and they overcame the army of the Philistines, attacking them from Gibeon as far as Gezer.

And David's name was honoured in all lands; and the Lord put the fear of him on all nations.

And David made houses for himself in the town of David; and he got ready a place for the ark of God, and put up a tent for it.

Then David said, The ark of God may not be moved by any but the Levites, for they have been marked out by God to take the ark of God, and to do his work for ever.

And David made all Israel come together at Jerusalem, to take the ark of the Lord to its place, which he had got ready for it.

And David got together the sons of Aaron, and the Levites;

And David sent for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, Uriel, Asaiah and Joel, Shemaiah and Eliel and Amminadab,

And David gave orders to the chief of the Levites to put their brothers the music-makers in position, with instruments of music, corded instruments and brass, with glad voices making sounds of joy.

So David, and the responsible men of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went with joy to get the ark of the agreement of the Lord out of the house of Obed-edom.

And David was clothed with a robe of fair linen, as were all the Levites who took up the ark, and those who made melody, and Chenaniah the master of those who made melody; and David had on a linen ephod;

And when the ark of the agreement of the Lord came into the town of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looking out of the window, saw King David dancing and playing; and to her mind he seemed foolish.

Then they took in the ark of God and put it inside the tent which David had put up for it; and they made offerings, burned offerings and peace-offerings before God.

And when David had come to an end of making the burned offerings and peace-offerings, he gave the people a blessing in the name of the Lord.

Then on that day David first made the giving of praise to the Lord the work of Asaph and his brothers.

And all the people went away, every man to his house; and David went back to give a blessing to his family.

Now when David was living in his house, he said to Nathan the prophet, See, I am living in a house of cedar-wood, but the ark of the Lord's agreement is under the curtains of a tent.

And Nathan said to David, Do whatever is in your heart, for God is with you.

Go and say to David my servant, The Lord says, You are not to make me a house for my living-place:

So now, say to my servant David, The Lord of armies says, I took you from the fields, from keeping sheep, so that you might be a ruler over my people Israel;

So Nathan gave David an account of all these words and this vision.

Then David the king went in and took his seat before the Lord, and said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you have been my guide till now?

What more may David say to you? for you have knowledge of your servant.

So let your words be made certain and your name be made great, when men say, The Lord of armies is the God of Israel; and when the family of David your servant is made strong before you.

And it came about after this that David made an attack on the Philistines and overcame them, and took Gath with its daughter-towns out of the hands of the Philistines.

Then David overcame Hadadezer, king of Zobah, near Hamath, when he was going to make his power seen by the river Euphrates.

And David took from him a thousand war-carriages and seven thousand horsemen and twenty thousand footmen: and he had the leg-muscles of all the horses cut, keeping only enough of them for a hundred war-carriages.

And when the Aramaeans of Damascus came to the help of Hadadezer, king of Zobah, David put to the sword twenty-two thousand Aramaeans.

Then David put armed forces in Damascus, and the Aramaeans became his servants and gave him offerings. And the Lord made David overcome wherever he went.

And the gold body-covers of the servants of Hadadezer, David took to Jerusalem.

And from Tibhath and from Cun, towns of Hadadezer, David took a great store of brass, of which Solomon made the great brass water-vessel and the brass pillars and vessels.

Now when Tou, king of Hamath, had news that David had overcome all the army of Hadadezer, king of Zobah,

He sent his son Hadoram to King David, to give him words of peace and blessing, because he had overcome Hadadezer in the fight, for Hadadezer had been at war with Tou; and he gave him all sorts of vessels of gold and silver and brass.

These King David made holy to the Lord, together with the silver and gold he had taken from all nations; from Edom and Moab and from the children of Ammon and from the Philistines and from Amalek.

David put armed forces in all the towns of Edom; and all the Edomites became servants to David. The Lord made David overcome wherever he went.

So David was king over all Israel, judging and giving right decisions for all his people.

And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and the sons of David were chief of those whose places were at the king's side.

And David said, I will be a friend to Hanun, the son of Nahash, because his father was a friend to me. So David sent men to him, to give him words of comfort on account of his father. And the servants of David came to Hanun, to the land of the children of Ammon, offering him comfort.

But the chiefs of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, Does it seem to you that David is honouring your father, by sending comforters to you? is it not clear that these men have only come to go through the land and to make secret observation of it so that they may overcome it?

So Hanun took David's servants, and cutting off their hair and the skirts of their robes up to the middle, sent them away.

Then certain men went and gave David word of what had been done to them. And he sent out with the purpose of meeting them; for the men were greatly shamed. And the king said, Keep where you are at Jericho till your hair is long again, and then come back.

And when the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves hated by David, Hanun and the children of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver as payment for war-carriages and horsemen from Mesopotamia and Aram-maacah and Zobah.

And David, hearing of it, sent Joab with all the army of fighting-men.

And word of this was given to David; and he got all Israel together and went over Jordan and came to Helam and put his forces in position against them. And when David's forces were in position against the Aramaeans, the fight was started.

And the Aramaeans went in flight before Israel; and David put to the sword the men of seven thousand Aramaean war-carriages and forty thousand footmen, and put to death Shophach, the captain of the army.

And when the servants of Hadadezer saw that they were overcome by Israel, they made peace with David and became his servants: and the Aramaeans would give no more help to the children of Ammon.

Now in the spring, at the time when kings go out to war, Joab went out at the head of the armed forces and made waste all the land of the Ammonites and put his men in position before Rabbah, shutting it in. But David was still at Jerusalem. And Joab took Rabbah and made it waste.

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

And he took the people out of the town and put them to work with wood-cutting instruments, and iron grain-crushers, and axes. And this he did to all the towns of the children of Ammon. Then David and all the people went back to Jerusalem.

And when he put shame on Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimea, David's brother, put him to death.