And Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and deal harshly with me." But he was very afraid. Then Saul took the sword and fell upon it.

{For some time now}, even when Saul was king, you were {the one who led the army of Israel in battle}. And Yahweh your God said to you, 'You will shepherd my people Israel and will be leader over my people Israel.'"

And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, "You will not enter here." But David captured the stronghold of Zion; that [is,] the city of David.

And David went out {to meet them} and answered and said to them, "If you come in peace to me, to help me, {my heart will be joined with you}, but if [you come] to betray me to my adversaries, although [there is] no wrong on my hands, may the God of our fathers see and pass judgment."

And David said to all the assembly of Israel, "{If it seems good to you} and before Yahweh our God, {let us send word abroad} to our brothers who remain in all the land of Israel and [to] the priests and Levites with them in the cities with their pasturelands that they might be gathered to us.

Then David inquired of God, saying, "Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you put them into my hand?" And Yahweh said to him, "Go up. I will put them into your hand."

Then David inquired again of God. And God said to him, "You shall not go up after them. Go around from before them and come against them the opposite [way] of the balsam trees.

And he said to them, "You [are] the heads of the {families} for the Levites. Sanctify yourselves and your brothers and bring up the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel, to [the place] I have established for it.

And as David lived in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, "Look, I live in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of Yahweh [is] under tent curtains."

And Nathan said to David, "Whatever [is] in your heart, do, for God [is] with you."

But the princes of the {Ammonites} said to Hanun, "{Do you think} because David sent comforters to you [that] David honors your father? Is it not for the purpose of exploring [so as] to overthrow and spy out the land that his servants have come to you?"

So David said to Joab and to the commanders of the nation, "Go, count Israel from Beersheba to Dan and bring a report to me that I might know their number."

Then David said to God, "I have sinned severely [in] that I have done this thing. But now, please forgive the sin of your servant, for I have been very foolish."

So Gad came to David and said to him, "Thus says Yahweh: 'Choose for yourself:

Then David said to Gad, "{I am very troubled}. Let me into the hand of Yahweh, for his compassion is very great, but do not let me fall into the hand of a man."

And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, and as [he was about] to destroy [it], Yahweh saw and was grieved on account of the calamity. Then he said to the angel, the destroyer, "[It is] enough; slacken your hand." And the angel of Yahweh was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Then David said to God, "Was it not I [who] gave a command to count the people? Now I [am] he who has sinned, and I have certainly done wickedness, but these sheep, what have they done? O Yahweh, my God, please let your hand be against me and against the house of my father, but against your people, [let there be] no plague."

Then David said to Ornan, "Please give me the place, the threshing floor, that I might build an altar on it to Yahweh; at full price please give it to me, that the plague against the people might be stopped."

And Ornan said to David, "Take [it] to yourself; let my lord the king do what [is] good in his eyes. See, I give the cattle for the burnt offerings and threshing sledges for the wood and wheat for the grain offering--I give [it] all."

But King David said to Ornan, "No, for I will certainly buy [it] at full value; indeed, I will not take what is yours for Yahweh and offer burnt offerings for nothing."

And David said to Solomon his son, "I myself had in my heart to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God,

But God said to me, 'You may not build a house for my name because you [are] a man of war, and you have shed blood.'

And he said to me, 'Solomon your son, he himself shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him as a son to myself, and I myself will be as a father to him,

Then David said to Solomon his son, "Be strong and courageous, and do [this]! Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for Yahweh God, my God, [is] with you. He will not fail you and will not forsake you until all the work of the service of the house of Yahweh is finished.

Then David the king said to all the assembly, "God has chosen Solomon my son alone, a young man and inexperienced, and the work [is] great, for the citadel [is] not for humankind, but for Yahweh God.

And David said to all the assembly, "Bless Yahweh your God!" And all the assembly blessed Yahweh, the God of their ancestors. And they bowed down and prostrated themselves before Yahweh and the king.