And Saul and all Israel, hearing those words of the Philistine, were troubled and full of fear.

Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.

And Israel and the Philistines had put their forces in position, army against army.

And all the men of Israel, when they saw him, went in flight, overcome with fear.

And the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man? Clearly he has come out to put shame on Israel: and it is certain that if any man overcomes him, the king will give that man great wealth, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's family free in Israel.

And David said to the men near him, What will be done to the man who overcomes this Philistine and takes away the shame from Israel? for who is this Philistine, a man without circumcision, that he has put shame on the armies of the living God?

Then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin: but I come to you in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of the armies of Israel on which you have put shame.

This day the Lord will give you up into my hands, and I will overcome you, and take your head off you; and I will give the bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth today, so that all the earth may see that Israel has a God;

And the men of Israel and of Judah got up, and gave a cry, and went after the Philistines as far as Gath and the town doors of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines were falling down by the road from Shaaraim all the way to Gath and Ekron.

Then the children of Israel came back from going after the Philistines, and took their goods from the tents.

Now on their way, when David came back after the destruction of the Philistine, the women came out of all the towns of Israel, with songs and dances, meeting David with melody and joy and instruments of music.

But David was loved by all Israel and Judah, for he went out and came in before them.

And David said to Saul, Who am I, and what is my father's family in Israel, that I am to be son-in-law to the king?

And it was clear to Saul that the Lord was with David; and he was loved by all Israel.

For he put his life in danger and overcame the Philistine, and the Lord gave all Israel salvation: you saw it and were glad: why then are you sinning against him who has done no wrong, desiring the death of David without cause?

And Jonathan said to David, May the Lord, the God of Israel, be witness; when I have had a chance of talking to my father, about this time tomorrow, if his feelings to David are good, will I not send and give you the news?

Then David said, O Lord, the God of Israel, news has been given to your servant that it is Saul's purpose to come to Keilah and send destruction on the town because of me.

And now, is it true, as they have said to me, that Saul is coming? O Lord, the God of Israel, give ear to your servant, and say if these things are so. And the Lord said, He is coming down.

And said to him, Have no fear, for Saul my father will not get you into his power; and you will be king of Israel, and I will be by your side, and my father Saul is certain of this.

Then Saul took three thousand of the best men out of all Israel, and went in search of David and his men on the rocks of the mountain goats.

After whom has the king of Israel come out? for whom are you searching? for a dead dog, an insect.

And now I am certain that you will be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be made strong under your authority.

And death came to Samuel; and all Israel came together, weeping for him, and put his body in its resting-place in his house at Ramah. Then David went down to the waste land of Maon.

And when the Lord has done for my lord all those good things which he has said he will do for you, and has made you a ruler over Israel;

And David said to Abigail, May the Lord, the God of Israel, be praised, who sent you to me today:

For truly, by the living Lord, the God of Israel, who has kept me from doing you evil, if you had not been so quick in coming to me and meeting me, by dawn there would not have been in Nabal's house so much as one male living.

Then Saul went down to the waste land of Ziph, taking with him three thousand of the best men of Israel, to make search for David in the waste land of Ziph.

And David said to Abner, Are you not a man of war? is there any other like you in Israel? why then have you not kept watch over your lord the king? for one of the people came in to put the king your lord to death.

Then do not let my blood be drained out on the earth away from the face of the Lord: for the king of Israel has come out to take my life, like one going after birds in the mountains.

And David said to himself, Some day death will come to me by the hand of Saul: the only thing for me to do is to get away into the land of the Philistines; then Saul will give up hope of taking me in any part of the land of Israel: and so I may be able to get away from him.

And Achish had belief in what David said, saying, He has made himself hated by all his people Israel, and so he will be my servant for ever.

Now in those days the Philistines got their forces together to make war on Israel. And Achish said to David, Certainly you and your men are to go out with me to the fight.

Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel, after weeping for him, had put his body in its last resting-place in Ramah, his town. And Saul had put away from the land all those who had control of spirits and who made use of secret arts.

And the Philistines came together and put their forces in position in Shunem; and Saul got all Israel together and they took up their positions in Gilboa.

And more than this, the Lord will give Israel up with you into the hands of the Philistines: and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me: and the Lord will give up the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.

Then the rulers of the Philistines said, What are these Hebrews doing here? And Achish said to the rulers of the Philistines, Is this not David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me for a year or two, and I have never seen any wrong in him from the time when he came to me till now?

And so he made it a rule and an order for Israel from that day till now.

Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel: and the men of Israel went in flight before the Philistines, falling down wounded in Mount Gilboa.

And when the men of Israel across the valley and on the other side of Jordan saw that the army of Israel was in flight and that Saul and his sons were dead, they came out of their towns and went in flight; and the Philistines came and took them for themselves.

And David said to him, Where have you come from? And he said, I have come in flight from the tents of Israel.

And till evening they gave themselves to sorrow and weeping, and took no food, weeping for Saul and for Jonathan, his son, and for the people of the Lord and for the men of Israel; because they had come to their end by the sword.

The glory, O Israel, is dead on your high places! How have the great ones been made low!

O daughters of Israel, have sorrow for Saul, by whom you were delicately clothed in robes of red, with ornaments of gold on your dresses.

And made him king over Gilead and the Asherites and over Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin, that is, over all Israel.

(Saul's son Ish-bosheth was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he was ruler for two years.) But Judah was on the side of David.

And there was hard fighting that day; and Abner and the men of Israel gave way before the servants of David.

So Joab had a horn sounded, and all the people came to a stop, and gave up going after Israel and fighting them.

And if I do not take away the kingdom from the family of Saul and make David ruler over Israel and Judah from Dan as far as Beer-sheba!

And Abner sent men to David at Hebron, saying, Make an agreement with me, and I will give you my support in getting all Israel on your side.

Then Abner had a talk with the chief men of Israel, saying, In the past it was your desire to make David your king: so now, do it:

For the Lord has said of David, By the hand of my servant David I will make my people Israel safe from the Philistines, and from all who are against them.

And Abner said the same things to Benjamin: and he went to David in Hebron to make clear to him what seemed good to Israel and to all the people of Benjamin.

And Abner said to David, Now I will go, and make all Israel come to my lord the king, so that they may make an agreement with you, and your kingdom may be as wide as your heart's desire. Then David sent Abner away and he went in peace.

So it was clear to Israel and to all the people on that day that the king was not responsible for the death of Abner, the son of Ner.

And the king said to his servants, Do you not see that a chief and a great man has come to his end today in Israel?

Then all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said, Truly, we are your bone and your flesh.

In the past when Saul was king over us, it was you who went at the head of Israel when they went out or came in: and the Lord said to you, You are to be the keeper of my people Israel and their ruler.

So all the responsible men of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and King 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.

Ruling over Judah in Hebron for seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem, over all Israel and Judah, for thirty-three years.

And David saw that the Lord had made his position safe as king over Israel, and that he had made his kingdom great because of his people Israel.

And when the Philistines had news that David had been made king over Israel, they all went up in search of David; and David, hearing of it, went down to the strong place.

And David got together all the fighting-men of Israel to the number of thirty thousand;

And David and all the men of Israel made melody before the Lord with all their power, with songs and with corded instruments and instruments of brass.

So David and all the men of Israel took up the ark of the Lord with cries of joy and sounding of horns.

And he gave to every man and woman among all the people, among all the masses of Israel, a cake of bread and a measure of wine and a cake of dry grapes. Then all the people went away, every man to his house.

Then David came back to give a blessing to his family. And Michal, Saul's daughter, came out to him and said, How full of glory was the king of Israel today, who let himself be seen uncovered by his servant-girls like a foolish person uncovering himself without shame!

And David said to Michal, I was dancing before the Lord, who put me over your father and all his sons, to make me a ruler over the people of the Lord, over his people Israel: and I will go on playing before the Lord;

For from the day when I took the children of Israel up out of Egypt till this day, I have had no house, but have gone from place to place in a tent.

In all the places where I went with all the children of Israel, did I ever say to any of the judges of Israel, to whom I gave the care of my people Israel, Why have you not made me a house of cedar?

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

And I will make a resting-place for my people Israel, planting them there, so that they may be living in the place which is theirs, and never again be moved; and never again will they be troubled by evil men as they were at the first,

From the time when I put judges over my people Israel; and I will give you peace from all who are against you. And the Lord says to you that he will make you the head of a line of kings.

And what other nation in the earth, like your people Israel, did a god go out to take for himself, to be his people, and to make a name for himself, and to do great and strange things for them, driving out a nation and its gods from before his people?

But you took and made strong for yourself your people Israel, to be your people for ever; and you, Lord, became their God.

And let your name be made great for ever, and let men say, The Lord of armies is God over Israel: and let the family of David your servant be made strong before you!

For you, O Lord of armies, the God of Israel, have clearly said to your servant, I will make you the head of a family of kings: and so it has come into your servant's heart to make this prayer to you.

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

Now when Joab saw that their forces were in position against him in front and at his back, he took the best of the men of Israel and put them in line against the Aramaeans;

And when the Aramaeans saw that Israel had overcome them, they got themselves together.

And word of this was given to David: and he got all Israel together and went over Jordan and came to Helam. And the Aramaeans put their forces in position against David, and made an attack on him.

And the Aramaeans went in flight before Israel; and David put to the sword the men of seven hundred Aramaean war-carriages and forty thousand footmen, and Shobach, the captain of the army, was wounded, and came to his death there.

And when all the kings who were servants of Hadadezer saw that they were overcome by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became their servants. So the Aramaeans, in fear, gave no more help to the children of Ammon.

Now in the spring, at the time when kings go out to war, David sent Joab and his servants and all Israel with him; and they made waste the land of the children of Ammon, and took up their position before Rabbah, shutting it in. But David was still at Jerusalem.

And Uriah said to David, Israel and Judah with the ark are living in tents, and my lord Joab and the other servants of my lord are sleeping in the open field; and am I to go to my house and take food and drink, and go to bed with my wife? By the living Lord, and by the life of your soul, I will not do such a thing.

And Nathan said to David, You are that man. The Lord God of Israel says, I made you king over Israel, putting holy oil on you, and I kept you safe from the hands of Saul;

I gave you your master's daughter and your master's wives for yourself, and I gave you the daughters of Israel and Judah; and if that had not been enough, I would have given you such and such things.

You did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel and in the light of the sun.

And answering him, she said, O my brother, do not put shame on me; it is not right for such a thing to be done in Israel: do not this evil thing.

What will become of me in my shame? and as for you, you will be looked down on with disgust by all Israel. Now then, go and make your request to the king, for he will not keep me from you.

Now in all Israel there was no one so greatly to be praised for his beautiful form as Absalom: from his feet to the crown of his head he was completely beautiful.

And Absalom got up early, morning after morning, and took his place at the side of the public meeting-place: and when any man had a cause which had to come to the king to be judged, then Absalom, crying out to him, said, What is your town? and he would say, Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.

And this Absalom did to everyone in Israel who came to the king to have his cause judged: so Absalom, like a thief, took away the hearts of the men of Israel.

But Absalom at the same time sent watchers through all the tribes of Israel to say, At the sound of the horn you are to say, Absalom is king in Hebron.

And one came to David and said, The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom.

And the king said, And where is your master's son? And Ziba said, He is still at Jerusalem: for he said, Today Israel will give back to me the kingdom of my father.

And Absalom and the men of Israel came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel was with him.

And Hushai said to Absalom, Not so; I am for that man whom the Lord and this people and all the men of Israel have taken as king, and I will take my place with him.

And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go in to your father's women who are here looking after his house; then all Israel will have the news that you are hated by your father, and the hands of your supporters will be strong.

So they put up the tent for Absalom on the top of the house, and Absalom went in to his father's women before the eyes of all Israel.

And the saying was pleasing to Absalom and to the responsible men of Israel.