But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.

And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city are you? And he said, Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.

And in this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, Absalom reigns in Hebron.

And there came a messenger to David, saying, 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 unto the king, Behold, he abides at Jerusalem: for he said, Today shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father.

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

And Hushai said unto Absalom, Nay; but whom the LORD, and this people, and all the men of Israel, choose, his will I be, and with him will I abide.

And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto your father's concubines, which he has left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that you are abhorred by your father: then shall the hands of all that are with you be strong.

So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel.

And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.

And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and they who are with him are valiant men.

Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto you, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that you go to battle in your own person.

Moreover, if he has gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there.

And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the LORD had purposed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom.

Then said Hushai unto Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counseled.

Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.

So Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.

So the people went out into the field against Israel: and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim;

Where the people of Israel were slain before the servants of David, and there was there a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men.

And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel: for Joab held back the people.

And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him: and all Israel fled every one to his tent.

Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. And they told unto all the people, saying, Behold, the king does sit in the gate. And all the people came before the king: for Israel had fled every man to his tent.

And all the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, The king saved us out of the hand of our enemies, and he delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now he has fled out of the land because of Absalom.

And king David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, Speak unto the elders of Judah, saying, Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house? seeing the speech of all Israel has come to the king, even to his house.

And David said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be adversaries unto me? shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? for do not I know that I am this day king over Israel?

Then the king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went on with him: and all the people of Judah conducted the king, and also half the people of Israel.

And, behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said unto the king, Why have our brethren the men of Judah stolen you away, and have brought the king, and his household, and all David's men with him, over Jordan?

And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is near of kin to us: why then are you angry for this matter? have we eaten at all of the king's cost? or has he given us any gift?

And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more right in David than you: why then did you despise us, since our advice was first in bringing back our king? And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.

So every man of Israel went up from after David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri: but the men of Judah remained loyal to their king, from Jordan even to Jerusalem.

And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Beth-maacah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him.

I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: you seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why will you swallow up the inheritance of the LORD?

Now Joab was over all the army of Israel: and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites:

And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.)

And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shall you kill any man in Israel. And he said, What you shall say, that will I do for you.

And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the territory of Israel,

Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David grew faint.

But Abishai the son of Zeruiah aided him, and struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David swore unto him, saying, You shall go no more out with us to battle, that you quench not the light of Israel.

And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei the brother of David slew him.

Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,

The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, He that rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.

And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel had gone away:

And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.

For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, who was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, and number you the people, that I may know the number of the people.

Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the army. And Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.

And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men.

And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD heeded supplications for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

So they sought for a fair young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

And you, my lord, O king, the eyes of all Israel are upon you, that you should tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.

Even as I swore unto you by the LORD God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my place; even so will I certainly do this day.

And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel: and blow with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon.

Then you shall come up after him, that he may come and sit upon my throne; for he shall be king in my place: and I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.

And also thus said the king, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne this day, my eyes even seeing it.

That the LORD may continue his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, If your children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you (said he) a man on the throne of Israel.

Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his belt that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.

And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem.

And he said, You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign: however the kingdom has turned about, and has become my brother's: for it was his from the LORD.

And the LORD shall return his blood upon his own head, who struck down two men more righteous and better than he, and slew them with the sword, my father David not knowing of it, Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah.

And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do justice.

So king Solomon was king over all Israel.

And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household: each man his month in a year made provision.

Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and rejoicing.

And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon.

And king Solomon raised forced labor out of all Israel; and the forced labor was thirty thousand men.

And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.

And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chiefs of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.

And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.

And king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be counted nor numbered for multitude.

There was nothing in the ark except the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

And the king turned his face around, and blessed all the congregation of Israel: (and all the congregation of Israel stood;)

And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth unto David my father, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying,

Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.

And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

And the LORD has performed his word that he spoke, and I am risen up in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven:

And he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keeps covenant and mercy with your servants that walk before you with all their heart:

Therefore now, LORD God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you promised him, saying, There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that your children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as you have walked before me.

And now, O God of Israel, let your word, I pray you, be confirmed, which you spoke unto your servant David my father.

And hearken to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear in heaven your dwelling place: and when you hear, forgive.

When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy, because they have sinned against you, and shall turn again to you, and confess your name, and pray, and make supplication unto you in this house:

Then hear you in heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which you gave unto their fathers.

Then hear you in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, that you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and give rain upon your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.

Whatsoever prayer and supplication be made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who shall know every man the affliction of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:

Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of your people Israel, but comes out of a far country for your name's sake;

Hear you in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calls to you for: that all people of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as do your people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have built, is called by your name.

That your eyes may be open unto the supplication of your servant, and unto the supplication of your people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto you.

And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

Blessed be the LORD, that has given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there has not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.

And let these my words, with which I have made supplication before the LORD, be near unto the LORD our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require:

And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD.

And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered unto the LORD, two and twenty thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD.

And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath unto the river of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days.

On the eighth day he sent the people away: and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.

Then I will establish the throne of your kingdom upon Israel forever, as I promised to David your father, saying, There shall not fail you a man upon the throne of Israel.

Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people: