So David and his men rose early to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

And it came to pass, when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, that, the Amalekites, had made a raid into the South, and into Ziklag, and had smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire;

And David said to him, Canst thou conduct me down to this company? And he said, Swear to me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will lead thee down to this company.

Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the LORD hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand.

And who would listen to you regarding this matter? For as the share of the one who went down into the battle, so the share of the one who remained with the baggage will be. They will share alike."

And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people.

And it came to pass after this, that David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the LORD said to him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, To Hebron.

Then each man grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his sword into his opponent’s side so that they all died together. So this place, which is in Gibeon, is named Field of Blades.

Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ish-bosheth, and said, Am I a dog's head, who against Judah do show kindness this day to the house of Saul thy father, to his brethren, and to his friends, and have not delivered thee into the hand of David, that thou chargest me to-day with a fault concerning this woman?

And he saith, 'Good -- I make with thee a covenant; only, one thing I am asking of thee, that is, Thou dost not see my face, except thou dost first bring in Michal, daughter of Saul in thy coming into see my face.'

So Abner told David, "Give me permission to go out and rally all of Israel to your majesty the king so they can enter into a formal agreement with you to reign over everything that your heart desires." So David sent Abner off, and he went away in peace.

And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there in the body, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.

Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters: as a man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou. And all the people wept again over him.

And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went and came in about the heat of the day into the house of Ishbosheth, who was taking his noonday rest.

And they came thither into the midst of the house, as though they would have fetched wheat; and they smote him under the fifth rib: and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped.

For when they came into the house, he lay on his bed in his bed-chamber, and they smote him, and slew him, and beheaded him, and took his head, and went away through the plain all night.

So all the elders of Israel approached the king at Hebron, where King David entered into a covenant with them in the presence of the LORD. Then they anointed David to be king over Israel.

And David said on that day, Whoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated by David's soul, he shall be chief and captain: Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.

Therefore they say, "The blind and lame are never to come into the house." David occupied the fortress, naming it the City of David. He built up the surroundings from the terrace ramparts inward.

And, when the Philistine heard that they had anointed David to be king over Israel, then came up all the Philistines to seek to secure David, and David heard of it, and went down into the citadel.

And David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into my hand? And the LORD said to David, Go up: for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into thy hand.

David flew into a rage because the LORD had killed Uzzah. That's why that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day.

So David would not remove the ark of the LORD to him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

And it was told king David, saying, The LORD hath blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertaineth to him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness.

And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal, Saul's daughter, looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.

The king settled into his palace, for the Lord gave him relief from all his enemies on all sides.

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.

Now be willing to bless your servant's dynasty so that it may stand permanently before you, for you, O sovereign Lord, have spoken. By your blessing may your servant's dynasty be blessed on into the future!"

Then said David, I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me. And David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon.

And the children of Ammon came out and put their forces in position at the way into the town: and the Aramaeans of Zobah and of Rehob, with the men of Tob and Maacah, were by themselves in the field.

And the rest of the people he delivered into the hand of Abishai his brother, that he might put them in array against the children of Ammon.

Joab and all the people who [were] with him moved forward into the battle against Aram, and they fled from before him.

And when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians had fled, then fled they also before Abishai, and entered into the city. So Joab returned from the children of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem.

Then they told David, saying, "Uriah descended not into his house." Then said David unto Uriah, "Seeing that thou art come from journeying, why dost thou not go down unto thine house?"

And Uriah said to David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.

And the messenger said to David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out to us into the field, and we were upon them even to the entrance of the gate.

Then David said to the man, Go and say to Joab, Do not let this be a grief to you; for one man may come to his death by the sword like another: put up an even stronger fight against the town, and take it: and do you put heart into him.

When Uriah's wife heard about the death of her husband Uriah, she went into mourning for the head of her household.

And, when the time of mourning had passed, David sent and received her into his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing which David had done was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh.

David flew into a rage at the man and told Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!

And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given to thee such and such things.

Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshiped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he ate.

And he brought forth the people that were in it, and put them to the saw, and to sharp tools of iron, and to axes of iron. And he made them go over into the brick-kiln. And so he did to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. And David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

And Amnon said to Tamar, Bring the food into the chamber, that I may eat from thy hand. And Tamar took the cakes which she had made, and brought them into the chamber to Amnon her brother.

But he was unwilling to listen to what she was saying. Since he was stronger than she was, he forced her into having sex with him.

When King David heard all about these developments, he flew into a rage over it.

and come to the king, and speak after this manner to him. And Joab put the words into her mouth.

Your servant has two sons. When the two of them got into a fight in the field, there was no one present who could intervene. One of them struck the other and killed him.

And the king said, Is the hand of Joab with thee in all this? And the woman answered and said, As thy soul liveth, my lord, O king, there is no turning to the right hand or to the left from aught that my lord the king has spoken; for thy servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all these words into the mouth of thy bondmaid:

When Absalom had dwelt two years in Jerusalem without coming into the king's presence he sent for Joab, to have sent him to the king.

And Absalom sent emissaries into all the tribes of Israel, saying, When ye hear the sound of the trumpet, ye shall say, Absalom reigns in Hebron.

And the king said to Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favor in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and show me both it, and his habitation:

The king said also to Zadok the priest, Art not thou a seer? return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz thy son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar.

And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O LORD, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.

But if you go back to the town and say to Absalom, I will be your servant, O king; as in the past I have been your father's servant, so now I will be yours: then you will be able to keep Ahithophel's designs against me from being put into effect.

So Hushai David's friend came into the city, and Absalom came into Jerusalem.

The LORD hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the LORD hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man.

I will attack him while he is weak and weary, throw him into a panic, and all the people with him will scatter. I will strike down only the king

I give the advice that all of Israel from Dan to Beersheba should be completely gathered to you, as the sand which [is] on the seashore for abundance, with {you personally} going into the battle.

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

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by En-rogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a maid servant went and told them; and they went and told king David.

Nevertheless, a lad saw them, and told Absalom: but they went both of them away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; into which they descended.

And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host in the stead of Joab, which Amasa was a man's son named Ithra a Jezreelite that went into Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab's mother.

Dividing his forces into three groups, he set Joab as commander of one third of his army, Zeruiah's son Abishai, Joab's brother, as commander of another third, and Ittai from Gath as commander of another third. The king informed the army, "I'm going out to battle with you, too."

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

Absalom happened to run into David's soldiers. While Absalom was trying to get away on his mule, it ran under the thick branches of a giant oak tree, and Absalom's head got caught in the tree! As his mule ran out from under him, Absalom was left hanging above the ground.

But the soldier replied to Joab, "I wouldn't have touched the king's son even if you dropped 1,000 pieces of silver right into my hands, because we heard the king command you, Abishai, and Ittai, "Watch how you treat the young man Absalom!'

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.

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.

And the king will be moved, and he will go up into the upper chamber of the gate and weep: and thus he said in his going, My son Absalom! my son, my son Absalom I who will give my death, me for thee, Absalom my son, my son!

And the victory that day was turned into mourning to all the people: for the people heard it said that day how the king was grieved for his son.

And the people withdrew by stealth that day into the city, as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.

And Joab came into the house to the king, and said, thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, who this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines;

So the king got up and sat in the gate, and all the people were told: “Look, the king is sitting in the gate.” Then they all came into the king’s presence.

Meanwhile, each Israelite had fled to his tent.

and a thousand men [from the tribe] of Benjamin with him. And Ziba, the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and twenty servants with him, rushed down to the Jordan before the king.

And passed over hath the ferry-boat to carry over the household of the king, and to do that which is good in his eyes, and Shimei son of Gera hath fallen before the king in his passing over into Jordan,

And Mephibosheth said unto the king, Even the whole, let him take, - now that my lord the king hath entered, in peace, into his own house.

But Barzillai said unto the king, "Of what age am I of, that I should go with the king into Jerusalem?

And David entered into his own house, in Jerusalem, and the king took the ten women, the concubines whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and sustained them, but, unto them, went he not in, - so they were shut up until the day of their death, in lifelong widowhood.

And David said to Abishai, And Sheba the son of Bichri shall do us more harm than Absalom. You take your lord's servants and pursue him, lest he get himself into fortified cities and escape us.

Now Amasa was not on his guard against the sword that [was] in Joab's hand, and he struck him with it into the stomach, and his entrails poured out to the ground. He did not strike him again, and he died. Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bicri.

And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a cloth upon him, when he saw that every one that came by him stood still.

The king therefore called the Gibeonites, and said unto them (now, the Gibeonites, were, not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, with whom, the sons of Israel, had entered into an oath, and Saul had sought to smite them, in his jealousy for the sons of Israel and Judah) -

And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.

In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry entered into his ears.

From the shining light that was his presence coals of fire blazed into flame!

He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. And the Philistines were collected into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentils: and the people fled from the Philistines.

And three of the thirty chief men went down and came to David in the harvest time into the cave of Adullam. And the troop of the Philistines pitched in the Valley of the Giants.

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

So three of the mighty warriors broke into the camp of [the] Philistines, and they drew water from the well of Bethlehem that [was] at the gate, and they carried [it] and brought [it] to David. But he [was] not willing to drink it, but poured it out to Yahweh.

Benaiah son of Jehoiada was the son of a brave man from Kabzeel, a man of many exploits. Benaiah killed two sons of Ariel of Moab, and he went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.

And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.

Then Yahweh sent a plague into Israel from the morning {until the agreed time}, and from the people from Dan to Beersheba, seventy thousand men died.

And king David is old, entering into days, and they cover him with garments, and he hath no heat,

And Bath-sheba went to the king into the chamber: and the king was very old; and Abishag the Shunamite ministered to the king.

They told the king, "Nathan the prophet is here." He came into the presence of the king and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.

When he had been ushered into the presence of the king, Nathan bowed low in front of the king with his face to the ground and asked, "Your majesty, did you say "Adonijah will be king after me and will sit on my throne'?

Then king David answered and said, Call me Bath-sheba. And she came into the king's presence, and stood before the king.

King David then said, “Call in Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada for me.” So they came into the king’s presence.