And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab: which Amasa was a man's son, whose name was Ithra, an Israelite, that went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab's mother.

So the people went out into the field against Israel: and the battle was in the wood 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.

For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country: and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.

And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was suspended between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away.

Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.

And the king said, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Ahimaaz answered, When Joab sent the king's servant, and me thy servant, I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was.

And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! O that I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!

And it was told to Joab, Behold, the king weepeth and mourneth for Absalom.

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 Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjaminite, who was of Bahurim, hasted and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David.

Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even eighty years old: and he had provided the king with sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim: for he was a very great man.

And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite: 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.

When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Joab's garment that he had put on was girded to him, and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in its sheath; and as he went forth it fell out.

But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand: so he smote him in the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri.

When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.

And when he was come near to her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am he. Then she said to him, Hear the words of thy handmaid. And he answered, I do hear.

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

And Adoram was over the tribute: and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder:

And Sheva was scribe: and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests:

And Ira also the Jairite was a chief ruler about David.

Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.

But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the LORD'S oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah the concubine of Saul had done.

And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son they buried in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulcher of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was entreated for the land.

And Ishbi-benob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.

And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, who was of the sons of the giant.

And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Beth-lehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.

Then the earth shook and trembled: the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth.

He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.

And he rode upon a cherub, and flew: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.

They fell upon me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my support.

I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from my iniquity.

They looked, but there was none to save; even to the LORD, but he answered them not.

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

The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, and his word was on my tongue.

These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: he lifted up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.

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 assembled to battle, and the men of Israel had gone away:

He arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand adhered to the sword: and the LORD wrought a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to plunder.

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 David was then in a hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Beth-lehem.

And the three mighty men broke through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Beth-lehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink of it, but poured it out to the LORD.

And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief among three. And he lifted up his spear against three hundred, and slew them, and had the name among three.

Was he not most honorable of three? therefore he was their captain: yet he attained not to the first three.

He was more honorable than the thirty, but he attained not to the first three. And David set him over his guard.

Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Beth-lehem,

And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved 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 ye the people, that I may know the number of the people.

And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thy hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing-place of Araunah the Jebusite.

And David built there an altar to the LORD, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So the LORD was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

Now king David was old and advanced in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he got no heat.

And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not.

And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also was a very goodly man; and his mother bore him after Absalom.

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

And lo, while she was yet talking with the king, Nathan the prophet also came in.

And it was told Solomon, saying, Behold, Adonijah feareth king Solomon: for lo, he hath caught hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let king Solomon swear to me to-day that he will not slay his servant with the sword.

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

So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

Then Solomon was seated upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established greatly.

And he said, Thou knowest that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign: but the kingdom is turned about, and hath become my brother's: for it was his from the LORD.

And to Abiathar the priest said the king, Depart to Anathoth, to thy own fields; for thou art worthy of death: but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou didst bear the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted.

And it was told to king Solomon that Joab had fled to the tabernacle of the LORD; and behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall upon him.

So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went, and fell upon him, and slew him: and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

And it was told to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned.

So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; who went out, and fell upon him, that he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built to the name of the LORD, until those days.

And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt-offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.

And Solomon awoke; and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt-offerings, and offered peace-offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.

And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.

And it came to pass the third day after I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save us two in the house.

And when I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I bore.

Then spoke the woman whose the living child was to the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.

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 judgment.

So king Solomon was king over all Israel.

And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army: and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests:

And Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers: and Zabud the son of Nathan was principal officer, and the king's friend:

And Ahishar was over the household: and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the tribute.

Ahimaaz was in Naphtali; he also took Basmath the daughter of Solomon for a wife:

Baanah the son of Hushai was in Asher and in Aloth:

Geber the son of Uri was in the country of Gilead, in the country of Sihon king of the Amorites, and of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only officer who was in the land.

And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and sixty measures of meal.

For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all the surrounding nations.

And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father: for Hiram was ever a lover of David.

And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him: and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together.

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

And he sent them to Lebanon ten thousand a month by courses; a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home. And Adoniram was over the levy.

And the house which king Solomon built for the LORD, the length of it was sixty cubits, and the breadth of it twenty cubits, and the hight of it thirty cubits.

And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length of it, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth of it, before the house.

The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house.

And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.

The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third;

And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long.

And the cedar of the house within was carved with knobs and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen.

And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the hight of it, and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.

And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house: also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold.

And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing to the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits.

And the other cherub was ten cubits: both the cherubim were of one measure and one size.

The hight of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was it of the other cherub.

In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the LORD laid, in the month Zif: