But the people said, Thou shall not go forth. For if we flee away, they will not care for us, neither if half of us die, will they care for us, but thou are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore now it is better that thou be ready to

And the king said to them, What seems best to you I will do. And the king stood by the gate-side, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands.

And a certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.

And Joab said to the man who told him, and, behold, thou saw it, and why did thou not smite him there to the ground? And I would have given thee ten [pieces of] silver, and a belt.

And the man said to Joab, Though I should receive a thousand [pieces of] silver in my hand, yet I would not put forth my hand against the king's son, for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware th

Then Joab said, I will not delay 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.

Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself the pillar which is in the king's valley, for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance. And he called the pillar after his own name, and it is called Absa

Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, Let me now run, and bear the king news, how that LORD has avenged him of his enemies.

And Joab said to him, Thou shall not be the bearer of news this day, but thou shall bear news another day. But this day thou shall bear no news, because the king's son is dead.

Then Joab said to the Cushite, Go, tell the king what thou have seen. And the Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran.

Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said yet again to Joab, But come what may, let me, I pray thee, also run after the Cushite. And Joab said, Why will thou run, my son, seeing that thou will have no reward for the news?

But come what may, [he said], I will run. And he said to him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and outran the Cushite.

And the watchman cried, and told the king. And the king said, If he is alone, there is news in his mouth. And he came apace, and drew near.

And the watchman saw another man running. And the watchman called to the porter, and said, Behold, [another] man running alone. And the king said, He also brings news.

And the watchman said, I think the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and comes with good news.

And Ahimaaz called, and said to the king, All is well. And he bowed himself before the king with his face to the earth, and said, Blessed be LORD thy God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the ki

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

And the king said, Turn aside, and stand here. And he turned aside, and stood still.

And, behold, the Cushite came. And the Cushite said, News for my lord the king, for LORD has avenged thee this day of all those who rose up against thee.

And the king said to the Cushite, Is it well with the young man Absalom? And the Cushite answered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is.

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! Would I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!

And Joab came into the house to the king, and said, Thou have 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 live

And he said to the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity to me, neither remember thou that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.

But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed LORD's anointed?

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

And the king said to Shimei, Thou shall not die. And the king swore to him.

And it came to pass, when he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said to him, Why did thou not go with me, Mephibosheth?

And he answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For thy servant said, I will saddle for me a donkey, that I may ride on it, and go with the king, because thy servant is lame.

And the king said to him, Why do thou speak any more of thy matters? I say, thou and Ziba divide the land.

And Mephibosheth said to the king, Yea, let him take all, inasmuch as my lord the king has come in peace to his own house.

And the king said to Barzillai, Come thou over with me, and I will sustain thee with me in Jerusalem.

And Barzillai said to the king, How many are the days of the years of my life that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?

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

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 ye. Why then did ye despise us, that our advice should not be had first in bringing back our king

And there happened to be there a base fellow whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite. And he blew the trumpet, and said, We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his te

Then the king said to Amasa, Call the men of Judah together to me within three days, and be thou here present.

And David said to Abishai, Now will Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom. Take thou thy lord's servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fortified cities, and escape out of our sight.

And Joab said to Amasa, Is it well with thee, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.

And there stood by him one of Joab's young men, and said, He who favors Joab, and he who is for David, let him follow Joab.

And he came near to her, and the woman said, Are thou Joab? And he answered, I am. Then she said to him, Hear the words of thy handmaid. And he answered, I do hear.

And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy.

The matter is not so, but a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against the king, even against David. Deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said to

And there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David sought the face of LORD. And LORD said, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put to death the Gibeonites.

and David said to the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement that ye may bless the inheritance of LORD?

And the Gibeonites said to him, It is no matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house, neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that I will do for you.

And they said to the king, The man who consumed us, and who devised against us, [that] we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the borders of Israel,

let seven men of his sons be delivered to us, and we will hang them up to LORD in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of LORD. And the king said, I will give them.

And he said, LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine.

The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me. He who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God,

And David longed, and said, Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!

And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this, [to drink] the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

And the king said to Joab the captain of the army, who was with him, Go now to and fro through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the sum of the people.

And Joab said to the king, Now LORD thy God add to the people, however many they may be, a hundredfold, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?

And David's heart smote him after he had numbered the people. And David said to LORD, I have sinned greatly in that which I have done, but now, O LORD, put away, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foo

So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, Shall seven years of famine come to thee in thy land? Or will thou flee three months before thy foes while they pursue thee? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in thy land?

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

And when the [heavenly] agent stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, LORD relented of the evil, and said to the agent who destroyed the people, It is enough. Now stay thy hand. And the agent of LORD was by the thres

And David spoke to LORD when he saw the agent who smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done perversely, but these sheep, what have they done? Let thy hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's ho

And Gad came that day to David, and said to him, Go up, rear an altar to LORD in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

And Araunah said, Why has my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshing-floor from thee, to build an altar to LORD that the plague may be halted from the people.

And Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Behold, the oxen for the burnt-offering, and the threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.

All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king. And Araunah said to the king, LORD thy God accept thee.

And the king said to Araunah, No, but I will truly buy it from thee at a price. Neither will I offer burnt-offerings to LORD my God which cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver

Therefore his servants said to him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin. And let her stand before the king, and take care of him. And let her lay in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get warmth.

And Bathsheba bowed, and did obeisance to the king. And the king said, What do thou want?

And she said to him, My lord, thou swore by LORD thy God to thy handmaid, [saying], Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne.

And Nathan said, My lord, O king, have thou said, Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne?

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

And the king swore, and said, As LORD lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity,

Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did obeisance to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live forever.

And king David said, Call to me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king.

And the king said to them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon.

And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Amen. LORD, the God of my lord the king, say so [too].

And Zadok the priest took the horn of oil out of the tent, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, Live, king Solomon.

And Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, Why is this noise of the city being in an uproar?

While he yet spoke, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. And Adonijah said, Come in, for thou are a worthy man, and bring good news.

And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, Truly our lord king David has made Solomon king.

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

And Solomon said, If he shall show himself a worthy man, there shall not a hair of him fall to the earth, but if wickedness be found in him, he shall die.

So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and did obeisance to king Solomon. And Solomon said to him, Go to thy house.

Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, Do thou come peaceably? And he said, Peaceably.

He said moreover, I have something to say to thee. And she said, Say on.

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

And now I ask one petition of thee; do not deny me. And she said to him, Say on.

And he said, Speak, I pray thee, to Solomon the king (for he will not say no thee), that he give me Abishag the Shunammite to wife.

And Bathsheba said, Well, I will speak for thee to the king.

Then she said, I ask one small petition of thee; do not deny me. And the king said to her, Ask on, my mother, for I will not deny thee.

And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah thy brother to wife.

And king Solomon answered and said to his mother, And why do thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, for he is my elder brother, even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of

And the king said to Abiathar the priest, Get thee to Anathoth, to thine own fields, for thou are worthy of death. But I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou bore the ark of lord LORD before David my father, and be

And Benaiah came to the tent of LORD, and said to him, Thus says the king, Come forth. And he said, No, but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.

And the king said to him, Do as he has said, and fall upon him, and bury him, that thou may take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father's house.

And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, Build for thee a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and go not forth from there anywhere.

And Shimei said to the king, The saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so will thy servant do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.

And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, Did I not adjure thee by LORD, and protest to thee, saying, Know for certain, that on the day thou go out, and walk abroad anywhere, thou shall surely die? And thou said to

The king said moreover to Shimei, Thou know all the iniquity which thy heart is privy to, what thou did to David my father. Therefore LORD shall return thy iniquity upon thine own head.

In Gibeon LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.

And Solomon said, Thou have shown to thy servant David my father great loving kindness, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee. And thou have kept for him this great

And God said to him, Because thou have asked this thing, and have not asked for thyself long life, neither have asked riches for thyself, nor have asked the life of thine enemies, but have asked for thyself understanding to discern

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