So then, gather the remainder of the army and encamp against the city and capture it, lest I capture the city and my name be proclaimed over it."

So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill, and the king came to see him. Amnon said to the king, "Please let Tamar my sister come, and let her bake two cakes before my eyes that I may eat from her hand."

As for me, where should I take my disgrace? You will be as one of the fools in Israel. So please, speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you."

Absalom her brother said to her, "[Was] Amnon your brother with you? But now, my sister, be quiet; he [is] your brother. {Do not take this matter to heart}." So Tamar remained a desolate woman in the house of Absalom her brother.

The king said to Absalom, "No my son, not all of us shall go, so that we not be a burden to you." And he urged him, but he [was] not willing to go, but he blessed him.

Absalom commanded his servants, saying, "Please watch. At the moment the heart of Amnon [is] {tipsy} with wine, then I shall say to you, 'Strike Amnon down,' and you shall kill him! Don't be afraid. [Is] it not I myself who has commanded you? Be courageous and be {valiant!}

Then the king rose and tore his garments, and he lay on the ground, and all his servants standing by [were] tearing their garments.

And look, all of the family has risen up against your servant, and they said, 'Give up the one who struck his brother, that we may kill him in exchange for the life of his brother whom he murdered. We will also wipe out the heir,' and so they would put out my embers which remain, by not preserving for my husband a name and a remnant on the face of the earth."

The woman said, "But why have you plotted like this against the people of God? By speaking this word, he is guilty not to bring back his banished one.

For {we must certainly die}, and [we are] as the waters spilled to the ground which cannot be gathered. God will not take a life but devises plans for a banished person not to be cast out from him.

Your servant also thought, 'May the word of my lord the king {bring rest}, for as an angel of God, so [is] my lord the king, {to sense what is good and what is bad}.' May Yahweh your God be with you."

When he shaved his head, it would happen {every year}, which he did because [it was] heavy on him, he would shave it off and weigh the hair of his head: two hundred shekels {by the king's weight}.

Absalom said to Joab, "Look, I have sent to you, saying, 'Come here that I may send you to the king to say, "Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me if I [were] still there." ' So then, let me see the face of the king; if there [is] guilt in me, then let him kill me."

It happened at the end of four years [that] Absalom said to the king, "Please let me go and pay my vow which I have made to Yahweh in Hebron,

Then David said to all his servants who [were] with him in Jerusalem, "Get up and let us flee, for there will be no escape for us from Absalom! Hurry to go, otherwise he will come quickly and overtake us! And he will bring disaster on us and evil! He will attack the city with the edge of the sword!"

All his servants [were] passing {by him}: all of the Kerethites and all of the Pelethites and all of the Gittites--six hundred men {who had followed him} from Gath--passing {before the king}.

Yesterday when you came and {today}, I have caused you to wander by going with us. Now I [am] going to where I [am] going; return and let your brothers return. [May] loyal love and faithfulness [be] with you."

But Ittai answered the king and said, "{As Yahweh lives} and {my lord the king lives}, surely in the place wherever my lord the king shall be, if for death or if for life, surely there your servant will be."

All of the land [was] weeping [with] a loud voice as all the people [were] passing by and the king [was] crossing through the Wadi Kidron, and all the people [were] passing {on the road to the wilderness}.

David said to him, "If you move on with me, you will be a burden to me,

but if you want to return to the city and say to Absalom, 'I [am] your servant, O king. I used to be a servant of your father, but from then and now I [will be] your servant,' then you can frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel for me.

[Will] not Zadok and Abiathar the priests [be] with you there? It shall be that all the words you hear from the house of the king you shall tell Zadok and Abiathar the priests.

Look, there with them [are] their two sons, Ahimaaz of Zadok and Jonathan of Abiathar. You shall send to me {by means of them} all the words that you hear."

The king said to Ziba, "{What do you want to accomplish by bringing these}?" And Ziba said, "The donkeys [are] for the king's household to ride [on]; the bread and the summer fruit [are] for the young men to eat, and the wine [is] for the faint in the wilderness to drink.

Then Hushai said to Absalom, "No, rather, whom Yahweh and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, to him I will be, and with him I will remain.

And Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Go to the concubines of your father whom he left behind to watch over the house, then all of Israel will hear that you made yourself odious to your father, and {all of your followers will be motivated}!"

The counsel that Ahithophel gave in those days [was] regarded as when a man inquired of the word of God, so all the counsel of Ahithophel [was esteemed] both by David and by Absalom.

Then I will return all the people to you; when all have returned, the man whom you [are] seeking [will be dead], but all the people will be safe."

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.

Then we will come to him in one of the places where he may be found, and we shall come upon him as the dew falls on the ground. He and all the men who are with him will not survive, [not] even one!

[Even] if he withdraws to a city, all Israel will bring up ropes to that city, and they will drag him away to the valley until there [is] not even a pebble to be found."

So then, send quickly and tell David, 'Don't spend the night at the fords of the wilderness! Moreover, by all means cross over lest the king and all the people who [are] with him be swallowed up.'"

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz [were] staying at En Rogel, so a servant girl used to go and tell them, then they would go and tell King David, for they [were] not able to be seen coming to the city.

Then the troops said, "You will not go out, for {if we must flee}, then {they will not care about us}; even if half of us die, {they will not care about us}, but now, you [are] like ten thousand of us. And so then, [it is] better for us that you be in the city to help."

The king said to them, "I will do what seems good in your eyes." So the king stood at the side of the gate [while] all of the troops went out by hundreds and by thousands.

The man said to Joab, "{Even if I felt the weight} of a thousand pieces of silver in my palms, I would not have sent my hand against the son of the king, for in our ears the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, 'Whoever you may be, protect the young man Absalom.'

(Now Absalom had taken and set up for himself in his lifetime a stone pillar that [is] in the valley of the king, because he said, "I have no son in order to remember my name," and he called the stone pillar by his name. It [is] called the monument of Absalom until this day).

Joab said to him, "You [will] not [be] a man {bringing} good news this day! You may bring good news on another day, but today you will not be bringing good news because the king's son is dead."

Now David [was] sitting between the two gates, and the sentinel went up to the roof of the gate by the wall and he lifted up his eyes and watched, and look, a man [was] running by himself.

Then Ahimaaz called and said to the king, "Peace." He bowed down to the king with his face to the ground, and he said, "May Yahweh your God be blessed, who has delivered the men who raised their hand against my lord the king."

The king said to the Cushite, "[Is] it peace for the young man Absalom?" Then the Cushite answered, "May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up against you {to harm you} be like the young man!"

by loving those who hate you and hating those who love you. Indeed, you have made clear this day that you have no [regard for your] commanders or officers, for I have realized today that [were] Absalom alive, and all of us were dead, then [that would] have been right in your eyes!

So then, get up and go out and {speak kindly to your servants}, for I swear by Yahweh, if you do not go out, no man will lodge this night with you, and this disaster [will be] greater for you than any disaster that has come upon you from your childhood until now!"

My brothers, you [are] my bones and you [are] my flesh. Why should you be the last to bring back the king?'

and he said to the king, "May not my lord hold me guilty, and may you not remember how your servant did wrong on the day that my lord the king went out from Jerusalem, by taking it to heart!

Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah responded and said, "Because of this, should not Shimei be put to death, for he cursed the anointed one of Yahweh?"

Then David said, "What [is] it to me or to you, sons of Zeruiah, that you should be an adversary today? [Should] anyone be put to death in Israel? Do I not know today that I [am] king over Israel?"

I [am] eighty years old today. Can I discern between good and bad? Or can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Or can I still hear the voice of singing men and women? Why should your servant be a burden any longer to my lord the king?

Then all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, "Because the king [is] my close relative! Why [are] you this angry over this matter? {Have we by any means eaten [anything] from the king? Did we take by any means anything that was not ours}?"

Then the people of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, "I have {ten times as much} in the king, moreover in David I have more than you. Why did you treat me with contempt {by not giving me first chance} to bring back my king?" But the words of the men of Judah [were] fiercer than the word of the men of Israel.

Then the king said to Amasa, "Summon for me the men of Judah [within] three days, {and be here yourself}."

Now Amasa [was] wallowing in the blood in the middle of the highway; when the man saw that all the people stood [there], he turned Amasa over from the highway into the field, and he threw a garment over him because he had seen that all who had come by him had stopped.

After he was removed from the highway, all the men passed by after Joab to pursue after Sheba the son of Bicri.

Then she said, "In former times, {they would always say}, 'By all means, let them inquire in Abel,' and so they settled things.

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

let seven men from his sons be given over to us, and we will execute them before Yahweh in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen one of Yahweh." Then the king said, "I will give them over."

Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took the sackcloth, and she spread it for herself on the rock at the beginning of the harvest until water gushed forth on them from heaven, but she did not allow the birds of heaven to rest on them by day nor the animals of the field by night.

These four [were] born for the Raphah in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

For by you I can run a raid; by my God I can leap over a wall.

He trains my hands for the war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

Yahweh lives! Blessed be my rock! May God, the rock of my salvation, be exalted!

These [are] the last words of David, the declaration of David the son of Jesse, and the declaration of the man exalted [by] the Most High, the anointed one of the God of Jacob and the darling of the songs of Israel.

But evil persons [are] like thorns cast aside; all of them, because they cannot be picked up in the hand.

He said, "Far be it from me before Yahweh that I should do this. [Is this not] the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?" So he [was] not willing to drink it. These things the three mighty warriors did.

Then Gad came to David, and he told him and said to him, "Shall seven years of famine in the land come to you? Or three months of your fleeing from your enemies while he [is] pursuing you? Or should there be three days of pestilence in your land? Now consider and decide what I must return to the one who sent me a word."

David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel destroying among the people, and he said, "Look, I have sinned and I have done wrong, but these sheep, what did they do? Please let your hand be against me and against the house of my father."

Then Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy from you the threshing floor, to build an altar to Yahweh who brought a halt to the plague on the people."

Then the king said to Araunah, "No, but {I will certainly buy} it from you for a price; I don't want to offer to Yahweh my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the cattle for fifty shekels of silver.

His servants said to him, "Let them search for a young virgin for my lord the king, and let her stand before the king. Let her be of use for him, and let her lie in your lap that my lord the king may be warm."

Now Adonijah the son of Haggith was exalting himself, saying, "I will be king," so he prepared for himself a chariot and horsemen and fifty men running before him.

His father did not rebuke him {at any time} [by] saying, "Why did you do so?" Now he was also very handsome of appearance; she had borne him after Absalom.

She said to him, "My lord, you swore by Yahweh your God to your servant, 'Solomon your son surely shall become king after me, and he will sit upon my throne!'

It shall be that when my lord the king sleeps with his ancestors, I and my son Solomon will be [considered as] sinners."

Nathan said, "My lord the king, have you said, 'Adonijah shall be king after me and he shall sit on my throne'?

surely as I swore to you by Yahweh the God of Israel, saying, 'Solomon your son shall surely be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,' surely I shall do so this [very] day."

Then you shall go up after him, and let him come and sit on my throne; he shall be king in my place. I have appointed him to be leader over Israel and Judah."

As Yahweh was with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David."

What is more, the king said, 'May Yahweh the God of Israel be blessed, who has given this day one sitting on my throne, and my eyes are seeing [it]!'"

"I [am about to] go the way of all the world. Be strong and be {courageous}.

so that Yahweh may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, 'If your sons take heed of their way, to walk before me in faithfulness, with all their heart and with all their soul, no man of yours will be cut off from the throne of Israel.'"

Regarding the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, you shall do loyal love and let them be among those who eat at your table, because they met me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

And look, Shimei the son of Gera the son of the Benjaminite from Bahurim is with you. Now he {cursed me severely} when I went to Mahanaim, but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, so I swore to him by Yahweh, 'I surely will not kill you with the sword.'

Then she said, "Let Abishag the Shunnamite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife."

Then King Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, "Thus may God do to me and thus may he add, if Adonijah hasn't spoken this thing at the expense of his life.

So then, {as Yahweh lives}, who has established me and seated me on the throne of my father David and who has established for me a dynasty as he promised, then surely Adonijah will be put to death today."

And their blood will return on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever, but for David and his descendants and for his house and his throne, [there] will be peace forever from Yahweh."

It shall happen that on the day you go out and cross over the Wadi Kidron, know for certain that {you will surely die}. Your blood will be on your head."

the king sent and summoned Shimei, and he said to him, "Did I not make you swear by Yahweh? I warned you, saying, 'On the day you go out and you go {anywhere whatsoever}, know for certain that {you will surely die}.' And you said to me, 'The word is good; I accept.'

but King Solomon will be blessed and the throne of David will be established before Yahweh forever."

Solomon loved Yahweh, by walking in the statutes of David his father; only he [was] sacrificing and offering incense on the high places.

So then, O Yahweh, you are my God. You have made your servant king in place of David my father [though] I [am] a young boy. I do not know going out or coming in.

Your servant [is] in the middle of your people whom you have chosen; a great people who cannot be counted or numbered because of abundance.

Too, what you have not asked I give to you: both riches and honor, [so that] no man among the kings will be like you all of your days.

If you will walk in my ways by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David your father walked, then I will lengthen your days."

So then, command that they may cut cedars for me from Lebanon, and let my servants be with your servants. The wage of your servants I will give to you according to all that you say, for you know that there is no one among us who knows [how] to cut timber like the Sidonians."

When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and he said, "Blessed be Yahweh this day, who has given to David a wise son over this great people."

My servants will bring [them] down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them [into] rafts in the sea [to float to] the place which you indicated to me. Then I shall break them up there, and you may carry [them further], and {you shall meet my needs} by giving food for my house."

Then Solomon gave to Hiram twenty thousand dry measures of wheat [as] food for his household, and twenty dry measures of {specially prepared olive oil}; thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year.

[On] the two doors of olive wood he made carvings of cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers, and he overlaid them with gold {by beating} out the gold on the cherubim and the palm tree images.

Solomon left all of the vessels [unweighed] because of their very great abundance, so the weight of the bronze could not be determined.