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

For the battle was there spread over the surface of all the country; and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.

Joab said to the man who told him, "Behold, you saw it, and why did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have given you ten pieces of silver, and a sash."

Otherwise if I had dealt falsely against his life (and there is no matter hidden from the king), then you yourself would have set yourself against me."

Then Joab said, "I'm not going to wait like this with you." 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.

The watchman cried, and told the king. The king said, "If he is alone, there is news in his mouth." He came closer and closer.

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

There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went through the Jordan in the presence of the king.

David said, "What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be adversaries to 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?"

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 tents, Israel."

So all the men of Israel went up from following David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah joined with their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem.

David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in custody, and provided them with sustenance, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood.

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

There went out after him Joab's men, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men; and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.

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."

He went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and to Beth Maacah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him.

They came and besieged him in Abel of Beth Maacah, and they cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart; and all the people who were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down.

Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. They cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. He blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

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

and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son: and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged.

and Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being armed with a new sword, thought to have slain David.

It came to pass after this, that there was again war with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was of the sons of the giant.

There was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite's brother, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

There was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who 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.

I have consumed them, and struck them through, so that they can't arise. Yes, they have fallen under my feet.

You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me.

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

The foreigners will fade away, and will come trembling out of their close places.

shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, when the tender grass springs out of the earth, through clear shining after rain.'

But the man who touches them must be armed with iron and the staff of a spear. They shall be utterly burned with fire in their place."

After him was Eleazar the son of Dodai the son of an Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines who were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away.

After him was Shammah the son of Agee a Hararite. The Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils; and the people fled from the Philistines.

Three of the thirty chief men went down, and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam; and the troop of the Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim.

The three mighty men broke through the army of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but he would not drink of it, but poured it out to the LORD.

He said, "Be it far from me, LORD, that I should do this. Isn't it the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?" Therefore he would not drink it. The three mighty men did these things.

Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the three. He lifted up his spear against three hundred and killed them, and had a name among the three.

Wasn't he most honorable of the three? Therefore he was made their captain: however he did not attain to the three.

Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did these things, and had a name among the three mighty men.

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

The king said to Joab the commander of the army, who was with him, "Now go back and forth through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the sum of the people."

So when they had gone back and forth through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

"Go and speak to David, 'Thus says the LORD, "I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you."'"

So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, "Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now answer, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me."

So the LORD sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the appointed time; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.

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

Therefore his servants said to him, "Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin. And let her attend the king, and care for him; and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may keep warm."

Behold, while you are still there speaking with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm your words."

And have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel. Blow the trumpet, and say, 'Long live king Solomon.'

All the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth shook with their sound.

Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon. They have come up from there rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that you have heard.

That the LORD may establish 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,' he said, 'a man on the throne of Israel.'

"Behold, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the LORD, saying, 'I will not put you to death with the sword.'

The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

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 is turned around, and has become my brother's; for it was his from the LORD.

So shall their blood return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his seed forever. But to David, and to his seed, and to his house, and to his throne, there shall be peace forever from the LORD."

The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere.

It happened at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, "Behold, your servants are in Gath."

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

The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

behold, I have done according to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart; so that there has been none like you before you, neither after you shall any arise like you.

I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like you, all your days.

It happened the third day after I delivered, that this woman delivered also. We were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, just us two in the house.

These are their names: Ben Hur, in the hill country of Ephraim;

He spoke three thousand proverbs; and his songs were one thousand five.

There came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary, nor evil occurrence.

Now therefore command that they cut me cedar trees out of Lebanon. My servants shall be with your servants; and I will give you wages for your servants according to all that you shall say. For you know that there is not among us any who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians."

My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea. I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place that you shall appoint me, and will cause them to be broken up there, and you shall receive them. You shall accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household."

The LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a treaty together.

besides Solomon's chief officers who were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, who bore rule over the people who labored in the work.

The house, when it was in building, was built of stone prepared at the quarry; and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.

There was cedar on the house within, carved with buds and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen.

He prepared an oracle in the midst of the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD.

He set the cherubim within the inner house; and the wings of the cherubim were stretched forth, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house.

He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone, and a course of cedar beams.

There were beams in three rows, and window was over against window in three ranks.

All the doors and posts were made square with beams: and window was over against window in three ranks.

The great court around had three courses of cut stone, and a course of cedar beams; like as the inner court of the house of the LORD, and the porch of the house.

There were nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital.

So he made the pillars; and there were two rows around on the one network, to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars: and he did so for the other capital.

There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred, in rows around on the other capital.

Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it, for ten cubits, encircling the sea: the buds were in two rows, cast when it was cast.

It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hinder parts were inward.

He made the ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits its breadth, and three cubits its height.

The work of the bases was like this: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges;

and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.

The mouth of it within the capital and above was a cubit: and its mouth was round after the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its mouth were engravings, and their panels were foursquare, not round.

The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axles, and their rims, and their spokes, and their naves, were all molten.

There were four supports at the four corners of each base: its supports were of the base itself.

In the top of the base was there a round compass half a cubit high; and on the top of the base its stays and its panels were of the same.

For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above.

The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary; but they were not seen outside. And there they are to this day.

There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets 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.

?Since the day that I brought 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, nor did I choose any man to be a leader over my people Israel; but I chose Jerusalem that my name may be there, and I chose David to be over my people Israel.?

There I have set a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt."

and he said, "LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keep covenant and loving kindness with your servants, who walk before you with all their heart;

Now therefore, may the LORD, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, 'There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.'

that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you have said, 'My name shall be there;' to listen to the prayer which your servant shall pray toward this place.

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