And David left neither man nor woman alive, to bring them to Gath, for he said, Lest they should tell of us, saying, So did David. And such was his custom as long as he abode in the country of the Philistines.

But the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the princes of the Philistines said to him, Make the man return, that he may go again to his place where thou hast appointed him, that he go not down with us to the battle, that in the battle he be not an adversary to us; for wherewith should this fellow reconcile himself to his master? should it not be with the heads of these men?

And David said to Achish, But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have been with thee to this day, that I should not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?

And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me: why should I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother?

And the king lamented over Abner, and said, Should Abner die as a fool dieth?

when one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead! and he was in his own sight a messenger of good, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag to whom forsooth I should give a reward for his good tidings:

how much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? and should I not now demand his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?

But now he is dead, why should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.

And Absalom said, If not, I pray thee, let my brother Amnon go with us. And the king said to him, Why should he go with thee?

Thou didst come yesterday, and should I this day make thee go up and down with us, seeing I go whither I can? Return and take back thy brethren. Mercy and truth be with thee!

And Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head.

And again, whom should I serve? should it not be in the presence of his son? as I have served in thy father's presence, so will I be in thy presence.

But the people said, Thou shalt not go forth, for if we should in any case flee, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us; for thou art worth ten thousand of us; and now it is better that thou succour us out of the city.

And the man said to Joab, Though I should receive a thousand silver pieces in my hand, yet would I not put forth my hand against the king's son; for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Take care, whoever it be of you, of the young man Absalom.

Or I should have acted falsely against mine own life, for there is no matter concealed from the king, and thou wouldest have set thyself against me.

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

And Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, Should not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed Jehovah'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? Should there any man be put to death this day in Israel? for do not I know that I am this day king over Israel?

For all my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king; and thou didst set thy servant among them that eat at thine own table. What further right therefore have I? and for what should I cry any more to the king?

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?

I am this day eighty years old: can I discern between good and bad? can thy servant taste what I eat and what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? and why should thy servant be yet a burden to my lord the king?

Thy servant will go a little way over the Jordan with the king; and why should the king recompense it to me with this reward?

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

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

And he said, Be it far from me, Jehovah, that I should do this thing! is it not the blood of the men that went at the risk of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.

Is this thing done by my lord the king, and thou hast not shewn to thy servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?

And the days of David were at hand that he should die; and he enjoined Solomon his son saying,

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

The lowest floor was five cubits broad, and the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad; for in the thickness of the wall of the house he made resets round about outside, that nothing should be fastened in the walls of the house.

then hear thou in the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teachest them the good way wherein they should walk; and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and go to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, who told me that I should be king over this people.

And Naboth said to Ahab, Jehovah forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to thee!

And he took his eldest son, that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him up for a burnt-offering upon the wall. And there was great wrath against Israel; and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.

And he said, If Jehovah do not help thee, whence should I help thee? Out of the threshing-floor, or out of the winepress?

And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down to him. And the king said, Behold, this evil is of Jehovah: why should I wait for Jehovah any longer?

And the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, Behold, if Jehovah should make windows in the heavens, would this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.

And the captain answered the man of God and said, Behold, if Jehovah should make windows in the heavens, would such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.

And Hazael said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha said, Jehovah has shewn me that thou wilt be king over Syria.

And Jehoiada made a covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people, that they should be the people of Jehovah; and between the king and the people.

And the priests consented to receive no money of the people, and that they should only repair the breaches of the house.

And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant which he had made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he had testified unto them; and they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations that were round about them, concerning whom Jehovah had charged them that they should not do like them.

Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and abode in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear Jehovah.

Which are they among all the gods of the countries, who have delivered their country out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

Because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before Jehovah, when thou heardest what I spoke against this place and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and didst rend thy garments and weep before me, I also have heard thee, saith Jehovah.

Verily, at the commandment of Jehovah it came to pass against Judah, that they should be removed out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done;

And he said, My God forbid it me, that I should do this thing! should I drink the blood of these men who went at the risk of their lives? for at the risk of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.

And all the congregation said that they should do so; for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.

And David spoke to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren, the singers, with instruments of music, lutes, and harps, and cymbals, that they should sound aloud, lifting up the voice with joy.

and with them, with Heman and Jeduthun, trumpets and cymbals for those that should sound aloud; and the musical instruments of God. And the sons of Jeduthun were at the gate.

And Joab said, Jehovah add to his people, how many soever they be, a hundredfold: are they not all, my lord O king, my lord's servants? why does my lord require this thing? why should he become a trespass to Israel?

And David said to God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? It is I that have sinned and done evil; but these sheep, what have they done? Let thy hand, I pray thee, Jehovah my God, be on me and on my father's house; but not on thy people, that they should be smitten.

And the angel of Jehovah commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up and rear an altar to Jehovah in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. And Aaron was separated, that he should be hallowed as most holy, he and his sons for ever, to offer before Jehovah, to do service to him, and to bless in his name for ever.

But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer willingly after this manner? for all is of thee, and of that which is from thy hand have we given thee.

But who is able to build him a house, seeing the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him? And who am I that I should build him a house, except to burn sacrifice before him?

then hear thou in the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teachest them the good way wherein they should walk; and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

and that whoever would not seek Jehovah the God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

And he consulted with the people, and appointed singers to Jehovah, and those that should praise in holy splendour, as they went forth before the armed men, and say, Give thanks to Jehovah; for his loving-kindness endureth for ever!

And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king, that they should be the people of Jehovah.

And he set the doorkeepers at the gates of the house of Jehovah, that no one unclean in anything should enter in.

But those of the troop that Amaziah had sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah from Samaria as far as Beth-horon, and smote three thousand of them, and took much spoil.

And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem, to hold the passover to Jehovah the God of Israel.

So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout Israel from Beer-sheba even to Dan, that they should come to hold the passover to Jehovah the God of Israel, at Jerusalem; because they had not held it for a long time as it was written.

And he ordered that the king's portion should be taken from his substance for the burnt-offerings: for the morning and evening burnt-offerings, for the burnt-offerings of the sabbaths, and of the new moons, and of the set feasts, as it is written in the law of Jehovah.

And there was gathered together much people, and they stopped all the fountains, and the torrent that flows through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?

Who is there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers have utterly destroyed, that was able to deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand?

And the Tirshatha said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim.

and take heed that ye fail not to do this: why should harm grow to the damage of the kings?

Whatever is commanded by the God of the heavens, let it be carefully done for the house of the God of the heavens; for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?

And I gave them a commission to Iddo the chief, at the place Casiphia, and I put words in their mouths to say to Iddo and his brethren the Nethinim, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God.

should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the peoples of these abominations? wouldest thou not be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor any to escape?

And they made proclamation in Judah and Jerusalem to all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem;

and that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be confiscated, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.

And I said to the king, Let the king live for ever! Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lies waste, and its gates are consumed with fire?

And they said, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do, as thou hast said. And I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise.

And I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down. Why should the work cease, whilst I leave it and come down to you?

And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, could go into the temple, and live? I will not go in.

Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have wherewith to spread an evil report, that they might reproach me.

And I said to them that the gates of Jerusalem should not be opened until the sun was hot, and that they should shut the doors and bar them while they stood by; and that there should be appointed watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and every one over against his house.

And the Tirshatha said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up the priest with Urim and Thummim.

And they found written in the law which Jehovah had commanded through Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month,

and that they should publish and proclaim through all their cities, and at Jerusalem, saying, Go forth to the mount, and fetch olive-branches, and wild olive-branches, and myrtle-branches, and palm-branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.

And thou leddest them in the day by a pillar of cloud, and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go.

And thou gavest them bread from the heavens for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and didst say to them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them.

yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness. The pillar of the cloud departed not from over them by day, to lead them on the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.

And their children thou didst multiply as the stars of heaven, and thou broughtest them into the land concerning which thou didst say to their fathers that they should go in to possess it.

and that we should bring the first-fruits of our coarse meal and our heave-offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, new wine and oil, to the priests, into the chambers of the house of our God, and the tithes of our ground to the Levites, that they, the Levites, should take the tithes in all the cities of our tillage.

On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and there was found written in it that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever;

And it came to pass, that when it began to be dark in the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut; and I commanded that they should not be opened till after the sabbath. And I set some of my servants at the gates, so that no burden should be brought in on the sabbath day.

And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to hallow the sabbath day. Remember this also for me, my God, and spare me according to thy great loving-kindness!

And should we hearken to you to do all this great evil, to act unfaithfully to our God by marrying foreign wives?

And the drinking was, according to commandment, without constraint; for so the king had appointed to all the magnates of his house, that they should do according to every man's pleasure.

And he sent letters into all the king's provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people according to their language, That every man should bear rule in his own house, and should speak according to the language of his people.

Esther had not made known her people nor her birth; for Mordecai had charged her that she should not make it known.

And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house, to know how Esther did, and what should become of her.

That the decree might be given in every province, a copy of the writing was published to all peoples, that they should be ready against that day.

And he gave him a copy of the writing of the decree that had been given at Shushan to destroy them, to shew it to Esther, and to declare it to her, and to charge her that she should go in unto the king, to make supplication to him, and to make request before him, for her people.

That the decree might be given in every province, a copy of the writing was published to all the peoples, and that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

to establish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,

as the days on which the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month that was turned to them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.