I'm going to act more shamelessly than this, even to humbling myself in my own eyes. Now as to the women staff members about whom you have spoken, they are to hold me in honor!"

"Go and tell my servant David, 'Thus says Yahweh: "[Are] you the one to build for me a house for my dwelling?

"""Are you going to build a house for me to inhabit? After all, I haven't lived in a house since the day I brought up the Israelis from Egypt until now. Instead, I've moved around in a tent that served as my dwelling place.

“Now this is what you are to say to My servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of Hosts says: I took you from the pasture and from following the sheep to be ruler over My people Israel.

And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thy enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like to the name of the great men that are in the earth.

From the time when I put judges over my people Israel; and I will give you peace from all who are against you. And the Lord says to you that he will make you the head of a line of kings.

When your days [are] full and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you who will go out from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

Therefore you [are] great, my lord Yahweh, for there is no one like you, and there [is] no god except you, in all that we have heard with our ears.

For you, O Yahweh of hosts, [are] God of Israel! You have revealed to the ear of your servant, 'I will build a house for you'; therefore your servant {has found courage} to pray this prayer to you.

And now, O Lord GOD, thou art that God, and thy words are true, and thou hast promised this goodness to thy servant:

And he smiteth Moab, and measureth them with a line, causing them to lie down on the earth, and he measureth two lines to put to death, and the fulness of the line to keep alive, and the Moabites are to David for servants, bearers of a present.

and he putteth in Edom garrisons -- in all Edom he hath put garrisons, and all Edom are servants to David; and Jehovah saveth David whithersoever he hath gone.

and Zadok son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech son of Abiathar, are priests, and Seraiah is scribe,

Now Saul's household had a servant whose name [was] Ziba, so they summoned him to David, and the king asked him, "[Are] you Ziba?" He said, "{At your service}!"

The king asked, "Is there not someone left from Saul's family, that I may extend God's kindness to him?" Ziba said to the king, "One of Jonathan's sons is left; both of his feet are crippled."

You, your sons, and your servants are to work the ground for him, and you are to bring in the crops so your master’s grandson will have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, is always to eat at my table.” Now Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants.

And Mephibosheth hath a young son, and his name is Micha, and every one dwelling in the house of Ziba are servants to Mephibosheth.

When they told it to David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards are grown, and then return.

And the Bene-Ammon come out, and set battle in array, at the opening of the gate, and Aram of Zoba, and Rehob, and Ish-Tob, and Maacah, are by themselves in the field;

Then he said, "If Aram [is] stronger than I [am], you must become my deliverer; but if the {Ammonites} [are] too strong for you, then I will come to rescue you.

And Joab draweth nigh, and the people who are with him, to battle against Aram, and they flee from his presence;

And Aram seeth that it is smitten before Israel, and they are gathered together;

And it came to pass in the beginning of a new year, in the times when kings are wont to go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel. And they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.

They told David, "Uriah did not go down to his house." David said to Uriah, "[Are] you not coming from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?"

And Uriah said to David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.

And it cometh to pass in Joab's watching of the city, that he appointeth Uriah unto the place where he knew that valiant men are;

He instructed the messenger, saying, "As you are finishing to speak all the news of the battle to the king,

and the messenger saith unto David, 'Surely the men have been mighty against us, and come out unto us into the field, and we are upon them unto the opening of the gate,

And the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants: and some of the king's servants are dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

Nathan approached David and said, "There are two men in the city. One is rich and one is poor. The rich man has many flocks and herds,

Then Nathan said to him, "You [are] the man! Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: 'I anointed you as king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.

Then David exclaimed to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord!" Nathan replied to David, "Yes, and the Lord has forgiven your sin. You are not going to die.

And David seeth that his servants are whispering, and David understandeth that the lad is dead, and David saith unto his servants, 'Is the lad dead?' and they say, 'Dead.'

and the people who are in it he hath brought out, and setteth to the saw, and to cutting instruments of iron, and to axes of iron, and hath caused them to pass over into the brick-kiln; and so he doth to all the cities of the Bene-Ammon; and David turneth back, and all the people, to Jerusalem.

And he said to him, "Why [are] you so sullen {every morning}, O son of the king? Will you not tell me?" And Amnon said to him, "I [am] in love with Tamar, the sister of my brother Absalom."

Jonadab said to him, “Go to bed and pretend you are sick; and when your father [David] comes to see you, say to him, ‘Just let my sister Tamar come and serve me food, and let her prepare it in my sight, so that I may see it and eat it from her hand.’”

-- and upon her is a long coat, for such upper robes do daughters of the king who are virgins put on, -- and his servant taketh her out without, and hath bolted the door after her.

Then Absalom went to the king and said, "Look, here [are] your servant's shearers; please let the king and his servants go with your servant.

And the king saith unto Absalom, 'Nay, my son, let us not all go, I pray thee, and we are not too heavy on thee;' and he presseth on him, and he hath not been willing to go, and he blesseth him.

So Absalom responded, "If you aren't coming, please allow my brother Amnon to accompany us." The king asked, "Why should he go with you?"

And it cometh to pass -- they are in the way -- and the report hath come unto David, saying, 'Absalom hath smitten all the sons of the king, and there is not left of them one;'

and the king riseth, and rendeth his garments, and lieth on the earth, and all his servants are standing by with rent garments.

Then Jonadab the son of Shimeah, the brother of David, responded and said, "My lord should not think that all the young men, the sons of the king, [are] dead, because only Amnon [is] dead. {Absalom was talking about it}, as it was being determined from the day he raped Tamar his sister.

Now therefore let not my lord the king take the thing to his heart, to think that all the king's sons are dead: for Amnon only is dead.

And Absalom fleeth, and the young man who is watching lifteth up his eyes and looketh, and lo, much people are coming by the way behind him, on the side of the hill.

And Jonadab said unto the king, Behold, the king's sons are come: as thy servant said, so it is.

And the woman of Tekoah saith unto the king, 'On me, my lord, O king, is the iniquity, and on the house of my father; and the king and his throne are innocent.'

"Why, then," the woman asked, "are you planning to act just like this against God's people? Based on what your majesty has said, you're acting like one who is guilty himself, because you're not bringing back the one whom you've banished!

For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

To bring about this form of speech hath thy servant Joab done this thing: and my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are on the earth.

And there are born to Absalom three sons, and one daughter, and her name is Tamar; she was a woman of a fair appearance.

And it cometh to pass afterwards, that Absalom prepareth for himself a chariot, and horses, and fifty men are running before him;

Absalom used to rise early in the morning, and he stood {beside} the road [at] the gate; {anyone} who had a legal dispute to bring to the king for judgment Absalom would call to him and say, "{Where are you from?}" And he would say, "Your servant [is] from one of the tribes of Israel."

And Absalom said to him, See, thy matters are good and right; but there is no man deputed by the king to hear thee.

Then Absalom sent messengers throughout the tribes of Israel with this message: “When you hear the sound of the ram’s horn, you are to say, ‘Absalom has become king in Hebron!’”

And with Absalom have gone two hundred men, out of Jerusalem, invited ones, and they are going in their simplicity, and have not known anything;

and Absalom sendeth Ahithophel the Gilonite, a counsellor of David, out of his city, out of Gilo, in his sacrificing sacrifices; and the conspiracy is strong, and the people are going and increasing with Absalom.

And there came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom.

And David saith to all his servants who are with him in Jerusalem, 'Rise, and we flee, for we have no escape from the face of Absalom; haste to go, lest he hasten, and have overtaken us, and forced on us evil, and smitten the city by the mouth of the sword.'

And the king's servants said to the king, Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king shall appoint.

And all his servants are passing on at his side, and all the Cherethite, and all the Pelethite, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who came at his feet from Gath, are passing on at the front of the king.

The king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why [are] you also coming with us? Return and stay with the king, for you [are] a foreigner; moreover, you [are] an exile. {You [are] far from your place}.

And David saith unto Ittai, 'Go and pass over;' and Ittai the Gittite passeth over, and all his men, and all the infants who are with him.

And all the land are weeping -- a great voice, and all the people are passing over; and the king is passing over through the brook Kidron, and all the people are passing over on the front of the way of the wilderness;

Then the king said to Zadok the priest, "[Are] you a seer? Return to the city in peace, [with] Ahimaaz your son and Jonathan the son of Abiathar, your two sons with you.

And David is going up in the ascent of the olives, going up and weeping, and he hath the head covered, and he is going barefooted, and all the people who are with him have covered each his head, and have gone up, going up and weeping;

Now David had been told, "Ahithophel has sided with the conspirators who are with Absalom. So David prayed, "Make the advice of Ahithophel foolish, O Lord!"

and are there not with thee there Zadok and Abiathar the priests? and it hath been, the whole of the matter that thou hearest from the house of the king thou dost declare to Zadok and to 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."

And the king said to Ziba, What meanest thou by these? And Ziba said, The asses are for the king's household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that such as are faint in the wilderness may drink.

Then said the king to Ziba, Behold, thine are all that pertained to Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humbly beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king.

Yahweh has returned on you all the blood of the household of Saul {whom you have supplanted as king}, and Yahweh has given the kingship into the hand of Absalom your son. Look, you [are] in disaster for you [are] a man of blood."

But the king responded, "What do I have in common with you sons of Zeruiah? If he continues to curse and if the LORD has told him, "Curse David!' then who are you to be demanding to know "Why have you done this?'"

And the king cometh in, and all the people who are with him, wearied, and they are refreshed there.

Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, Give your opinion now, what are we to do?

And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go in to thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred by thy father: then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong.

And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only:

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."

And when Hushai came, Absalom said to him, This is what Ahithophel has said: are we to do as he says? if not, what is your suggestion?

For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.

Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place: and it will come to pass, when some of them are overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.

And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they who are with him are valiant men.

So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground: and of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one.

Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him.

And Jonathan and Ahimaaz are standing at En-Rogel, and the maid-servant hath gone and declared to them -- and they go and have declared it to king David -- for they are not able to be seen to go in to the city.

When the servants of Absalom came to the woman [at] the house, they said, "Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" And she said to them, "They crossed over the brook of water." So they searched but could not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.

Then after the servants had gone away, they came up out of the water-hole and went to give King David the news; and they said, Get up and go quickly over the water, for such and such are Ahithophel's designs against you.

And David riseth, and all the people who are with him, and they pass over the Jordan, till the light of the morning, till one hath not been lacking who hath not passed over the Jordan.

And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of cows, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people are hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.

And David inspecteth the people who are with him, and setteth over them heads of thousands and heads of hundreds,

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."

and smitten there are the people of Israel before the servants of David, and the smiting there is great on that day -- twenty thousand;

The battle there was spread out over the whole area, and the forest consumed more soldiers than the sword devoured that day.

Joab replied to him, “You are not the man to take good news today. You may do it another day, but today you aren’t taking good news, because the king’s son is dead.”

Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok again said to Joab, "{Come what may}, please let me also run after the Cushite." Joab asked, "Why [are] you wanting to run, my son, when for you there is no {messenger's reward}?"

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

"Are things fine with respect to the young man Absalom?" the king asked. Ahimaaz answered, "I saw a lot of confusion about the time Joab was getting ready to send the king's courier and me, your servant, but I'm not sure what was going on."

And the people went up secretly into the city that day, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.

By loving your enemies and hating those who love you, you have declared today that there are neither commanders nor servants to you. For I know that today if Absalom had lived and all of us had died today, then it would have pleased you very much!

And it cometh to pass, all the people are contending through all the tribes of Israel, saying, 'The king delivered us out of the hand of our enemies, yea, he himself delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines, and now he hath fled out of the land because of Absalom,