Then we will attack David wherever we find him, and we will descend on him like dew on the ground. Not even one will be left of all the men with him.

Now send someone quickly and tell David, ‘Don’t spend the night at the wilderness ford of the Jordan, but be sure to cross over, or the king and all the people with him will be destroyed.’”

Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En-rogel, where a servant girl would come and pass along information to them. They in turn would go and inform King David, because they dared not be seen entering the city.

After they had gone, Ahimaaz and Jonathan climbed out of the well and went and informed King David. They told him, “Get up and immediately ford the river, for Ahithophel has given this advice against you.”

So David and all the people with him got up and crossed the Jordan. By daybreak, there was no one who had not crossed the Jordan.

David had arrived at Mahanaim by the time Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel.

When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim

honey, curds, sheep, and cheese from the herd for David and the people with him to eat. They had reasoned, “The people must be hungry, exhausted, and thirsty in the desert.”

David reviewed his troops and appointed commanders of hundreds and of thousands over them.

Then David’s forces marched into the field to engage Israel in battle, which took place in the forest of Ephraim.

The people of Israel were defeated by David’s soldiers, and the slaughter there was vast that day—20,000 casualties.

Absalom was riding on his mule when he happened to meet David’s soldiers. When the mule went under the tangled branches of a large oak tree, Absalom’s head was caught fast in the tree. The mule under him kept going, so he was suspended in midair.

David was sitting between the two gates when the watchman went up to the roof of the gate and over to the wall. The watchman looked out and saw a man running alone.

King David sent word to the priests, Zadok and Abiathar: “Say to the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to restore the king to his palace? The talk of all Israel has reached the king at his house.

Shimei son of Gera, a Benjaminite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David.

David answered, “Sons of Zeruiah, do we agree on anything? Have you become my adversary today? Should any man be killed in Israel today? Am I not aware that today I’m king over Israel?”

Suddenly, all the men of Israel came to the king. They asked him, “Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, take you away secretly and transport the king and his household across the Jordan, along with all of David’s men?”

The men of Israel answered the men of Judah: “We have 10 shares in the king, so we have a greater claim to David than you. Why then do you despise us? Weren’t we the first to speak of restoring our king?” But the words of the men of Judah were harsher than those of the men of Israel.

Now a wicked man, a Benjaminite named Sheba son of Bichri, happened to be there. He blew the ram’s horn and shouted:

We have no portion in David,
no inheritance in Jesse’s son.
Each man to his tent, Israel!

So all the men of Israel deserted David and followed Sheba son of Bichri, but the men of Judah from the Jordan all the way to Jerusalem remained loyal to their king.

When David came to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the 10 concubines he had left to take care of the palace and placed them under guard. He provided for them, but he was not intimate with them. They were confined until the day of their death, living as widows.

So David said to Abishai, “Sheba son of Bichri will do more harm to us than Absalom. Take your lord’s soldiers and pursue him, or he will find fortified cities and elude us.”

One of Joab’s young men had stood over Amasa saying, “Whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, follow Joab!”

That is not my intention. There is a man named Sheba son of Bichri, from the hill country of Ephraim, who has rebelled against King David. Deliver this one man, and I will withdraw from the city.”

The woman replied to Joab, “All right. His head will be thrown over the wall to you.”

and in addition, Ira the Jairite was David’s priest.

During David’s reign there was a famine for three successive years, so David inquired of the Lord. The Lord answered, “It is because of the blood shed by Saul and his family when he killed the Gibeonites.”

The Gibeonites were not Israelites but rather a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had taken an oath concerning them, but Saul had tried to kill them in his zeal for the Israelites and Judah. So David summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them.

David spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of the oath of the Lord that was between David and Jonathan, Saul’s son.

When it was reported to David what Saul’s concubine Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, had done,

David had the bones brought from there. They gathered up the bones of Saul’s family who had been hung

The Philistines again waged war against Israel. David went down with his soldiers, and they fought the Philistines, but David became exhausted.

Then Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giant, whose bronze spear weighed about eight pounds and who wore new armor, intended to kill David.

But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him: “You must never again go out with us to battle. You must not extinguish the lamp of Israel.”

When he taunted Israel, Jonathan, son of David’s brother Shimei, killed him.

These four were descended from the giant in Gath and were killed by David and his soldiers.

David spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day the Lord rescued him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

He is a tower of salvation for His king;
He shows loyalty to His anointed,
to David and his descendants forever.

These are the last words of David:

The declaration of David son of Jesse,
the declaration of the man raised on high,
the one anointed by the God of Jacob,
the favorite singer of Israel:

These are the names of David’s warriors:

Josheb-basshebeth the Tahchemonite was chief of the officers. He wielded his spear against 800 men that he killed at one time.

After him, Eleazar son of Dodo son of an Ahohite was among the three warriors with David when they defied the Philistines. The men of Israel retreated in the place they had gathered for battle,

Three of the 30 leading warriors went down at harvest time and came to David at the cave of Adullam, while a company of Philistines was camping in the Valley of Rephaim.

At that time David was in the stronghold, and a Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem.

David was extremely thirsty and said, “If only someone would bring me water to drink from the well at the city gate of Bethlehem!”

So three of the warriors broke through the Philistine camp and drew water from the well at the gate of Bethlehem. They brought it back to David, but he refused to drink it. Instead, he poured it out to the Lord.

David said, “Lord, I would never do such a thing! Is this not the blood of men who risked their lives?” So he refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three warriors.

He was the most honored of the Thirty, but he did not become one of the Three. David put him in charge of his bodyguard.

The Lord’s anger burned against Israel again, and He stirred up David against them to say: “Go, count the people of Israel and Judah.”

David’s conscience troubled him after he had taken a census of the troops. He said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I’ve done. Now, Lord, because I’ve been very foolish, please take away Your servant’s guilt.”

When David got up in the morning, a revelation from the Lord had come to the prophet Gad, David’s seer:

“Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am offering you three choices. Choose one of them, and I will do it to you.’”

So Gad went to David, told him the choices, and asked him, “Do you want three years of famine to come on your land, to flee from your foes three months while they pursue you, or to have a plague in your land three days? Now, think it over and decide what answer I should take back to the One who sent me.”

David answered Gad, “I have great anxiety. Please, let us fall into the Lord’s hands because His mercies are great, but don’t let me fall into human hands.”

When David saw the angel striking the people, he said to the Lord, “Look, I am the one who has sinned; I am the one who has done wrong. But these sheep, what have they done? Please, let Your hand be against me and my father’s family.”

Gad came to David that day and said to him, “Go up and set up an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

David went up in obedience to Gad’s command, just as the Lord had commanded.

Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”

David replied, “To buy the threshing floor from you in order to build an altar to the Lord, so the plague on the people may be halted.”

Araunah said to David, “My lord the king may take whatever he wants and offer it. Here are the oxen for a burnt offering and the threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood.

The king answered Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it from you for a price, for I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 20 ounces of silver.

Now King David was old and getting on in years. Although they covered him with bedclothes, he could not get warm.

but Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and David’s warriors did not side with Adonijah.

Then Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, “Have you not heard that Adonijah son of Haggith has become king and our lord David does not know it?

Go, approach King David and say to him, ‘My lord the king, did you not swear to your servant: Your son Solomon is to become king after me, and he is the one who is to sit on my throne? So why has Adonijah become king?’

King David responded by saying, “Call in Bathsheba for me.” So she came into the king’s presence and stood before him.

Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground, paying homage to the king, and said, “May my lord King David live forever!”

King David then said, “Call in Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada for me.” So they came into the king’s presence.

Just as the Lord 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.”

Then Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down, had Solomon ride on King David’s mule, and took him to Gihon.

“Unfortunately not,” Jonathan answered him. “Our lord King David has made Solomon king.

“The king’s servants have also gone to congratulate our lord King David, saying, ‘May your God make the name of Solomon more well known than your name, and may He make his throne greater than your throne.’ Then the king bowed in worship on his bed.

As the time approached for David to die, he instructed his son Solomon,

Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.

The length of time David reigned over Israel was 40 years: he reigned seven years in Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem.

Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his kingship was firmly established.

And now, as the Lord lives, the One who established me, seated me on the throne of my father David, and made me a dynasty as He promised—I swear Adonijah will be put to death today!”

The king said to Abiathar the priest, “Go to your fields in Anathoth. Even though you deserve to die, I will not put you to death today, since you carried the ark of the Lord God in the presence of my father David and you suffered through all that my father suffered.”

The Lord will bring back his own blood on his head because he struck down two men more righteous and better than he, without my father David’s knowledge. With his sword, Joab murdered Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army.

Their blood will come back on Joab’s head and on the head of his descendants forever, but for David, his descendants, his dynasty, and his throne, there will be peace from the Lord forever.”

The king also said, “You yourself know all the evil that you did to my father David. Therefore, the Lord has brought back your evil on your head,

but King Solomon will be blessed, and David’s throne will remain established before the Lord forever.”

Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying Pharaoh’s daughter. Solomon brought her to live in the city of David until he finished building his palace, the Lord’s temple, and the wall surrounding Jerusalem.

Solomon loved the Lord by walking in the statutes of his father David, but he also sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

And Solomon replied, “You have shown great and faithful love to Your servant, my father David, because he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and integrity. You have continued this great and faithful love for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.

“Lord my God, You have now made Your servant king in my father David’s place. Yet I am just a youth with no experience in leadership.

If you walk in My ways and keep My statutes and commands just as your father David did, I will give you a long life.”

Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in his father’s place, for Hiram had always been friends with David.

“You know my father David was not able to build a temple for the name of Yahweh his God. This was because of the warfare all around him until the Lord put his enemies under his feet.

So I plan to build a temple for the name of Yahweh my God, according to what the Lord promised my father David: ‘I will put your son on your throne in your place, and he will build the temple for My name.’

When Hiram heard Solomon’s words, he greatly rejoiced and said, “May the Lord be praised today! He has given David a wise son to be over this great people!”

“As for this temple you are building—if you walk in My statutes, observe My ordinances, and keep all My commands by walking in them, I will fulfill My promise to you, which I made to your father David.

So all the work King Solomon did in the Lord’s temple was completed. Then Solomon brought in the consecrated things of his father David—the silver, the gold, and the utensils—and put them in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple.

At that time Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the tribal heads and the ancestral leaders of the Israelites before him at Jerusalem in order to bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from the city of David, that is Zion.

He said:

May the Lord God of Israel be praised!
He spoke directly to my father David,
and He has fulfilled the promise by His power.
He said,

“Since the day I brought My people Israel out of Egypt,
I have not chosen a city to build a temple in
among any of the tribes of Israel,
so that My name would be there.
But I have chosen David to rule My people Israel.”

It was in the desire of my father David
to build a temple for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

But the Lord said to my father David,
“Since it was your desire to build a temple for My name,
you have done well to have this desire.

The Lord has fulfilled what He promised.
I have taken the place of my father David,
and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised.
I have built the temple for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

You have kept what You promised
to Your servant, my father David.
You spoke directly to him
and You fulfilled Your promise by Your power
as it is today.

Therefore, Lord God of Israel,
keep what You promised
to Your servant, my father David:
You will never fail to have a man
to sit before Me on the throne of Israel,
if only your sons guard their walk before Me
as you have walked before Me.

Now Lord God of Israel,
please confirm what You promised
to Your servant, my father David.

On the fifteenth day he sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went home to their tents rejoicing and with joyful hearts for all the goodness that the Lord had done for His servant David and for His people Israel.