David also conquered Moab, then measured them with a cord, making them lie down on the ground. He executed everyone measured out in each two lengths' measurement of the cord, but spared the ones measured out by every third length. Then the Moabites were placed under servitude to David, and made to pay tribute.

So David asked, "Where is he?" Ziba responded, "He's in Lo-debar at the home of Ammiel's son Makir."

At this, King David sent for him and brought him from the home of Ammiel's son Makir in Lo-debar.

"Don't be afraid," David reassured him, "because I'm going to show gracious love to you in memory of your father Jonathan. I'm going to restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you'll always have a place at my table!"

Mephibosheth bowed low again and asked, "Who am I, your servant, that you would pay attention to a dead dog like me?"

Then David invited Uriah, "Stay here today, and tomorrow I'll send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem all that day and the next.

Then at David's invitation, he and Uriah dined and drank wine together, and David got him drunk. Later that evening, Uriah went out to lie on a couch in the company of his lord's servants, and he did not go down to his house.

"This is what the LORD says: ""Listen very carefully! ""I'm raising up evil against you right out of your own household. ""I'm going to take your wives away from you right before your eyes. ""Then I'll give them to your neighbor. ""And then he's going to have sex with your wives in broad daylight!

But now that he has died, what's the point of fasting? Can I bring him back again? I'll be going to be with him, but he won't be returning to me."

so call out the rest of the army, attack the city, and capture it. Otherwise, I'll take the city myself and name it after me."

Jonadab advised him, "Lie down and pretend to be sick. When your father visits you, ask him, "Please let my sister Tamar come and give me something to eat that she prepares especially for me, and after she makes dinner for me, let her feed it to me personally.'"

So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. When the king came to visit him, Amnon asked the king, "Please let my sister Tamar come and make some of her bread especially for me, so she can feed it to me personally."

And what about me? Where will I go to escape this disgrace? And as for you, you'll be known as one of Israel's greatest fools! So please talk to the king, because he won't withhold me from you!"

Then Absalom instructed his young men, "Please keep watching Amnon until he's drunk. Then I'll tell you, "Attack Amnon!' As soon as I do, kill him and don't be afraid! You have your orders, so be strong and brave!"

Now please pay attention closely! My whole family is attacking your humble servant! They're saying, "Turn over the one who attacked his brother and we'll put him to death in retribution for his brother, whose life he took. That way, we'll kill the heir also!' They're going to extinguish the only light left in my family, leaving my late husband neither an ongoing name nor a survivor on the face of the earth!"

Then the king replied to the woman, "Go home and I'll issue a special order just for you."

Then she said, "Your majesty, please remember the LORD your God, so that blood avengers don't do any more damage! Otherwise, they'll destroy my son!" So he promised, "As the LORD lives, not even a single hair from your son's head will fall to the ground!"

"Now as to why I've come to speak with your majesty the king, it's because the people have made me afraid, so your humble servant told herself, "I'll go speak to the king, so perhaps the king will do what his humble servant has requested.

Then the king addressed Joab, "Look! I'll do this thing that you've requested. Go bring back the young man Absalom."

So David told all of his staff who were with him in Jerusalem, "Let's get up and get out of here! Otherwise, none of us will escape from Absalom. Hurry, or he'll overtake us quickly, bring disaster on all of us, and execute the inhabitants of the city!"

The king told Zadok, "Take the Ark of God back to the city. If I'm shown favor in the LORD's sight, then he'll bring me back again and show me both it and the place where it rests.

Look! I'll camp at the wilderness fords until you send word to inform me."

David greeted him, "If you come along with me, you'll be a burden to me.

So go back to the city and tell Absalom, "I'll be your servant, your majesty! Just as I served your father in the past, I can be your servant now.' That way you can manipulate Ahithophel's advice to my benefit.

Their two sons Zadok's son Ahimaaz and Abiathar's son Jonathan are with them there. You'll be sending me everything that you hear through them."

"Get out of here! Get out!" Shimei yelled as he cursed. "You murderer! You who think you're above the law!

Hushai replied, "No! On the contrary, whomever the LORD, this group, and all the men of Israel choose is where I'll be, and I'll remain with him!

Besides, who else should I be serving? Why not the son? The same way I served your father, I'll serve you."

"I'll catch him while he is still tired and weak. I'll frighten him so all his people with him desert him. But I'll only kill the king.

Then I'll bring everybody else back to you. When the man you're looking for is dead, all the rest of the people will return quietly."

So here's my advice: Muster everybody from one end of the country to the other! You'll have an army in number like the sand on the seashore! Then you'll go into battle!

We'll go find David wherever he's hiding. We'll fall on him like dew on the ground! We'll kill him and all of his men, and we won't leave even one man alive!

If he escapes into a city, we'll bring ropes to that city and tear it down! We won't leave a single stone left in the valley!"

"Give me 12,000 men! I'll leave tonight and pursue David," Ahithophel advised Absalom.

When David arrived at Mahanaim, Shobi (Nahash's son from the Ammonite town of Rabbah), Makir (Ammiel's son from Lo-debar), and Barzillai (from Rogelim in Gilead) were already there.

So David responded, "I'll do what you think best." Then he stood alongside the city gate as the army went out in battle array by hundreds and thousands.

Zadok's son Ahimaaz told Joab, "Let me run over to King David and take him the news. I'll mention that the LORD has delivered him from his enemies."

"Everything's fine!" Ahimaaz announced to the king. He bowed low with his face to the ground before the king and said, "Praise be to the LORD your God! He has handed over the men who rebelled against your majesty the king."

Now get up and restore the morale of your army. I swear by the LORD that if you don't get out there, you won't have a single man left in your army by nightfall! You'll be in more trouble today than all the disasters you've been through from your boyhood until now!"

He replied, "Well, your majesty, since your servant is lame, I told myself, "I'll have my donkey saddled and I'll ride on it so I can leave with the king.' But my servant Ziba deceived me

So the king invited Barzillai, "Cross the Jordan River with me, live with me in Jerusalem, and I'll provide for you there."

So the king answered, "Chimham will accompany me, and I'll do for him whatever seems best to you! I'll do anything for you that you want!"

Right about then, Bichri's son Sheba, an ungodly man from the tribe of Benjamin, sounded a battle trumpet and announced: We've never been a part of David! We'll never gain anything from Jesse's son! It's every man to his tent, Israel!

So David told Abishai, "Now Bichri's son Sheba is about to do more damage than did Absalom. So take my personal guards and go after them. Otherwise, he'll run to one of the fortified cities and escape from us."

One of Joab's soldiers stood by Amasa while he lay dying and announced, "Whoever is in favor of Joab and David, let him follow Joab."

While Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway, everybody who passed by was stopping to stare at him, so when the soldier saw that all of the army was stopping, he carried Amasa off the highway into a nearby field and covered him with a garment.

That's a lie! But there is a man from the Ephraim hill country he's known as Bichri's son Sheba who has rebelled against King David. Turn him over and I'll withdraw from the city!"

so his servants suggested to him, "Let's look for a young virgin woman to take care of you, your majesty. She will be of use to you if you have her lie down near you so that your majesty may keep warm."

If you listen to me, you'll save your life and the life of your son Solomon.

Then, while you are still talking to the king, I'll come in after you and verify your statement."

When he had been ushered into the presence of the king, Nathan bowed low in front of the king with his face to the ground and asked, "Your majesty, did you say "Adonijah will be king after me and will sit on my throne'?

"King David," Bathsheba said as she bowed low in front of the king with her face to the ground, "your majesty, may you live forever."

by keeping the charge that the LORD your God entrusted to you. Live life his way, keep his statutes, his commands, his ordinances, and his testimonies, just as they're written down in the Law of Moses, so that you may succeed in everything you do and wherever you go,

But don't let him off unpunished, since you're a wise man and you'll know what you need to do to him. Find a way that he dies in his old age by shedding his blood."

"Okay," Bathsheba replied. "I'll talk to the king for you."

If you ever leave and cross the Kidron Brook, you can be sure that you'll die. You'll be responsible for your own death."

Shimei replied to the king, "What your majesty has decreed is acceptable to me. I'll do what you've said." So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for quite some time.

so the king sent for Shimei and asked him, "Didn't I make a promise to the LORD and warn you, "The day you leave and go anywhere else, you can be sure you'll die'? And you told me, "What your majesty has decreed is acceptable to me.'

The LORD appeared to Solomon one night in a dream and told him, "Ask me for whatever you want and I'll give it to you."

If you will live life my way, keeping my statutes and my commands, just like your father David did, I'll also increase the length of your life."

The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us."

"I have read the letter that you sent me. I'll do what you've asked about the cedar and cypress timber.

My servants will transport them from Lebanon to the sea, where we'll make them into rafts and float them by sea to the port that you tell me to send them. We'll have them prepared for transport there and then you can carry them from there. You can meet my needs by providing provisions for my household."

then I'll make your royal throne secure forever, just as I agreed to do so for your father David when I said, "You are to not lack a man on the throne of Israel.'

For the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, I won't tear away the entire kingdom. I'll leave one tribe for your son to govern."

"Pay attention! I'm going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon's control and give you ten tribes. I'll leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and one tribe for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I chose from all of the tribes of Israel.

"Nevertheless, I won't take the entire kingdom away from him, but I'll let him reign for the rest of his life, because of my servant David, whom I chose, who obeyed my commandments and statutes,

I'll give one tribe to his son, so my servant David will always have a light shining in my presence in Jerusalem, the city that I chose for myself and where I have placed my name.

If you listen to everything that I command you to do, and if you live your life my way, and if you do what I consider to be right by observing my statutes and my commandments, just like my servant David did, then I will be with you, I will build an enduring dynasty for you, just like I did for David, and I'll give Israel to you.

"Your father made our burdens unbearable. Therefore lighten your father's requirements and his heavy burdens that he placed on us, and we'll serve you."

If these people keep going up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the LORD there, the hearts of these people will return to their lord, King Rehoboam of Judah. Then they'll kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah!"

"Let's make a treaty between you and me," he said, "just like the one between my father and your father. Notice that I've sent you silver and gold to break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel, so he'll retreat from his attack on me."

Quite some time later three years later! this message from the LORD came to Elijah: "Go visit Ahab, and I'll send some rain to the surface of the ground."

Ahab had instructed Obadiah, "Go throughout the land to all of the water springs and to all of the valleys. Maybe we'll find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive. Also, maybe we won't have to kill some of our cattle."

As soon as I've left you, the Spirit of the LORD will carry you off to I don't know where! Then when I go tell Ahab and he can't find you, he'll kill me, even though I have been your servant and have feared the LORD since I was young!

So let them provide two oxen. They can choose one ox for themselves. Cut it up, lay it on top of some wood, but don't set fire to it. I will prepare the other ox and lay it on top of some wood, and I won't set fire to it.

Then you can call on the name of your god, and I'll call on the name of the LORD. Let the God who answers by fire be our God!" "That's a good idea!" all the people shouted.

So Ahab got up to get something to eat and drink while Elijah went back up to the top of Mount Carmel, where he bowed low to the ground and placed his face between his knees.

Then he lay down and went to sleep under the juniper tree. All of a sudden, there was an angel, who kept grabbing him and telling him, "Get up! Eat!"

So he looked around, and there near his head was a muffin sitting on top of some heated stones, along with a jar of water. Elijah ate and drank and then lay down again.

He abandoned the oxen, ran off to follow Elijah, and asked him, "Please, let me kiss my mother and father good-bye, and then I'll come after you." "Go back again," Elijah replied. "What have I done to you?"

About this time tomorrow, I'll send my servants to you, and they'll search through your palace and your servants' houses. Whatever is important to you will be seized and taken away.'"

Then replace the army that you lost, horse-for-horse and chariot-for-chariot. We'll fight them on the plains, and we're certain to be the stronger army." Ben-hadad listened to what they had to say and carried out their advice.

Right about then, a man of God approached and told the king of Israel, "This is what the LORD says: "Because the Arameans keep saying "The LORD is a mountain god, but isn't a valley god," I'm going to deliver this entire vast army right into your control, so you'll learn that I really am the LORD.'"

"Look, now," his advisors suggested, "we've heard that the Israeli kings are merciful. So let's clothe ourselves with sackcloth, tie our hair back with ropes, and go out to the king of Israel. Maybe he'll spare your life."

Ben-hadad made this promise to Ahab: "I will restore the cities that my ancestors took from your ancestors. You'll be able to build streets named after yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria." "With this promise I will release you," Ahab replied. So Ahab made a treaty with Ben-hadad and let him go.

As the king was passing by, he cried out to the king and told him, "Your servant went out into the middle of the battle, and a soldier turned aside, brought a prisoner to me, and told me, "Guard this man. If he turns up missing for any reason at all, you'll pay for it with your life or be fined one talent of silver.'

Ahab addressed Naboth and asked him, "I would like to plant a vegetable garden near my house. Please exchange your vineyard with a better one from me, or if you'd rather have cash, I'll buy it for its full value."

"I asked Naboth the Jezreelite, "Sell me your vineyard for cash, or if you want, I'll give you a better one in its place.' But he refused. He told me, "I won't give you my vineyard!'"

"Aren't you the reigning king of Israel," his wife Jezebel replied. "Get up, have a meal, and get ready to be happy. I'll go get you the vineyard that Naboth the Jezreelite owns."

"As the LORD lives," Micaiah replied, "I'll say what my God tells me to say."

Micaiah replied, "You'll see how when the day comes that you run away to hide yourself in a closet!"

The king of Israel suggested to Jehoshaphat, "I'll go into battle in disguise, but you keep your royal uniform on." So the king of Israel disguised himself and they both went into the battle.

Meanwhile, Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice in his upper room in Samaria and lay injured. He sent messengers to Ekron with these orders: "Go and consult with Ekron's god Baal-zebub to find out if I'm going to recover from this injury."

As soon as the Guild of Prophets who lived adjacent to Jericho saw Elisha, they began to announce, "The spirit of Elijah is at rest on Elisha!" So they came out to meet him and they greeted him by bowing low to the ground in front of him.

"I'm coming," Jehoshaphat replied. "I'm like you! My army will act like your army and my cavalry like your cavalry," Then Jehoshaphat added: "What road do we take?" Jehoram answered, "We'll go along the Edom desert road."

Then she called to her husband and asked him, "Please send me one of the servants, along with one of the donkeys, so I can ride quickly to see that godly man. I'll be right back."

At this he told Gehazi, "Get ready to run! Take my staff in your hand, and get on the road. Don't greet anyone you meet. If anyone greets you, don't respond. Just go lay my staff on the youngster's face."

Then he approached the child and lay down with his mouth near the child's, with his eyes near those of the child, and taking the child's hands in his. As Elisha stretched himself on the child, the child's flesh began to grow warm.

Then she approached him, fell at his feet, bowing low to the ground, took back her son, and went out.