And he said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, then you shall help me: but if the children of Ammon be too strong for you, then I will come and help you.

And Uriah said unto 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 you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.

And David said to Uriah, Tarry here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow.

Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them unto your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.

For you did it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.

And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then harm himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?

And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?

And he said unto him, Why are you, being the king's son, so haggard from day to day? will you not tell me? And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.

And I, where shall I cause my shame to go? and as for you, you shall be as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, I pray you, speak unto the king; for he will not withhold me from you.

And, behold, the whole family is risen against your handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that struck his brother, that we may kill him, for the life of his brother whom he slew; and we will destroy the heir also: and so they shall quench my ember which is left, and shall not leave to my husband either name or remnant upon the earth.

And the king said unto the woman, Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you.

Now therefore that I am come to speak of this thing unto my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid: and your handmaid said, I will now speak unto the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his handmaid.

For the king will hear, to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of the man that would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God.

Then your handmaid said, The word of my lord the king shall now be comfortable: for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad: therefore the LORD your God will be with you.

For your servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Aram, saying, If the LORD shall bring me again indeed to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD.

And Ittai answered the king, and said, As the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will your servant be.

And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favor in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and show me both it, and his habitation:

See, I will tarry in the plain of the wilderness, until there come word from you to inform me.

But if you return to the city, and say unto Absalom, I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father's servant in time past, so will I now also be your servant: then you may for me defeat the counsel of Ahithophel.

It may be that the LORD will look on my affliction, and that the LORD will repay me good for his cursing this day.

And Hushai said unto Absalom, Nay; but whom the LORD, and this people, and all the men of Israel, choose, his will I be, and with him will I abide.

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

Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night:

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 strike the king only:

And I will bring back all the people unto you: only the man whom you seek will be struck: so all the people shall be in peace.

For, said Hushai, you know your 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 your 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 the people fall at the first attack, that whosoever hears it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.

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

Moreover, if he has gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there.

And David sent forth a third part of the people under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said unto the people, I will surely go forth with you myself also.

But the people answered, You shall not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but now you are worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that you support us from out of the city.

And the king said unto them, What seems to you best I will do. And the king stood by the gate side, and all the people came out by hundreds and by thousands.

Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab, Come what may, let me, I pray you, also run after Cushi. And Joab said, Why will you run, my son, seeing that you have no tidings ready?

Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak kindly unto your servants: for I swear by the LORD, if you go not forth, there will not tarry one with you this night: and that will be worse unto you than all the evil that befell you from your youth until now.

And he answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me: for your servant said, I will saddle me a donkey, that I may ride thereon, and go to the king; because your servant is lame.

And the king said unto Barzillai, Come you over with me, and I will feed you with me in Jerusalem.

Your servant will go a little way over Jordan with the king: and why should the king recompense me with such a reward?

And the king answered, Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good unto you: and whatsoever you shall ask of me, that will I do for you.

I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: you seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why will you swallow up the inheritance of the LORD?

The matter is not so: but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against the king, even against David: deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall.

And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shall you kill any man in Israel. And he said, What you shall say, that will I do for you.

Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them.

The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence.

I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from my enemies.

With the merciful you will show yourself merciful, and with the upright man you will show yourself upright.

With the pure you will show yourself pure; and with the devious you will show yourself shrewd.

And the afflicted people you will save: but your eyes are upon the haughty, that you may bring them down.

For you are my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will enlighten my darkness.

Therefore I will give thanks unto you, O LORD, among the nations, and I will sing praises unto your name.

So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto you in your land? or will you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? now consider, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it from you at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which does cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.

Behold, while you yet talk there with the king, I also will come in after you, and confirm your words.

Even as I swore unto you by the LORD God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my place; even so will I certainly do this day.

And it was told Solomon, saying, Behold, Adonijah fears king Solomon: for, lo, he has caught hold of the horns of the altar, saying, Let king Solomon swear unto me today that he will not slay his servant with the sword.

And Solomon said, If he will show himself a worthy man, there shall not a hair of him fall to the earth: but if wickedness shall be found in him, he shall die.

And, behold, you have with you Shimei the son of Gera, a 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 Jordan, and I swore to him by the LORD, saying, I will not put you to death with the sword.

And he said, Speak, I pray you, unto Solomon the king, (for he will not say nay to you,) that he give me Abishag the Shunammite to be my wife.

And Bath-sheba said, Well; I will speak for you unto the king.

Then she said, I desire one small petition of you; I pray you, say not nay to me. And the king said unto her, Ask on, my mother: for I will not say nay to you.

And unto Abiathar the priest said the king, Get you to Anathoth, unto your own fields; for you are worthy of death: but I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because you have been afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted.

And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the LORD, and said unto him, Thus says the king, Come forth. And he said, Nay; but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.

And Shimei said unto the king, The saying is good: as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.

And if you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David did walk, then I will lengthen your days.

And, behold, I purpose to build a house unto the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spoke unto David my father, saying, Your son, whom I will set upon your throne in your place, he shall build a house unto my name.

Now therefore command you that they cut me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with your servants: and unto you will I give wages for your servants according to all that you shall appoint: for you know that there is not among us any that has skill to cut timber like unto the Sidonians.

And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have considered the things which you sent to me: and I will do all your desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir.

My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea: and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that you shall appoint me, and will cause them to be broken up there, and you shall receive them: and you shall accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household.

Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with you, which I spoke unto David your father:

And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built?

And if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my judgments:

Then I will establish the throne of your kingdom upon Israel forever, as I promised to David your father, saying, There shall not fail you a man upon the throne of Israel.

But if you shall at all turn from following me, you or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them:

Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people:

Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, You shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clung unto these in love.

Therefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Since this is done by you, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.

Nevertheless in your days I will not do it for David your father's sake: but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.

However I will not tear away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to your son for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen.

And he said to Jeroboam, Take you ten pieces: for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to you:

However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him ruler all the days of his life for David my servant's sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes:

But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, and will give it unto you, even ten tribes.

And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen to put my name there.

And I will take you, and you shall reign according to all that your soul desires, and shall be king over Israel.

And it shall be, if you will hearken unto all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do what is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did; that I will be with you, and build you a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto you.

And I will for this afflict the descendants of David, but not forever.

Your father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make you the grievous service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve you.

And they spoke unto him, saying, If you will be a servant unto this people this day, and will serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.

And now whereas my father did lay upon you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father has chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

And spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.

And the man of God said unto the king, If you will give me half your house, I will not go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:

And he said, I may not return with you, nor go in with you: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place:

Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every male, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man takes away refuse, till it is all gone.

Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house; and will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show yourself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.

And Elijah said, As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself unto him today.

Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it: and I will prepare the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it:

And call you on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answers by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray you, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to you?