and to those who were in Hormah, and to those who were in Borashan, and to those who were in Athach,

and to those who were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men used to stay.

When the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were beyond the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them.

Then David took hold on his clothes, and tore them; and likewise all the men who were with him.

They mourned, and wept, and fasted until evening, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the LORD, and for the house of Israel; because they were fallen by the sword.

David said to him, "How were you not afraid to put forth your hand to destroy the LORD's anointed?"

Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives. In their death, they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles. They were stronger than lions.

David brought up his men who were with him, every man with his household. They lived in the cities of Hebron.

The men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. They told David, saying, "The men of Jabesh Gilead were those who buried Saul."

The three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel: and Asahel was as light of foot as a wild gazelle.

To David were sons born in Hebron: and his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess;

and the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah, David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron.

So Abner came to David to Hebron, and twenty men with him. David made Abner and the men who were with him a feast.

David said to Joab, and to all the people who were with him, Tear your clothes, and clothe yourselves with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. King David followed the bier.

Your hands were not bound, nor your feet put into fetters. As a man falls before the children of iniquity, so you fell." All the people wept again over him.

Saul's son had two men who were captains of bands: the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin (for Beeroth also is reckoned to Benjamin:

David took him more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he had come from Hebron; and there were yet sons and daughters born to David.

These are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon,

David arose, and went with all the people who were with him, from Baale Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, even the name of the LORD of hosts who sits above the cherubim.

David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. And Shishak king of Egypt took them, when he went up to Jerusalem in the days of Rehoboam son of Solomon.

and Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, were priests; and Seraiah was scribe;

and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David's sons were chief ministers.

Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Mica. All that lived in the house of Ziba were servants to Mephibosheth.

When they told it to David, he sent to meet them; for the men were greatly ashamed. The king said, "Wait at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return."

When the children of Ammon saw that they were become odious to David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth Rehob, and the Syrians of Zobah, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah with one thousand men, and the men of Tob twelve thousand men.

The children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entrance of the gate: and the Syrians of Zobah and of Rehob, and the men of Tob and Maacah, were by themselves in the field.

So Joab and the people who were with him drew near to the battle against the Syrians: and they fled before him.

When the Syrians saw that they were defeated by Israel, they gathered themselves together.

Hadadezer sent, and brought out the Syrians who were beyond the River: and they came to Helam, with Shobach the captain of the army of Hadadezer at their head.

When all the kings who were servants to Hadadezer saw that they were defeated before Israel, they made peace with Israel, and served them. So the Syrians feared to help the children of Ammon any more.

It happened, when Joab kept watch on the city, that he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew that valiant men were.

The messenger said to David, "The men prevailed against us, and came out to us into the field, and we were on them even to the entrance of the gate.

The LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, "There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.

But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; and David said to his servants, "Is the child dead?" They said, "He is dead."

He took the crown of their king from off his head; and its weight was a talent of gold, and in it were precious stones; and it was set on David's head. He brought out the spoil of the city, a very great amount.

He brought out the people who were therein, and put them under saws, and under iron picks, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick kiln: and he did so to all the cities of the children of Ammon. David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

She had a garment of various colors on her; for with such robes were the king's daughters who were virgins dressed. Then his servant brought her out, and bolted the door after her.

It happened, while they were in the way, that the news came to David, saying, "Absalom has slain all the king's sons, and there is not one of them left."

But Absalom fled. The young man who kept the watch lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, many people were coming by way of the hillside behind him.

To Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar. She was a beautiful woman.

Absalom said moreover, "Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man who has any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice."

Two hundred men went with Absalom out of Jerusalem, who were invited, and went in their simplicity; and they did not know anything.

David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, "Arise, and let us flee; for else none of us shall escape from Absalom. Make speed to depart, lest he overtake us quickly, and bring down evil on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword."

The king went forth, and all his household after him. The king left ten women, who were concubines, to keep the house.

David said to Ittai, "Go and pass over." Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones who were with him.

David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered, and went barefoot: and all the people who were with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.

He cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left.

The king, and all the people who were with him, came weary; and he refreshed himself there.

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En Rogel; and a female servant used to go and tell them; and they went and told king David. For they might not be seen to come into the city.

Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they passed over the Jordan. By the morning light there lacked not one of them who had not gone over the Jordan.

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

David numbered the people who were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them.

The people of Israel were struck there before the servants of David, and there was a great slaughter there that day of twenty thousand men.

All the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, "The king delivered us out of the hand of our enemies, and he saved us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now he has fled out of the land from Absalom.

There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went through the Jordan in the presence of the king.

For all my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king; yet you set your servant among those who ate at your own table. What right therefore have I yet that I should cry any more to the king?"

The men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, "We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more claim to David than you. Why then did you despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king?" The words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in custody, and provided them with sustenance, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood.

When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Joab was clothed in his apparel of war that he had put on, and on it was a sash with a sword fastened on his waist in its sheath; and as he went forth it fell out.

He went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and to Beth Maacah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him.

They came and besieged him in Abel of Beth Maacah, and they cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart; and all the people who were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down.

Then she spoke, saying, "They were used to say in old times, 'They shall surely ask counsel at Abel;' and so they settled it.

Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. They cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. He blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

and Sheva was scribe; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

The king called the Gibeonites, and said to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn to them: and Saul sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah);

He delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the mountain before the LORD, and all seven of them fell together. They were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of barley harvest.

and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son: and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged.

These four were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death caught me.

Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.

Smoke went up out of his nostrils. Fire out of his mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it.

At the brightness before him, coals of fire were kindled.

Then the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare by the rebuke of the LORD, At the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.

For all his ordinances were before me. As for his statutes, I did not depart from them.

I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them. I did not turn again until they were consumed.

After him was Eleazar the son of Dodai the son of an Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines who were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away.

After him was Shammah the son of Agee a Hararite. The Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils; and the people fled from the Philistines.

Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah.

Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, "Why is this noise of the city being in an uproar?"

All the guests of Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and each man went his way.

"Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his sash that was about his waist, and in his shoes that were on his feet.

The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

To Abiathar the priest the king said, "Go to Anathoth, to 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 were afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted."

Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king, and stood before him.

It happened the third day after I delivered, that this woman delivered also. We were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, just us two in the house.

These were the officials whom he had: Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest;

and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

Judah and Israel were many as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry.

Barley also and straw for the horses and swift steeds brought they to the place where the officers were, every man according to his duty.

He spoke three thousand proverbs; and his songs were one thousand five.

"You know how that David my father could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet.

He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses; a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home; and Adoniram was over the men subject to forced labor.

Solomon had seventy thousand who bore burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains;

besides Solomon's chief officers who were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, who bore rule over the people who labored in the work.

Five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing to the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits.

The other cherub was ten cubits: both the cherubim were of one measure and one form.

He set the cherubim within the inner house; and the wings of the cherubim were stretched forth, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house.

For the entrance of the oracle he made doors of olive wood: the lintel and door posts were a fifth part of the wall.