The Book of 2 Samuel

Chapter 1
1 It came to be after the death of Saul when David himself had returned from smiting Amalek, that David dwelt two days at Ziklag.
2 Now it was on the third day, and here a man was coming from the army camp, from Saul, with his clothes torn and dust from the ground on his head. And so it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the earth and prostrated himself.
3 David said to him, From where do you come? He replied to him, I have escaped from the army camp of Israel.
4 Then David asked him, What is the matter? Tell me now. He replied, The people fled from the battle. Moreover, many of the people had fallen and died. Also Saul and his son Jonathan, they are dead.
5 Now David asked the lad who told him this, How do you know that Saul is dead, and his son Jonathan too?
6 The lad who told him this replied, I happened, yea happened to be on Mount Gilboa when Saul was leaning on his spear, and there the charioteers and the commanders of cavalry followed hard after him.
7 When he faced around behind him, he saw me and called to me. And I answered, Here I am.
8 Then he asked me, Who are you? I replied to him, I am an Amalekite.
9 And he said to me, Please stand over me and put me to death, for the shroud of anguish has taken hold of me because all my soul is still in me.
10 So I stood over him and put him to death, for I knew that he would not remain alive after his fall. Then I took the insignia that was on his head and the armlet that was on his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.
11 David took fast hold of his clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him.
12 They wailed and lamented and fasted until evening over Saul and over his son Jonathan, over the people of Yahweh and over the house of Israel because they had fallen by the sword.
13 David asked the lad who told him this, From where are you? He replied, I am the son of a man who was a sojourner, an Amalekite.
14 Then David said to him, How did you not fear to stretch out your hand to wreck the anointed of Yahweh?
15 So David called one of the young attendants and said, Come close, come upon him! So he smote him, and he died.
16 David said to him, Your blood be on your head! For your own mouth has asserted against you, saying, I myself put to death the anointed of Yahweh.
17 Then David intoned this dirge over Saul and over his son Jonathan,
18 saying, to teach the sons of Judah in verity. Behold, it is written in the Scroll of the Upright.
19 Your stateliness, Israel, was slain on your high-places; How the masters of war have fallen!
20 Do not tell it in Gath, Do not bear the tidings in the streets of Ashkelon, Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised be joyous.
21 Hills of Gilboa, Let there be no night mist, Let there be no rain on you, And no fields of heave offerings, For there the shield of the masters of war was loathed, The shield of Saul, no longer anointed with oil.
22 From the blood of those slain From the fat of the masters of war, Jonathan’s bow, it was not turned away back; And Saul’s sword, it did not return empty.
23 Saul and Jonathan, beloved and pleasant in their lives, In their death they were not parted. They were fleeter than vultures; They were more masterful than lions.
24 Daughters of Israel, lament over Saul, Who clothed you in scarlet, with fineries, Who set up ornaments of gold upon your clothing.
25 How the masters of war have fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan, slain on your high-places!
26 Distressed am I over you, my brother Jonathan. You have been very pleasant to me. Your love was marvelous for me, More than the love from women.
27 How the masters of war have fallen! The weapons of war have perished!

Chapter 2
1 It was afterward that David inquired of Yahweh, saying, Shall I go up to one of the cities of Judah? Yahweh replied to him, Go up! Then David asked, Whither shall I go up? He answered, To Hebron.
2 So David went up there, along with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite, and Abigail, the former wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
3 As for his men who were with him, David brought up each man with his household; and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron.
4 Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David as king over the house of Judah. When they told David, saying, It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who entombed Saul,
5 then David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, May you be blessed by Yahweh because you showed this kindness to your lord, to Saul, when you entombed him and his son Jonathan.
6 Therefore may Yahweh show you benignity and faithfulness; and I too, I shall repay you this goodness because you have done this loyal deed.
7 Now let your hands be steadfast; be sons of valor, for your lord Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah has anointed me as king over them.
8 As for Abner son of Ner, chief of the military host that Saul had, he had taken Ishbosheth son of Saul and had transferred him from the army camp to Mahanaim.
9 There he made him king over Gilead and over Asher, over Jezreel and over Ephraim and over Benjamin, over all of Israel.
10 Ishbosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he reigned two years. The house of Judah however, they were followers of David.
11 The number of days that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
12 Abner son of Ner, together with the servants of Ishbosheth son of Saul, marched forth from Mahanaim toward Gibeon.
13 Also Joab son of Zeruiah, together with David’s servants, marched forth from Hebron and encountered them; they met together at the reservoir of Gibeon. There they sat down, these at the reservoir on this side and those at the reservoir on that side.
14 Then Abner said to Joab, Now let the lads rise up and make sport before us. Joab replied, Let them rise up.
15 So they arose and crossed over in equal numbers, twelve for Benjamin, that is for Ishbosheth son of Saul, and twelve from David’s servants.
16 Then each man took fast hold of his associate by the head and thrust his sword into his associate’s side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim, which is in Gibeon.
17 The fight became obstinate unto excess on that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were struck before David’s servants.
18 Now the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai and Asahel. Asahel was fleet on his feet, like one of the gazelles in the field.
19 So Asahel pursued after Abner and did not turn aside, to go to the right or to the left, from following Abner.
20 Then Abner turned around, behind him and asked, Is that you, Asahel? He replied, It is I.
21 Now Abner said to him, Turn aside, off with you to your right or to your left! Take hold of one of the lads as yours, and take his outfit for yourself. Yet Asahel would not withdraw from following him.
22 So Abner continued to warn Asahel once more: Withdraw from following me, off with you! Why should I smite you to the earth? How could I then lift up my face to your brother Joab?
23 But he refused to withdraw. So Abner smote him with the butt end of his spear on the fifth rib, and the spear came forth through his back. He fell there and died on the spot where he was. And it came to be that they stood still, everyone who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died.
24 Yet Joab and Abishai pursued after Abner. And the sun was setting as they themselves came as far as the hill of Ammah, overlooking Giah on the road to the wilderness of Gibeon.
25 The sons of Benjamin convened themselves behind Abner; they became as one phalanx and stood on top of one hill.
26 Abner then called out to Joab, saying, Shall the sword devour permanently? Do you not realize that there will be bitterness in the latter end? How long will it be? Will you never order your soldiers to turn back from following their kinsmen?
27 Joab replied, As Yahweh lives, if you had not challenged us, then by morning the soldiers would have moved away, each man from following his kinsmen.
28 So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the soldiers stood still. They did not pursue after Israel any longer and did not continue to fight them any more.
29 As for Abner and his men, they marched all that night through the Arabah, crossed the Jordan, marched through the entire Bithron gully and came to Mahanaim.
30 As for Joab, he returned from following Abner and convened all his soldiers; nineteen men from David’s servants were missing, besides Asahel.
31 Yet David’s servants, they had smitten those of Benjamin and of Abner’s men of whom 360 men had died.
32 They carried Asahel and entombed him in his father’s tomb at Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men marched all night until dawn was lighting up for them at Hebron.

Chapter 3
1 Now there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David; but David was growing stronger while the house of Saul was growing weaker.
2 Sons were born to David in Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelite;
3 his second was Chileab, by Abigail, Nabal’s former wife, the Carmelite; the third was Absalom son of Maacah, daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;
4 the fourth was Adonijah son of Haggith; the fifth was Shephatiah son of Abital;
5 and the sixth was Ithream, by David’s wife Eglah. These were born to David in Hebron.
6 It came to be, while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abner was strengthening his hold on the house of Saul.
7 Now Saul had a concubine, and her name was Rizpah, daughter of Aiah; and Ishbosheth said to Abner, For what reason did you come to my father’s concubine?
8 Now Abner grew very angry at the words of Ishbosheth, and he said, Am I a cur’s head that belongs to Judah? Until today I have shown kindness to the house of your father Saul, to his kinsmen and to his associate, and I did not let the hand of David come upon you; yet you call me to account today for a depravity concerning this woman!
9 Thus may Elohim do to Abner, and thus may He add to it, for just as Yahweh swore to David, so I will accomplish it for him:
10 To transfer the kingship from the house of Saul and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah from Dan unto Beer-sheba.
11 Ishbosheth could reply nothing more to Abner because he feared him.
12 Abner sent messengers on his behalf to David, saying, To whom does the land belong? And he added, Do contract your covenant with me, and behold, my hand shall be with you to bring around all Israel to you.
13 David replied, Good! I myself shall contract a covenant with you; I am asking only one thing of you, saying, You shall not see my face unless you bring before me Saul’s daughter Michal when you come to see my face.
14 Then David sent messengers to Saul’s son Ishbosheth, saying, Do give over my wife Michal whom I betrothed to myself with a hundred Philistine foreskins.
15 So Ishbosheth sent word and had her taken away from her husband, from Paltiel son of Laish.
16 Yet her husband went with her, lamenting while going behind her as far as Bahurim. When Abner said to him, Go, return, he turned back.
17 Now there had been communication by Abner with the elders of Israel, saying, Heretofore, indeed, you have been seeking David as king over you.
18 So now act; for Yahweh Himself promised to David, saying, By the hand of My servant David I shall save My people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies.
19 Abner also spoke in the ears of Benjamin. Then Abner went into Hebron to speak in the ears of David of all that seemed good in the eyes of Israel and in the eyes of the whole house of Benjamin.
20 When Abner came to David in Hebron, and with him twenty men, David made a feast for Abner and for the men who were with him.
21 Then Abner said to David, Let me rise and go, and let me convene all Israel to my lord the king. They shall contract a covenant with you, and you will reign over all that your soul is yearning for. So David dismissed Abner, and he went away unharmed.
22 Just then David’s servants and Joab came from a raid, and they brought much loot with them. As for Abner, he was no longer with David in Hebron, for he had dismissed him, and he had gone away unharmed.
23 When Joab and all the military host that was with him came in, they told Joab, saying, Abner son of Ner came to the king; yet he dismissed him, and he went away unharmed.
24 So Joab came to the king and said, What have you done? Here Abner was coming to you; why then did you let him go, so that he is gone, yea gone?
25 You knew of Abner son of Ner that he came to dupe you and to get knowledge about your goings forth and your comings, and to get to know all that you are doing.
26 Then Joab went forth from David and sent messengers after Abner; and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah; as for David, he did not know of it.
27 When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab turned him aside to the flank of the gateway to speak with him at ease. There he smote him on the fifth rib. Thus he died for the blood of his brother Asahel.
28 Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, Innocent am I and my kingdom of bloodguilt for Abner son of Ner before Yahweh for the eon.
29 May it travail upon the head of Joab and on all his father’s house. And may never be cut off from the house of Joab one who has a discharge, or is leprous, or holding fast to the crutch, or falling by the sword, or having lack of bread.
30 Now Joab and his brother Abishai had killed Abner because he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibeon.
31 Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, Tear your clothes, gird on sackcloth, and wail before Abner! King David himself was walking behind the bier.
32 They entombed Abner at Hebron; the king lifted up his voice and lamented at Abner’s tomb; and all the people lamented too.
33 The king composed a dirge over Abner, saying: Should Abner have died the death of a decadent person?
34 Your hands were not bound, And your feet were not enclosed in bronze fetters. Yet you fell as one falls Before sons of iniquity. And all the people continued to lament over him.
35 Then all the people came to urge David to have a repast of bread while it was still day. Yet David swore, saying, Thus may Elohim do to me, and thus may He add, if I should taste bread or anything at all before the sun sets.
36 All the people recognized it, and it was good in their eyes. Like everything that the king did, in the eyes of all the people it was good.
37 Thus all the people and all Israel knew on that day that it had not come from the king to put Abner son of Ner to death.
38 Then the king said to his servants, Do you not know that a chief, a great man in Israel, has fallen this day?
39 And today I am timid, even though anointed king; as for those men, the sons of Zeruiah, they are too obstinate for me. May Yahweh repay the one doing evil according to his evil.

Chapter 4
1 When Saul’s son heard that Abner had died in Hebron, then his hands slackened, and all of Israel were flustered.
2 Now to Saul’s son belonged two men, chiefs of raiding parties; the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the second was Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin, since Beeroth too was reckoned part of Benjamin.
3 The Beerothites had run away to Gittaim and had become sojourners there until this day.
4 Saul’s son Jonathan had a son, smitten on both feet. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his foster mother carried him and fled. It came about as she hurried away to flee that he fell and was lamed. His name was Mephibosheth.
5 Now Rechab and Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, started out and came in the warmth of the day to the house of Ishbosheth while he was lying abed at noon.
6 Now the gatekeeper of the house had been cleaning wheat from stones; yet she slumbered and slept. And so they came to the midst of the house and smote him on the fifth rib. Then Rechab and his brother Baanah slipped away.
7 They had entered the house while he was lying on his couch in his bedchamber where they smote him and put him to death. They took off his head and traveled the Arabah road all night.
8 They brought the head of Ishbosheth to David in Hebron and said to the king, Here is the head of your enemy, Ishbosheth son of Saul, who sought your soul. This day Yahweh has given to my lord the king vengeance upon Saul and his seed.
9 But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, As Yahweh lives, Who has ransomed my soul from all distress:
10 The one who told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, he was in his own eyes a bearer of good tidings. But I took hold on him and killed him in Ziklag, to whom I ought to have given a reward for the tidings.
11 How much more, then, when wicked men have killed a righteous man on his bed in his own house! Therefore, should I not seek his blood from your hands and wipe you out from the earth!
12 Then David instructed his lads, who killed them, cut away their hands and their feet and hanged them by the reservoir at Hebron. And they took the head of Ishbosheth and entombed it in Abner’s tomb at Hebron.

Chapter 5
1 All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and declared, saying, Behold us, your bone and your flesh are we!
2 Heretofore, while Saul was king over us, you were the one bringing Israel forth to war and bringing it in; and Yahweh said to you, You shall shepherd My people Israel, and you shall become governor over Israel.
3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and king David contracted a covenant with them in Hebron before Yahweh; and they anointed David as king over Israel.
4 David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.
5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.
6 After this king David went with his men to Jerusalem against the Jebusite dwelling in the land, who declared to David, saying, You shall not enter here, for even the blind and the lame will ward you off, thinking, David shall not ever enter here.
7 Yet David seized the fastness of Zion, which is now the city of David.
8 Now David had said on that day, Whoever would smite the Jebusite should assault through the conduit both the lame and the blind, hated by David’s soul. Therefore they say, The blind and the lame shall not enter the house.
9 David dwelt in the fastness and called it the city of David. Then David built up the surrounding area, from the Millo bulwark inward.
10 Thus David went on getting greater, and Yahweh Elohim of hosts was with him.
11 Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David with cedar timber, carpenters and sidewall masons who built a palace for David.
12 Thus David realized that Yahweh had established him as king over Israel and had uplifted his kingship for the sake of His people Israel.
13 After coming from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to David.
14 These are the names of those born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon;
15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg and Japhia;
16 Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet.
17 When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David as king over Israel, then all the Philistines marched up to seek David; but David heard of it and went down to the fastness.
18 As for the Philistines, they came and were deployed in the vale of Rephaim.
19 David inquired of Yahweh, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand? Yahweh replied to David, Go up, for I will give, yea give the Philistines into your hand.
20 So David entered Baal-perazim, and David smote them there. He said, Yahweh has breached through my enemies before me like a breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim.
21 Since they had forsaken their fetishes there, David and his men carried them off.
22 Once again the Philistines came up and were deployed in the vale of Rephaim.
23 So David inquired of Yahweh; yet He replied, You shall not go up to meet them. Go around behind them, so that you come against them opposite the aspens.
24 Let it come to be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the aspens, then make your decisive move, for by then Yahweh will have gone forth before you to smite the army camp of the Philistines.
25 David did so, just as Yahweh had instructed him; and he smote the Philistines from Gibeon as far as your entry to Gezer.

Chapter 6
1 David again gathered all the choice men in Israel, thirty contingents.
2 Then David and all the people with him set out and went to Baale of Judah to bring up from there the coffer of the One, Elohim, over which the Name is called, the Name of Yahweh of hosts, dwelling over the cherubim.
3 They let the coffer of the One, Elohim, ride on a new cart and carried it away from the house of Abinadab on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were leading the new cart.
4 Thus they carried it away from the house of Abinadab on the hill with the coffer of the One, Elohim; and Ahio was walking before the coffer.
5 David and all the house of Israel were gamboling before Yahweh with all their strength and with songs, with harps and zithers, with tambourines, with sistrums and cymbals.
6 When they came to the threshing site of Nacon, Uzzah stretched forth his hand to the coffer of the One, Elohim, and took hold of it, for the oxen were restive.
7 And the anger of Yahweh grew hot against Uzzah. The One, Elohim, smote him there for his carelessness; and so he died there by the coffer of the One, Elohim.
8 Now the distress of David grew hot because Yahweh had breached a breach against Uzzah; and one has called that place Perez-uzzah until this day.
9 David became fearful of Yahweh on that day; he said, How can the coffer of Yahweh come to me?
10 So David would not take away the coffer of Yahweh to himself into the city of David; and David had it turned aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
11 So the coffer of Yahweh remained with the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months; and Yahweh blessed Obed-edom and his whole household.
12 When it was told to king David, saying, Yahweh has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that he has for the sake of the coffer of the One, Elohim, then David went and brought up the coffer of the One, Elohim, from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David, amid rejoicing.
13 It came to be when the bearers of the coffer of Yahweh had marched six steps, that he sacrificed a bull and a fatling.
14 David was frisking with all his strength before Yahweh; and David was girded with a linen ephod.
15 Thus David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh with shouting and with the sound of trumpets.
16 As the coffer of Yahweh was entering the city of David, Saul’s daughter Michal gazed out through the window shutters and saw king David prancing and frisking before Yahweh; and she despised him in her heart.
17 Thus they brought in the coffer of Yahweh and put it in its place in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it. Then David offered up ascent offerings before Yahweh and peace offerings.
18 When David had finished offering up the ascent offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the Name of Yahweh of hosts.
19 Then he distributed portions among all the people among the entire throng of Israel, both man and woman to each, one perforated loaf of bread, one date cake and one raisin cake. Then all the people left, everyone to his home.
20 When David returned to bless his own household, Saul’s daughter Michal came forth to meet David; she said, How illustrious was the king of Israel today who exposed himself today before the eyes of the maidservants of his servants, as one of the dancers openly exposes himself!
21 David replied to Michal, Before Yahweh I have danced; blessed be Yahweh Who has chosen me rather than your father or anyone of his house, to commission me as governor over the people of Yahweh, over Israel. I will gambol before Yahweh;
22 I will be dishonored even more than this; I will become low in your eyes, yet with the maidservants of whom you speak, with them I shall be glorified.
23 As for Saul’s daughter Michal, to her came no child until the day of her death.

Chapter 7
1 It came to be when the king was settled in his palace, and Yahweh Himself had granted him rest from all his enemies round about,
2 that the king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I am dwelling in a palace of cedars, while the coffer of the One, Elohim, is dwelling inside a sheet-tent.
3 Nathan replied to the king, Go ahead, do all that is in your heart, for Yahweh is with you.
4 But it was in that same night that the word of Yahweh came to Nathan the prophet, saying,
5 Go and say to My servant David, Thus said Yahweh: Should you build Me a house for Me to dwell in?
6 For I have not dwelt in a house from the day that I brought the sons of Israel up from Egypt until this day, but I have been moving about in tent and tabernacle.
7 Wherever I moved about among all the sons of Israel, have I ever spoken a word to one of Israel’s judges whom I commissioned to shepherd My people Israel, saying, Why have you not built for Me a house of cedars?
8 And now, thus shall you say to My servant David, Thus speaks Yahweh of hosts: I Myself took you from the homestead, from following the flock, to become governor over My people, over Israel.
9 I shall be with you wherever you go, and I shall cut off all your enemies from before you. I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones who are on the earth.
10 And I will provide a place for My people Israel; I will plant them so that they can tabernacle by themselves and shall no longer be disturbed; the sons of iniquity shall not continue to humiliate them just as at the first,
11 ever since the day when I commissioned judges over My people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover Yahweh tells you that Yahweh shall establish a royal house for you:
12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, then I will raise up your seed after you that shall come forth from your internal parts; and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He shall build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for the eon.
14 I Myself shall become for him like a father; and he shall become for Me like a son. When he sins out of depravity, then I will correct him with the club of men and with the contagions of the sons of humanity.
15 As for My benignity, it shall not withdraw from him as I withdrew it from Saul whom I took away from before you.
16 Your house and your kingship will be authenticated before Me for the eon; your throne, it shall become established for the eon.
17 According to all these words and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak to David.
18 Then king David came and sat before Yahweh; he said: Who am I, my Lord Yahweh, and what is my house that You have brought me as far as hither?
19 While this may be still small in Your eyes, my Lord Yahweh, yet You are speaking also about Your servant’s house for the far future; and this is the law for humanity, my Lord Yahweh.
20 What more could David add in speaking to You? For You Yourself know Your servant, my Lord Yahweh.
21 For the sake of Your word and according to Your own heart You have done all this greatness, and made it known to Your servant.
22 Therefore You are great, my Lord Yahweh, for there is no one like You, and there is no Elohim except You among all of whom we have heard with our ears.
23 And who is like Your people, like Israel, the only nation on the earth that Elohim went to ransom for Himself as a people, to make for Himself a Name and to do for them great and fear inspiring deeds: to drive out nations and their elohim before Your people that You ransomed for Yourself from Egypt?
24 You have established Your people Israel for Yourself as Your people for the eon; and You Yourself, O Yahweh, have become their Elohim.
25 And now, my Lord Yahweh, confirm for the eon the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house; do just as You have spoken.
26 May Your Name be magnified for the eon, saying, Yahweh of hosts is Elohim over Israel; and the house of Your servant David, may it become established before You.
27 For You, O Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel, You have revealed to the ear of Your servant, saying, I shall build a house for you; therefore Your servant has found courage in his heart to pray to You with this prayer.
28 And now, my Lord Yahweh, You are He Who is the One, Elohim; as for Your words, they are trustworthy; and You are speaking to Your servant of this goodness.
29 Be disposed now and bless the house of Your servant that it may come to be before You for the eon; for You, my Lord Yahweh, You have spoken. So by Your blessing let the house of Your servant be blessed for the eon.

Chapter 8
1 It occurred afterward that David smote the Philistines and made them submissive. David also took Metheg-ammah from the hand of the Philistines.
2 Then he smote Moab and measured them off with a line, making them lie down on the earth. He measured out two lines for putting to death and a full line for preserving alive. Thus the Moabite became David’s servants carrying tributary presents.
3 David also smote Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he was going to restore his hand at the stream Euphrates.
4 David seized from him 1,000 chariots and 7,000 horsemen and 20,000 men on foot. David hamstrung all chariot steeds, yet he reserved from them enough for one hundred chariots.
5 When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David smote of the Syrians 22,000 men.
6 Then David placed garrisons in Syrian Damascus; thus the Syrians became David’s servants carrying tributary presents. So Yahweh saved David everywhere he went.
7 David took the golden arrow-cases which were carried by Hadadezer’s servants, and brought them to Jerusalem.
8 And from Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, king David took a very great amount of copper.
9 When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had smitten the entire army of Hadadezer,
10 Toi sent his son Hadoram to king David to ask him about his well-being and to congratulate him because he fought against Hadadezer and smote him; (for Hadadezer had been a man engaged in warfare against Toi). In his hand were articles of silver, articles of gold and articles of copper.
11 King David sanctified them to Yahweh, along with the silver and the gold that he had sanctified from all the nations he had subdued:
12 from Syria and from Moab, from the sons of Ammon and from the Philistines, from Amalek and from the loot of Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah.
13 David made a name for himself at his return after he had smitten Edom in the Salt Ravine, 18,000 in all.
14 Then he placed garrisons in Edom. In all of Edom he placed garrisons, and all the Edomites became servants to David. So Yahweh saved David everywhere he went.
15 David reigned over all Israel; and it came to be that David was dealing out right judgment and justice to all his people.
16 Joab son of Zeruiah was over the military host; and Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder.
17 Zadok son of Ahitub and Abiathar son of Ahimelech were priests; and Seraiah was the scribe.
18 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethite and the Pelethite; as for David’s sons, they were royal stewards.

Chapter 9
1 David inquired, Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul, that I may show kindness to him for the sake of Jonathan?
2 Now there was a servant of the house of Saul, and his name was Ziba. When they called him to David, the king asked him, Are you Ziba? He replied, I am your servant.
3 The king continued, Is there nobody, even one man, left of the house of Saul, that I may show him the kindness of Elohim? Ziba answered the king, There is still a son of Jonathan, smitten on both feet.
4 Then the king asked him, Where is he? Ziba replied to the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar.
5 So king David sent out to take him from the house of Machir son of Ammiel at Lo-debar.
6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul came to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. David said, Mephibosheth! And he replied, Behold, I am your servant.
7 David told him, Do not fear, for I shall show, yea show kindness to you for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the field of your grandfather Saul; and you shall eat bread regularly at my table.
8 He prostrated himself again and said, What is your servant, that you turn around to a dying cur such as me?
9 Then the king called Ziba, Saul’s lad, and said to him, I give to your lord’s grandson all that belonged to Saul and to all his household.
10 You will cultivate the ground for him, you and your sons and your slaves. You will bring in the yield, that there will be bread for your lord’s household, and they can eat. As for your lord’s grandson Mephibosheth, he shall eat bread regularly at my table. ( Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty slaves.)
11 Ziba replied to the king, According to all that my lord the king has instructed his servant, so shall your servant do. So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons.
12 Mephibosheth had a young son, and his name was Mica. All those dwelling in Ziba’s household became Mephibosheth’s servants.
13 Yet Mephibosheth was dwelling in Jerusalem, for he ate regularly at the king’s table. He was lame in both his feet.

Chapter 10
1 It occurred afterward that the king of the sons of Ammon died, and his son Hanun reigned in his stead.
2 David said, I shall show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me. So by means of his courtiers, David sent word to console him over his father. But when David’s courtiers came to the land of the sons of Ammon,
3 then the chief officials of the sons of Ammon said to their lord Hanun, Is David glorifying your father in your eyes because he sent consolers to you? Is it not rather in order to sound out the city, to spy it out and to overturn it that David sent his courtiers to you?
4 So Hanun took David’s courtiers and shaved off a half side of their beards; he cut their coats in half up to their buttocks and sent them away.
5 When others told David about it, he sent to meet them, for the men had been utterly mortified. So the king said, Remain in Jericho! When your beard sprouts, then you can return.
6 The sons of Ammon discerned that they were in bad odor with David. So the sons of Ammon sent and hired Syrians of Beth-rehob and Syrians of Zobah, 20,000 men on foot, and the king of Maacah with 1,000 men, and Ish-tob with 12,000 men.
7 When David heard of it, he sent Joab with the entire military host and the masters of war.
8 Then the sons of Ammon marched forth and arranged themselves for the battle at the portal of the city, while the Syrians of Zobah and Rehob, Ish-tob and Maacah were alone by themselves in the field.
9 When Joab saw that the battle-line was against him both front and rear, then he chose some of all the choice men of Israel and arrayed them to meet the Syrians.
10 The rest of the soldiers he gave into the hand of his brother Abishai and arrayed them to meet the sons of Ammon.
11 And he said, If the Syrians are too steadfast for me, then you come to my salvation. But if the sons of Ammon are too steadfast for you, then I will go ahead to save you.
12 Be steadfast and let us encourage ourselves in behalf of our people and in behalf of the cities of our Elohim. As for Yahweh, He shall do what is good in His eyes.
13 When Joab and the soldiers with him drew close for the battle against the Syrians, they fled before him.
14 As for the sons of Ammon, they saw that the Syrians had fled, and so they took to flight before Abishai and went into the city. Then Joab returned from his campaign against the sons of Ammon and came to Jerusalem.
15 When the Syrians saw that they were stricken before Israel, they gathered themselves together.
16 Hadadezer sent messengers and brought forth the Syrians who were from across the Stream; they came to Helam with Shobach, chief of Hadadezer’s military host before them.
17 When this was told to David, then he gathered all of Israel’s men, crossed the Jordan and advanced to Helam. Now the Syrians drew up in battle array to meet David and fought against him.
18 Yet the Syrians fled before Israel; and David killed of the Syrians seven hundred charioteers and 40,000 men on foot. He also smote Shobach, the chief of their host, who died there.
19 When all the kings, the servants of Hadadezer, saw that they were stricken before Israel, then they made peace with Israel and served them; and the Syrians feared to save the sons of Ammon any more.

Chapter 11
1 It came to be at the year’s return, the season when kings march forth, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all of Israel. They brought ruin to the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah, while David remained in Jerusalem.
2 It was at eventide, and David arose from his bed. When he walked about on the housetop of the royal palace, he saw from the housetop a woman bathing. The woman was exceedingly good in appearance,
3 and David sent someone to inquire about the woman. He reported, Is this not Bathsheba daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite?
4 David sent messengers that he might take her; she came to him, and he lay with her she had just hallowed herself from her uncleanness. Then she returned to her house.
5 When the woman became pregnant, she sent to tell David, saying, I am pregnant.
6 At this David sent word to Joab, saying, Send Uriah the Hittite to me. And Joab sent Uriah to David.
7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him about Joab’s well-being and the soldiers’ well-being and about any accomplishment in the war.
8 Then David said to Uriah, Go down to your house and bathe your feet. So Uriah went forth from the royal palace, and a helping from the king’s table was brought forth after him.
9 Yet Uriah lay down at the portal of the royal palace with all the other servants of his lord and did not go down to his house.
10 When they told David, saying, Uriah did not go down to his house, then David asked Uriah, Have you not come from a journey? For what reason did you not go down to your house?
11 Uriah replied to David, The coffer and Israel and Judah are dwelling in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping on the face of the field. Then how can I enter my house to eat and to drink and to lie down with my wife? By your life and by the life of your soul, I shall assuredly not behave in this manner!
12 Then David said to Uriah, Stay in this place today also, and tomorrow I shall send you off. So Uriah remained in Jerusalem on that day, and on the morrow.
13 And David invited him that he might eat and drink in his presence; and he made him drunk. Yet in the evening he went forth to lie down on his bedding among the other servants of his lord; and he did not go down to his house.
14 It came to be in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15 He wrote in the letter, saying, Get Uriah to the forefront, in face of unyielding fighting; then you all will turn back from behind him, so that he will be smitten and will die.
16 So it was when Joab kept guard over the city that he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew that there were men of valor.
17 When the men of the city sallied forth and fought against Joab, then some of David’s servants among the soldiers fell; and Uriah the Hittite also died.
18 Joab sent word and told David all the details of the fighting.
19 He instructed the messenger, saying, When you finish reporting to the king all the details of the fighting,
20 then it may occur that the king’s fury flares up and he says to you, For what reason did you come so close to the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?
21 Who smote Abimelech son of Jerub-besheth? Did not a woman fling on him the rider section of a millstone from on top of the wall at Thebez so that he died? Why did you come so close to the wall? Then you must say, Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite, he also died.
22 So the messenger went off; he came and told David all that Joab had sent him to report.
23 The messenger said to David, The men had the mastery over us and sallied forth against us into the open field. But we drove them back as far as the portal of the gateway.
24 Then the shooters shot at your servants from on top of the wall, and some of the king’s servants died; moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite, he also died.
25 David replied to the messenger, Thus shall you say to Joab, Let not this matter be displeasing in your eyes, for the sword shall devour this one just as that one. Intensify your fight against the city, and demolish it. So encourage him!
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah had died, she wailed over her spouse.
27 After the period of mourning had passed, David sent and had her gathered to his palace; she became his wife and bore for him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

Chapter 12
1 Then Yahweh sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said to him, There were two men in a certain city; one was rich and the other was destitute.
2 It came to be that the rich man had very many flocks and herds.
3 Yet the destitute one had nothing at all save one small ewe lamb which he had bought. He tended it, and it grew up together with him and his children: it ate from his morsel and drank from his cup and nestled in his bosom; it was like a daughter to him.
4 Then a wayfarer came to the rich man, and he spared taking some from his own flocks or from his herds to prepare for the traveler who had come to him; rather he took the ewe lamb of the destitute man and prepared it for the man who had come to him.
5 So David’s anger grew very hot against the man, and he said to Nathan, As Yahweh lives, the man who did this is a son of death!
6 As for the ewe lamb, he should repay sevenfold for it inasmuch as he did this thing and because he did not take pity.
7 Then Nathan said to David, You are the man! Thus said Yahweh Elohim of Israel: It was I Who anointed you as king over Israel, and it was I Who rescued you from the hand of Saul.
8 I also gave you the daughter of your lord, and the wives of your lord into your bosom. I gave you the daughters of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would add for you this way and that way.
9 For what reason have you despised the word of Yahweh by doing what is evil in His eyes? Uriah the Hittite have you smitten with the sword; you took his wife as your wife and had him killed by the sword of the sons of Ammon.
10 Therefore the sword shall not withdraw from your house for the eon, inasmuch as you despised Me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to become your wife.
11 Thus said Yahweh: Behold, I am raising up over you evil from your own house; I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your associate; and he will lie down with your wives before the eyes of this sun.
12 For you acted in secret, but I shall do this thing in front of all Israel and in front of the sun.
13 Then David said to Nathan, I have sinned against Yahweh. Nathan replied to David, Now Yahweh, He has remitted your sin; you shall not die.
14 Only because you made Yahweh’s enemies spurn, yea spurn Him by this thing, surely the son born to you, he shall die, yea die.
15 Nathan went to his house, and Yahweh struck the boy whom Uriah’s wife had borne for David, and he became mortally ill.
16 So David appealed earnestly to the One, Elohim, on behalf of the lad; David also abstained for a fast; he went and lodged for the night lying on the earth.
17 Then the elders of his household arose beside him to raise him up from the earth; but neither would he get up nor have a repast of bread with them.
18 It was on the seventh day that the boy died. Yet David’s servants were fearful to tell him that the boy was dead; for they said, Behold, when the boy was alive, we spoke to him, but he would not hearken to our voice. How then can we tell him that the boy is dead? He might do something vicious.
19 When David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the boy was dead. So David asked his servants, Is the boy dead? And they replied, He is dead.
20 Now David arose from the earth; he bathed, rubbed himself with oil and changed his raiments. Then he entered the abode of Yahweh and prostrated himself in worship. When he came back to his palace and asked for bread, they set it before him and he ate.
21 His courtiers asked him, What is this thing you have done? You fasted and lamented for the sake of the boy while he was alive; but just as you hear the boy is dead, you arise and eat bread.
22 He replied, I fasted and lamented on behalf of the boy while he was alive because I thought, Who knows? Yahweh may be gracious to me and keep the boy alive.
23 But now that he is dead, why then should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, yet he will not return to me.
24 Then David consoled his wife Bathsheba; he went to her and lay with her. When she bore a son, she called his name Solomon. As for Yahweh, He loved him;
25 He sent word by the hand of Nathan the prophet; so he called his name Jedidiah, for the sake of Yahweh.
26 Joab had been fighting against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon and had seized the royal city.
27 So Joab sent messengers to David, saying, I have fought against Rabbah and have just seized the water city.
28 Now gather together the rest of the soldiers, and encamp against the city proper. Seize it, lest I myself should seize the city and my name would be called over it.
29 So David gathered together all the soldiers and marched to Rabbah; he fought against it and seized it.
30 He took the crown of Milcom off its head; its weight was a talent of gold, with precious stones in it; and it was put on David’s head. The amount of loot of the city that he brought forth was very great.
31 As for the people who were in it, he brought them forth and consigned them to raze it down with iron threshers and with iron severing instruments, or assigned them to brickwork. And he did this to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. Then David and all the soldiers returned to Jerusalem.

Chapter 13
1 This happened some time afterward: David’s son Absalom had a lovely sister; her name was Tamar, and David’s son Amnon became infatuated with her.
2 Yet Amnon was distressed so that he made himself ill for the sake of his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin, and in Amnon’s eyes it was too difficult to do anything to her.
3 Now Amnon had an associate; his name was Jonadab, son of David’s brother Shimeah; Jonadab was a very shrewd man.
4 He said to him, For what reason are you, the king’s son, so weak as this, morning after morning? Will you not tell me? Amnon replied to him, I am in love with my brother Absalom’s sister Tamar.
5 Then Jonadab said to him, Lie down on your bed and feign yourself ill. When your father comes to see you, then you say to him, Please let my sister Tamar come and give me a repast of bread. She should prepare the repast before my eyes, that I may see it and eat from her hand.
6 So Amnon lay down and feigned himself ill. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, Please let my sister Tamar come and make heart-shaped cakes before my eyes, that I may have a repast of a couple heart-shaped cakes from her hand.
7 So David sent word to Tamar in the palace, saying, Go now to your brother Amnon’s home and prepare a repast for him.
8 Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s home while he was lying down. She took dough and kneaded it. Then she shaped it into hearts before his eyes and cooked the heart-shaped cakes.
9 She took the griddle and poured them before him; yet he refused to eat. Amnon said, Have every one go forth from me. So every one went forth from him.
10 Now Amnon said to Tamar, Bring the repast toward the bedchamber that I may eat the repast from your hand. Tamar took the heart-shaped cakes she had made and brought them toward the bedchamber to her brother Amnon.
11 When she brought them close to him to eat, he held her fast and said to her, Come, lie down with me, my sister.
12 Yet she replied to him, Do not, my brother, do not humiliate me, for such a thing should not be done in Israel! Do not commit this decadent thing!
13 And I, whither should I carry my reproach? And you, you would become like one of the decadent men in Israel. So now I pray, speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.
14 But he would not hearken to her voice; he was more unyielding than she; he humiliated her and lay with her.
15 Then Amnon hated her with a very great hatred; for greater was the hatred with which he hated her than the love with which he had loved her. So Amnon said to her, Get up! Go away!
16 She replied to him, This must not be, my brother; concerning this evil of sending me away, it is greater than the other one that you have done to me. Yet he would not hearken to her.
17 He called his young attendant who was ministering to him and said, Now send this woman out, away from me to the outside, and latch the door after her!
18 She had a distinctive tunic on her, for the virgin daughters of the king put on such robes. When his ministering attendant put her forth to the outside and latched the door after her,
19 then Tamar took ashes and put them on her head; she tore the distinctive tunic that she had on her and placed her hands on her head. Thus she went walking away, and she cried out.
20 Her brother Absalom said to her, Your brother Amnon, has he been with you? Now be silent, my sister; he is your brother. You must not set your heart on this matter. So Tamar dwelt in desolation in her brother Absalom’s home.
21 As for king David, when he heard of all these things, he was very angry with him; yet he did not grieve his son Amnon’s spirit, for he loved him because he was his firstborn.
22 Absalom did not speak with Amnon either evil or good, for Absalom hated Amnon for this matter where he had humiliated his sister Tamar.
23 It was after the days of two years that Absalom had sheepshearers at Baal-hazor near Ephraim. Absalom invited all the king’s sons.
24 So Absalom came to the king and said, Behold, I pray, your servant has sheepshearers. Now may the king come with his servants to your servant!
25 But the king replied to Absalom, Oh no, my son! Let not all of us go, so that we may not be burdensome to you. He urged him, but he would not go; yet he blessed him.
26 Then Absalom said, If not you, I pray, let my brother Amnon go with us! The king replied to him, Why should he go with you?
27 Again Absalom urged him; so he sent with him Amnon and all the other sons of the king. Then Absalom prepared a feast like the feast of a king.
28 Absalom instructed his lads, saying, Now watch. When Amnon’s heart is cheerful with wine, and when I say to you, Smite Amnon, then you will put him to death. You must not fear; did not I myself instruct you? Be steadfast and be sons of valor!
29 So Absalom’s lads did to Amnon just as Absalom had instructed them. Then all the other sons of the king arose and fled, each one riding on his mule.
30 It came to pass while they were on the road, that the report came to David, saying, Absalom has smitten all the king’s sons, and not one of them is left.
31 At this, the king arose, tore his garments and lay down on the earth; and all his courtiers were standing by with their clothes torn.
32 Then Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, responded and said, My lord the king must not think it is all the lads, the king’s sons, whom they have put to death; for it is Amnon, he alone, who is dead. For at Absalom’s bidding it was determined since the day he humiliated his sister Tamar.
33 So now my lord the king must not take to his heart the report, to think that all the king’s sons are dead; but it is rather Amnon, he alone, who is dead.
34 While Absalom was running away, the lad who was the watchman lifted his eyes and stared, and behold, there were many people walking on the road of Horonaim, on the descent. So the watchman came and told the king about it. He said, I have seen men coming down from the road of Horonaim from the side of the mountain.
35 Now Jonadab said to the king, Behold, the king’s sons! They have come! According to the report of your servant, thus it has come to be.
36 It was as he had finished speaking, that the king’s sons themselves came. They lifted their voice and lamented, and so did the king and all his courtiers; they lamented with a very great lamentation.
37 As for Absalom, he had run away; he went to Talmai son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. King David mourned all the days over his son Amnon.
38 As for Absalom, he had run away and had gone to Geshur; he stayed there three years.
39 Then king David’s spirit of anger to go forth after Absalom was vanishing, for he was consoled over Amnon that he had died.

Chapter 14
1 Joab son of Zeruiah got to know that the king’s mind was on Absalom.
2 So Joab sent to Tekoa and had a wise woman taken along from there. He said to her, Feign yourself to be in mourning now! Do put on mourning garments! You must not rub yourself with oil, but you will behave now like a woman who has been mourning the dead for many days.
3 You will come to the king and speak to him in this manner; then Joab put the words in her mouth.
4 When the Tekoite woman came to the king, she fell on her nostrils to the earth, prostrated herself and said, Do grant a salvation, O king!
5 The king replied to her, What is your trouble? She said, Verily, I am a widowed woman; my husband is dead.
6 Your maidservant had two sons. The two of them strove in the field; yet there was no rescuer to part them. Then the one smote the other and put him to death.
7 And now the whole family has risen up against your maidservant, demanding, Give up the one who smote his brother that we may put him to death for the soul of his brother whom he killed, even though we do exterminate the tenant. Thus they would quench my last ember which remains, so as to leave to my husband no name or remnant on the surface of the ground.
8 Then the king said to the woman, Go to your home, and I myself shall give instruction on your behalf.
9 Also the Tekoite woman said to the king, On me, my lord the king, be the depravity and on my father’s house. Yet the king and his throne be innocent.
10 The king replied, If anyone is uttering anything to you, then you bring him to me, and he shall not continue to touch you further.
11 She replied, Please let the king be mindful of Yahweh your Elohim that the redeemer of blood may not multiply his efforts to cause ruin and that they do not exterminate my son. And he said, As Yahweh lives, assuredly not one hair of your son shall fall to the earth.
12 Now the woman said, Please let your maidservant speak another word to my lord the king. He replied, Speak!
13 So the woman said, Why then have you devised like this against people of Elohim? While the king is pronouncing this decree, the king is just as guilty for failing to let his own expelled one return.
14 For we all shall die, yea die and be like water spilled to the earth that cannot be gathered up again. Elohim shall not carry away the soul of him who devises devices so as not to keep expelled from him one who has been expelled.
15 And now I have come to speak this word to the king my lord, for the people have made me fearful. So your maidservant thought, Please let me speak to the king. Perhaps the king may act on the request of his maidservant,
16 for the king hearkened to rescue his maidservant from the palm of the man who is seeking to exterminate me and my son together from the allotment of Elohim.
17 Your maidservant thought, Now let the word of my lord the king be final; for like a messenger of the One, Elohim, so is my lord the king, to summon the good and the evil. And Yahweh, your Elohim, may He come to be with you.
18 Then the king answered and said to the woman, Now you must not suppress from me anything that I am asking you. The woman replied, Please let my lord the king speak.
19 So the king asked, Is the hand of Joab with you in all of this? The woman answered and said, As your soul lives, my lord the king, assuredly no man can go to the right or go to the left from all that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab, he instructed me, and he put in the mouth of your maidservant all these words.
20 It was in order to turn about the face of the matter that your servant Joab did this thing. Yet my lord is wise with the wisdom of a messenger of the One, Elohim, so as to know all that goes on in the land.
21 Then the king said to Joab, Behold, I will act now according to this word of yours. Go! Bring back the lad Absalom!
22 Now Joab fell on his face to the earth; he prostrated himself and blessed the king. And Joab said, Today your servant knows that I have found grace in your eyes, my lord the king because the king has acted on the word of his servant.
23 So Joab arose, went to Geshur and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem.
24 But the king said, Let him turn about to his own house, and he shall not see my face. So Absalom turned about to his own house, and he did not see the king’s face.
25 There was no man in all Israel like Absalom who was so exceedingly praised for his well-favored appearance. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish on him.
26 When he shaved his head it was at the end of days to days that he would shave it; when it was heavy on him, he shaved it he would weigh the hair of his head, two hundred shekels by the royal standard weight.
27 To Absalom were born three sons and one daughter; her name was Tamar, and she became a woman of lovely appearance.
28 Absalom dwelt the days of two years in Jerusalem; yet he did not see the king’s face.
29 So Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king; yet Joab would not come to him. When he sent again, the second time, he still would not come.
30 Then Absalom said to his servants, See, Joab’s apportionment is at the side of mine, and he has barley there. Go and ravage it with fire! So Absalom’s servants ravaged the apportionment with fire.
31 Then Joab arose; he came to Absalom at the house and said to him, Why have your servants ravaged the apportionment that is mine with fire?
32 So Absalom replied to Joab, Behold, I sent to you, saying, Come here and let me send you to the king to ask, Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there. So now let me see the king’s face, and if there is depravity in me, let him put me to death.
33 Joab went in to the king and told him. Then he called Absalom who now came to the king and prostrated himself before him. He fell on his nostrils to the earth before the king; and the king kissed Absalom.

Chapter 15
1 It came to be some time afterward that Absalom provided himself with a chariot, horses, and fifty men running before him.
2 Absalom would rise early and stand at the side of the road to the gate. Whenever there was any man who came with his contested matter to bring it before the king for judgment, then Absalom would call to him and say, From what city are you? And he would reply, From one of the tribes of Israel is your servant.
3 Then Absalom would say to him, See, your matters are good and correct; yet there is no one assigned to you from the king to hear them.
4 And Absalom would add, O that I were appointed judge in the land, and every man who had his contested matter or plea would come to me, and I would grant justice to him!
5 So it came to be, whenever a man approached to prostrate himself before him, that he would stretch forth his hand, take fast hold of him and kiss him.
6 Absalom acted in this manner for all of Israel who came for judgment to the king. Thus Absalom stole the heart of the men of Israel.
7 It came to be at the end of four years that Absalom said to the king, Please, let me go and pay my vow that I vowed to Yahweh in Hebron.
8 For your servant vowed a vow when I dwelt at Geshur in Syria, saying, If Yahweh should restore, yea restore me to Jerusalem, then I will serve Yahweh.
9 The king replied to him, Go in peace! So he arose and went to Hebron.
10 But Absalom sent spies through all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, you will announce, Absalom is king in Hebron.
11 Two hundred men from Jerusalem had gone with Absalom; they were invited and had gone in their sincerity and had no knowledge of the entire matter.
12 Absalom sent and called Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city, from Giloh, while he was sacrificing the sacrifices. The conspiracy became resolute, and the people going along with Absalom were many.
13 Then a message-bearer came to David, saying, The heart of the men of Israel is following after Absalom.
14 Now David said to all his courtiers who were with him in Jerusalem, Arise and let us run away, for there shall be no deliverance for us from before Absalom. Make haste to go, lest he hastens and overtakes us. Then he would hurtle evil on us and smite the city with the edge of the sword.
15 The king’s courtiers replied to the king, As to all that my lord the king may choose, behold, we are your servants.
16 So the king went forth with his entire household in his footsteps; but the king left ten wives, concubines, to be in charge of the palace.
17 Thus the king went forth with all the people in his footsteps; and they stayed at a house far off.
18 All his courtiers were passing at his side; all the Kerethite and all the Pelethite and all the Gittites, six hundred men who came in his footsteps from Gath, passed on before the king.
19 Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, Why should you too go with us? Turn back and stay with the new king, for you are a foreigner, and you were also deported from your place.
20 You came only yesterday; should I make you rove with us today, to go as I am going, wherever I can go? Return and take back your kinsmen with you! And may Yahweh deal with you in benignity and faithfulness.
21 But Ittai answered the king saying, As Yahweh lives and as my lord the king lives, but rather in the place where my lord the king may come to be, whether for death or for life, there your servant shall come to be.
22 So David replied to Ittai, Go ahead and march by! Then Ittai the Gittite marched by with all his men and all the little ones who were with him.
23 All in the land were lamenting with a loud voice as the whole force was marching by. The king was standing in Wadi Kidron, while the whole force was passing before his face along the olive way in the wilderness.
24 Zadok also was there, and all the Levites with him carrying the coffer of the covenant of the One, Elohim. They stood by the coffer of the One, Elohim, and Abiathar came up until the crossing over from the city had come to end for the whole force.
25 Then the king said to Zadok, Restore the coffer of the One, Elohim, to the city! If I should find grace in the eyes of Yahweh, then He will bring me back and let me see it and its homestead.
26 Yet if He should say thus, I have no delight in you, here I am; let Him do with me just as it is good in His eyes.
27 The king also said to Zadok the priest, Look, you and Abiathar, do return to the city in peace, Ahimaaz your son and Jonathan son of Abiathar, your two sons, with you.
28 Look, I shall be dallying in the gorges of the wilderness until word comes from you men to tell me.
29 So Zadok and Abiathar brought the coffer of the One, Elohim, back to Jerusalem, and they stayed there.
30 David was going up the ascent of Olivet, ascending and weeping; his head was hooded, and he was walking barefoot. And all the people who were with him hooded each man his head; thus they went up ascending and weeping.
31 When David was told saying, Ahithophel was among the conspirators with Absalom, then David said, I pray, O Yahweh, make Ahithophel’s counsel look unwise!
32 Now it happened when David came to the summit where people would prostrate themselves to Elohim, there to meet him was the long time associate Hushai with his tunic torn and dust from the ground on his head.
33 David said to him, If you march on with me, you will become a load on me.
34 But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, Your brothers have crossed over, and the king, your father, crossed over after me, and now I am your servant, O king; grant me life; I became your father’s servant, and I have been hitherto, but now I am your servant too, then you can annul Ahithophel’s counsel for me.
35 And are not Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, there with you? So it will come to be: Every word that you may hear from the king’s palace, you shall tell to Zadok and to Abiathar, the priests.
36 Behold, there with them are their two sons, Zadok’s son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan; by means of them you will send to me every word that you may hear.
37 So David’s associate Hushai came to the city as Absalom was entering Jerusalem, and Ahithophel was with him.

Chapter 16
1 David had passed a little beyond the summit, when Ziba the lad of Mephibosheth came toward him with a team of saddled donkeys, and on them two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred clusters of raisins, a hundred cakes of summer dates, and a crock of wine.
2 The king asked Ziba, What are you doing with these? Ziba replied, The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on; the bread and the summer dates are for the lads to eat; and the wine is for the faint in the wilderness to drink.
3 Then the king asked, And where is the son of your lord? Ziba replied to the king, Oh, he is staying in Jerusalem, for he thinks, Today the house of Israel shall restore to me the kingship of my grandfather.
4 So the king said to Ziba, From now on all that Mephibosheth has belongs to you. And Ziba replied, I bow low; may I find grace in your eyes, my lord the king.
5 When king David approached Bahurim, just then a man of the family of the house of Saul came forth from there; his name was Shimei son of Gera. He was going forth and was maledicting as he came forth.
6 He threw stones at David and at all the courtiers of king David, while all the soldiers and all the masters of war were at his right and at his left.
7 And thus spoke Shimei in his maledicting: Forth! Forth, man of bloodguilt, man of worthlessness!
8 Yahweh has brought back on you all the bloodguilts of the house of Saul in whose stead you have reigned. Yahweh is giving the kingship into the hand of your son Absalom; and here you are in your evil predicament because you are a man of bloodguilts!
9 Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, Why should this dead cur maledict my lord the king? Let me now cross over, and let me take off his head!
10 But the king replied, What is it to me and to you, sons of Zeruiah? Leave him alone! Thus he is maledicting because Yahweh told him, Maledict David! So who should say, For what reason have you done so?
11 Then David said to Abishai and to all his courtiers, If my own son, who came forth from my internal parts, is seeking my soul, how much more so then this Benjamite! Leave him alone and let him maledict because Yahweh told him to.
12 Perhaps Yahweh will look on my humiliation, and Yahweh will restore to me goodness instead of his malediction on this day.
13 So David went along the road with his men, while Shimei was walking on the angular side of the hill to go abreast of him. He maledicted and threw stones abreast of him; he also threw dirt.
14 Then the king and all the soldiers with him came to the Jordan, faint with thirst, and they refreshed themselves there.
15 Meanwhile Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, entered Jerusalem; and Ahithophel was with him.
16 And so it was, just as David’s long time associate Hushai came to Absalom, that Hushai said to Absalom, Long live the king! Long live the king!
17 But Absalom said to Hushai, Is this your loyalty to your associate? Why did you not go with your associate?
18 Hushai replied to Absalom, I did not because I shall belong to him whom Yahweh and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, and I shall stay with him.
19 And in the second place, whom should I serve? Is it not before his son? Just as I served before your father, so I shall serve before you.
20 Absalom then said to Ahithophel, Grant us your counsel! What should we do?
21 So Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go in to your father’s concubines whom he left to be in charge of the palace. Thus all Israel will hear that you are in bad odor with your father; and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.
22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the housetop; and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines under the eyes of all Israel.
23 In those days, the counsel which Ahithophel gave was regarded just as if a man had consulted the oracle of the One, Elohim. In this way all the counsel of Ahithophel was esteemed both by David and Absalom.

Chapter 17
1 Ahithophel said to Absalom, Oh let me choose for myself 12,000 men; let me set out and let me pursue after David tonight.
2 I shall come upon him while he is weary and slack of hands; I will make him tremble; and when all the soldiers with him flee, I will smite the king, him alone.
3 Let me bring back all the soldiers to you, like the return of a bride to her husband. It is but the soul of one man you are seeking; as for all the people, they shall come to be at peace.
4 The word seemed upright in the eyes of Absalom and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel.
5 Then Absalom said, Now call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he too has in his mouth to say.
6 Hushai came to Absalom, and Absalom spoke to him saying, This is the plan Ahithophel has advised. Should we act on his advice? If it be no, speak up for yourself.
7 Hushai replied to Absalom, This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good.
8 Hushai continued, You yourself know your father and his men that they are masters of war, and they are bitter of soul like a bear in the open field bereaved of her cubs. Your father is a man of war, and he will not lodge for the night with the soldiers.
9 Even now he must be hiding in one of the dark holes or in some other place. And if some of them would fall at the start, and one hears about it, then the hearer will say, A stroke has come over the soldiers who follow after Absalom.
10 Even if he is a son of valor whose heart is like the heart of a lion, it shall melt, yea melt away; for all Israel knows that your father is a master of war, and those with him are sons of valor.
11 Hence I counsel: Let all Israel from Dan to Beersheba convene in a gathering about you, as numerous as the sand by the sea; and your presence be marching in their midst in the attack.
12 When we come upon him in one of the places where he may be found, we will descend on him just as the night mist falls on the ground; no one will be left alive, neither he nor all the men with him, not even one.
13 If he should proceed into a city, all Israel will take up lines of rope to that city; and we will pull it in pieces into the wadi, until not even a pebble will be found there.
14 Absalom and all the men of Israel agreed that the counsel of Hushai the Archite was better than the counsel of Ahithophel, for Yahweh Himself had determined to annul Ahithophel’s good counsel in order that Yahweh might bring evil upon Absalom.
15 Then Hushai told the priests Zadok and Abiathar, This and that did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; yet I have counseled this and that.
16 Now send quickly and tell David, saying, You must not lodge tonight in the gorges of the wilderness; you should rather cross over, yea cross over lest the king be swallowed up with all the soldiers who are with him.
17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En-rogel, and a maidservant would go and tell them; then they would go and tell king David, for they dared not be seen entering the city.
18 But a lad saw them and told Absalom. So both of them left quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim who had a well in his court. They got down into it,
19 and the wife took a portiere, spread it over the mouth of the well and spread out grist on it, so that nothing would be known about it.
20 When Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house and asked where Ahimaaz and Jonathan were, the woman told them that they had crossed over the shallow waters. Though the servants sought them, they found no one; and so they returned to Jerusalem.
21 It was after they had gone that Ahimaaz and Jonathan came up from the well and went and told king David. They said to David, Arise and cross the water quickly, for in this way had Ahithophel counseled against you.
22 Then David and all the soldiers with him arose and crossed the Jordan; by the morning light not even one was missing who had not crossed the Jordan.
23 When Ahithophel saw that his counsel had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out and went to his home in his own city. Then he gave instruction to his household and strangled himself and died. He was entombed in his father’s tomb.
24 As for David, he had already reached Mahanaim, when Absalom crossed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.
25 It was Amasa whom Absalom had set over his military host instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Ithra the Ishmaelite, who had gone in to Abigal, daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.
26 The Israelites and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.
27 Now it happened when David had reached Mahanaim that Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim,
28 brought bedding, basins and potter’s vessels, also wheat, barley, meal flour, toasted grain, beans, lentils,
29 honey, clotted cream of the flock, and curded cheese of the herd. They brought them close to David and to the soldiers with him to eat. For they thought that the soldiers would have become hungry, faint and thirsty in the wilderness.

Chapter 18
1 David mustered the soldiers who were with him and set over them chief officers of contingents and chief officers of hundreds.
2 Then David sent out the soldiers, a third under the hand of Joab, a third under the hand of Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the soldiers, I myself shall also march forth, yea march forth with you.
3 But the soldiers protested, You should not march forth! For if we should retreat, yea retreat, the heart of the others would not be stirred about us; even if half of us should die, the heart of the others would not be stirred about us. For you are worth ten thousands of such as we. Therefore it is better that you should be ready to send help to us from the city.
4 Then the king said to them, I shall do what seems best in your eyes. So the king stood at the side of the gate as all the soldiers marched forth by hundreds and by thousands.
5 The king enjoined on Joab and on Abishai and on Ittai, saying, Deal gently with the young man Absalom, for my sake! Thus all the soldiers heard when the king instructed all the chief officers on behalf of Absalom.
6 The soldiers marched forth into the field to meet Israel, and the battle was fought in the wildwood of Ephraim.
7 There the soldiers of Israel were stricken before the conscript servants of David; and there the stroke was great that day twenty contingents.
8 From there the fighting was scattered over the surface of the whole area, and the wildwood devoured many more of the soldiers than the sword devoured on that day.
9 Then Absalom encountered the presence of the conscript servants of David. Now Absalom was riding on a mule; and as the mule came to pass under the meshes of a great terebinth, his head caught fast in the terebinth. He was hanging between the heavens and the earth, while the mule under him passed on.
10 A certain man saw it and told Joab, saying, Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in a terebinth.
11 Joab replied to the man who told him, Since you saw him, for what reason did you not smite him there to the earth? I would have been obliged to give you fifty pieces of silver and one girdle.
12 But the man answered Joab, Even if I were weighing a thousand pieces of silver on my palm, I would not stretch forth my hand against the king’s son. For in our ears the king enjoined on you and on Abishai and on Ittai, saying, For my sake keep watch over the young man Absalom!
13 Otherwise I would have dealt falsely against my own soul; for no matter at all is suppressed from the king. Yet you yourself would stand by aloof.
14 Joab replied, Let me not thus wait before you. So he took three javelins in his palm and plunged them into Absalom’s heart. While he was still alive in the heart of the terebinth,
15 ten of Joab’s youthful gear bearers surrounded Absalom and smote him and put him to death.
16 Then Joab blew the trumpet, and his soldiers returned from pursuing after Israel; for Joab kept the soldiers back.
17 Then they took Absalom and flung him into a large dark hole in the wildwood, and they set up over him a very large mound of stones. As for all Israel, they fled, each man to his tent.
18 During his lifetime Absalom had taken the monument which is in the vale of the king and set it up for himself; for he said, I have no son in order to keep my name in remembrance. So he called the monument after his own name, and it is called Absalom’s signpost to this day.
19 Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, Now let me run and bear the tidings to the king that Yahweh has vindicated him against the hand of his enemies.
20 But Joab said to him, You are not a man of tidings this day. You will bear the tidings on another day; but this day you shall not bear the tidings. This was because the king’s son was dead.
21 Then Joab said to a Cushite, Go tell the king what you have seen. The Cushite bowed down to Joab and ran off.
22 Yet Ahimaaz son of Zadok again said to Joab, Let come what may, let me run now, me too, after the Cushite. Joab asked, Why then have you to run, my son, when there are no tidings of benefit for you to be found?
23 But Ahimaaz said, Let come what may, let me run. So Joab replied to him, Run! Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the basin, and he passed by the Cushite.
24 David was sitting between the two gates when the watchman went up to the roof-level of the gateway by the wall; as he lifted up his eyes, he saw there was a man running alone by himself.
25 The watchman called down and told the king; and the king replied, If he is alone, there are tidings in his mouth. While the man was running and came near,
26 the watchman saw another man running. Then the watchman on the gate top called down, saying, There is another man running alone by himself. And the king replied, That one, too, is a bearer of tidings.
27 The watchman continued, I can see that the running-style of the first one is like the running of Ahimaaz son of Zadok. The king replied, This one is a good man; he comes with good tidings.
28 Ahimaaz drew near and said to the king, Peace! He bowed down to the king with his nostrils to the earth and said, Blessed be Yahweh your Elohim, Who made those men surrender who lifted their hand against my lord the king.
29 Then the king asked, Was it peaceable for the lad, for Absalom? And Ahimaaz answered, I saw a great throng when Joab was sending off the king’s servant and me, your servant. Yet I do not know what it was about.
30 The king said, Go around and stand by here. So he went around and stayed.
31 Just then the Cushite was coming up; and the Cushite said, Let my lord the king receive the tidings that Yahweh has vindicated you today against the hand of all those who rose up against you!
32 The king asked the Cushite, Was it peaceable for the lad, for Absalom? And the Cushite replied, May the enemies of my lord the king and all those who rise up against you for evil become like that lad!
33 Then the king was disturbed. He went up to the upper chamber of the gateway and wept. Thus he lamented as he went, O my son Absalom! my son! my son Absalom! O that I had died instead of you! O Absalom, my son, my son!

Chapter 19
1 Then Joab was told that the king was weeping and mourning over Absalom.
2 And the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the soldiers, for that day the soldiers heard it said, The king is grieved over his son.
3 The soldiers stole away that day to enter the city just as soldiers would steal away who are mortified when they have fled in battle.
4 As for the king, he wrapped up his face. And the king cried out in a loud voice, O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!
5 Then Joab came into the house to the king and said, Today you have put to shame the faces of all your servants, who provided an escape for your soul this day and the souls of your sons and your daughters, and the souls of your wives and the souls of your concubines,
6 by loving those who hate you and hating those who love you. For you have professed today that chief officers and conscript servants are nothing to you. Now I know today even if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then that would be upright in your eyes.
7 Now arise! Go forth and speak to the heart of your servants! For I swear by Yahweh, if you are not going forth, assuredly no man shall lodge with you tonight; and this will be worse for you than any evil plight that has come over you from your youth until now.
8 So the king arose and sat down in the gateway; and when all the soldiers were told, saying, Behold, the king is sitting in the gateway, all the soldiers came before the king. Israel had fled, each man to his tent.
9 All the people came to be speculating among all the tribes of Israel, saying, It was the king who rescued us from the palm of all our enemies, and he provided our escape from the palm of the Philistines. Yet now he ran away from the land, from control over his kingdom and from Absalom.
10 But Absalom, whom we had anointed over us, has died in battle; why then do you keep silent about bringing back the king? And the word of all Israel came to the king.
11 So king David himself sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his palace, since the word of all Israel has come to the king at his house?
12 You are my kinsmen, you are my bone and my flesh. Why should you be the last to bring the king back?
13 And to Amasa you shall say, Are you not my bone and my flesh? Thus may Elohim do to me, and thus may He add, if you do not become chief of the military host before me all your days instead of Joab.
14 And Amasa won over the heart of all the men of Judah as one man; and they sent word to the king, saying, Return, you and all your servants!
15 So the king returned and came as far as the Jordan; and the men of Judah had come to Gilgal on their way to meet the king, to bring the king across the Jordan.
16 Shimei son of Gera the Benjamite from Bahurim made haste and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David,
17 and with him were a thousand men from Benjamin. Also Ziba, the young attendant of Saul’s estate, his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him, they prospered in arriving at the Jordan before the king;
18 and they crossed the ford to bring across the king’s household, and to do whatever was good in his eyes. As for Shimei son of Gera, when he had crossed the Jordan, he fell down before the king;
19 and he said to the king, Let not my lord account depravity to me, and do not remember what depravity your servant did on the day when my lord the king went forth from Jerusalem, so that the king should take it to heart.
20 For your servant knows that I, yea I have sinned. So here I have come today, the first of all the house of Joseph, to go down and meet my lord the king.
21 Then Abishai son of Zeruiah responded, saying, Should Shimei not be put to death for this because he has maledicted Yahweh’s anointed?
22 Yet David replied, What is it to me and to you, sons of Zeruiah, that today you have become my adversary? Should anyone in Israel be put to death on this day? For do you not know that today I am again king over Israel?
23 Then the king said to Shimei, You shall not die. And the king swore an oath to him.
24 Also Mephibosheth, grandson of Saul, came down to meet the king. He had neither cared for his feet, nor had he cared for his upper lip, nor had he laundered his clothes from the day the king departed until the day he came back in peace.
25 So it was when he came from Jerusalem to meet the king that the king said to him, Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?
26 He replied, My lord the king, it was my own servant who deceived me. For your servant had said to him, Saddle the donkey for me that I may ride on it and go with the king. For your servant is lame.
27 Ziba has vilified your servant before my lord the king. But my lord the king is like a messenger of the One, Elohim; so do what is good in your eyes.
28 For all of the household of my grandfather were nothing now but men doomed to death before my lord the king. Yet you set your servant among those who ate at your table. So what righteous claim have I then to cry out any more to the king?
29 The king replied to him, Why should you speak any longer of your affairs? I decree that you and Ziba apportion the field.
30 But Mephibosheth said to the king, Just let him take the whole, inasmuch as my lord the king has come to his home in peace.
31 Also Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim and had passed on with the king to the Jordan to see him off at the Jordan.
32 Barzillai was very old, eighty years of age. He had provided the king with food during his stay at Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man.
33 So the king said to Barzillai, You, cross over with me, and I will provide for your old age with me in Jerusalem.
34 Yet Barzillai replied to the king, How many days of the years of my life are left that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?
35 I am eighty years of age today. Would I know the difference between good and bad? Or can your servant taste what I eat and what I drink? Or can I still make out the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant become a further load to my lord the king?
36 Your servant could barely cross the Jordan with the king! Why should the king requite me with this requital?
37 I pray, let your servant return that I may die in my own city near the tomb of my father and my mother. But here is your servant Chimham, my son; let him cross over with my lord the king, and do for him what is good in your eyes.
38 The king said, Chimham shall cross over with me, and I myself will do for him whatever is good in my eyes. And anything else you choose to ask of me, I will do that for you too.
39 Then all the soldiers crossed over the Jordan. When the king was ready to cross, the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him; and Barzillai returned to his own place.
40 Then the king crossed over to Gilgal, and Chimham crossed with him, and all the soldiers of Judah; they brought the king across, together with half the force of Israel.
41 Now all the men of Israel kept coming to the king and said to the king, For what reason have our kinsmen, the men of Judah, stolen you away and brought the king and his household across the Jordan, and all of David’s men with him?
42 Then all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is a near relative to us! Why does this make you angry about this matter? Have we eaten, yea eaten from the king’s food? Or did he carry a load for us?
43 The men of Israel answered the men of Judah, saying, We have ten shares in the king; moreover we are the firstborn, rather than you. For what reason do you slight us? Was not our proposal first, to bring our king back to us? Yet the words of the men of Judah were more obstinate than the words of the men of Israel.

Chapter 20
1 A worthless man happened to be there; his name was Sheba son of Bichri, a man of Jemini. He blew the trumpet and declared, There is no portion for us in David and no allotment for us in the son of Jesse! Each man to his tents, Israel!
2 So every man of Israel moved away from following David to go after Sheba son of Bichri. But the men of Judah, they clung to their king from the Jordan as far as Jerusalem.
3 When David came to his palace in Jerusalem, the king took the ten women, his concubines, whom he had left to be in charge of the palace, and he put them in a house under guard. He provided for them, but he did not go in to them; they remained constricted until the day of their death, in living widowhood.
4 The king said to Amasa, Call a convocation for me with the men of Judah within three days, and stand ready here yourself.
5 So Amasa went to call a convocation with Judah; but he delayed longer than the appointed time that the king had set for him.
6 And David said to Abishai, Now Sheba son of Bichri shall cause us more evil than Absalom. And now, take with you your lord’s servants and pursue after him, lest he find for himself fortressed cities and rescue himself, away from our eyes.
7 So Joab’s men marched forth after him with the Kerethite, the Pelethite and all the masters of war. They marched forth from Jerusalem to pursue after Sheba son of Bichri.
8 When they were at the large stone that is in Gibeon, then Amasa himself came up before them. Now Joab was girded with his coat over his clothing; and on it a girdle with the sword in its scabbard strapped to his waist. Now the sword came forth, and it fell down.
9 Joab said to Amasa, Is all well with you, my brother? And Joab’s right hand took hold of Amasa’s beard as if to kiss him.
10 So Amasa was not on guard against the sword that was in Joab’s left hand who smote him with it on the fifth rib, and his bowels were poured out to the earth. He did not have to repeat it to him, for he was dying. While Joab and his brother Abishai pursued after Sheba son of Bichri,
11 a man of Joab’s lads stood over him and said, Anyone who delights in Joab and anyone who is for David, let him follow after Joab.
12 Amasa was rolling himself in his blood in the middle of the highway. When the man saw that all the soldiers stood still, he brought Amasa around, off the highway into the field; and he flung a cloak over him as he realized that anyone coming up onto him would stand still.
13 As soon as he was removed away from the highway, all the men marched by, following Joab to pursue after Sheba son of Bichri,
14 who was passing through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth-maacah; and all the Bichrites assembled and came also after him.
15 Joab’s men came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah. They poured out earthwork against the city, and it stood against the rampart. All the soldiers with Joab were wrecking the wall so as to cast it down,
16 when a wise woman called out from the wall, Hear! Hear! Please tell Joab, Come near over here, and let me speak to you.
17 So he went near to her, and the woman asked, Are you Joab? He replied, I am. She said to him, Hear the words of your maidservant. He answered, I am hearing.
18 Then she continued, saying, They spoke, yea spoke in former times, saying, Let them ask, yea ask at Abel and at Dan whether that which the faithful of Israel had established ever came to end. Let them ask, yea ask at Abel, and thus they will come to end.
19 I represent the peaceable and faithful of Israel. But you are seeking to bring death to a city that is a mother in Israel. Why should you swallow up the allotment of Yahweh?
20 Joab answered, saying, Far be it, far be it from me that I should swallow up or bring down to ruin.
21 The matter is not quite so because a man from the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba son of Bichri is his name, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David. Give him up, him alone, and I shall withdraw from the city. The woman replied to Joab, Behold, his head shall be flung to you over the wall.
22 Then the woman went to all her people and spoke to all the city in her wisdom. So they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and flung it down to Joab. He then blew the trumpet, and they scattered from the city, each man to his tents. As for Joab, he returned to Jerusalem, to the king.
23 Joab was over Israel’s entire military host; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethite and over the Pelethite.
24 Adoniram was over the tributary service; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder.
25 Sheva was scribe; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests.
26 Ira the Jairite also served David as priest.

Chapter 21
1 There was a famine in the days of David year after year for three years. So David sought the face of Yahweh, and Yahweh replied, On Saul and on his house is bloodguilt because he put the Gibeonites to death.
2 The king called the Gibeonites together and spoke to them. As for the Gibeonites, they were not of the sons of Israel, but rather of the rest of the Amorite, and the sons of Israel had sworn an oath to them; but Saul had sought to smite them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah.
3 David asked the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? In what way shall I make expiation that would lead you to bless the allotment of Yahweh?
4 The Gibeonites answered him, For us there is no claim of silver and gold against Saul or his estate; and it is not up to us to put a man in Israel to death. And David responded, Whatever you say, I shall do for you.
5 They replied to the king, The man who destroyed us, who betrayed us that we should be prohibited from standing by in all the territory of Israel
6 let seven men of his sons be handed over to us, and we will gibbet them before Yahweh at Gibeon on the mountain of Yahweh. And the king said, I shall hand them over.
7 Yet the king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul because of the oath of Yahweh that was between them, between David and Jonathan son of Saul.
8 So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah’s daughter Rizpah whom she had borne for Saul, together with the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab whom she had borne for Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite;
9 and he gave them into the hand of the Gibeonites. They gibbeted them on the mountain before Yahweh. The seven of them fell altogether; they were put to death in the first days of the harvest, at the start of the barley harvest.
10 Aiah’s daughter Rizpah took sackcloth and stretched it out for herself on the rock from the start of the harvest until water poured forth on them from the heavens. She did not allow the flyers of the heavens to rest on them by day, nor the animals of the field by night.
11 Now David was told what Saul’s concubine Rizpah daughter of Aiah had done.
12 So David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the commanders of Jabesh-gilead who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them on the day the Philistines smote Saul on Mount Gilboa.
13 He brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from there; and they gathered the bones of those who had been gibbeted.
14 They entombed the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan and of those gibbeted in the land of Benjamin, at Zela, in the tomb of his father Kish. Thus they did all that the king had enjoined on them. Afterward Elohim granted the entreaty for the land.
15 There was again a battle between the Philistines and Israel, and David and his servants with him went down and fought the Philistines; yet David grew faint.
16 Ishbi-benob who was among the votaries of the Rapha ( the weight of his lancehead was three hundred bronze shekels, and he was girded with a new mace), he intended to smite David.
17 But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his help; he smote the Philistine and put him to death. Then David’s men swore an oath to him, saying, You shall not march forth with us into battle any more that you may not quench the lamp of Israel.
18 It occurred afterward that there was again a battle with the Philistines, at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite smote Saph who was among the votaries of the Rapha.
19 When there was again a battle with the Philistines, at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite smote Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear had a shaft like the heddle-rod of weavers.
20 There was again a battle at Gath. A gigantic man came with six fingers on his hands and six toes on his feet, twenty-four in number; he too was a votary of the Rapha.
21 When he challenged Israel, Jonathan, son of David’s brother Shimeah, smote him.
22 Those four were votaries of the Rapha in Gath; they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

Chapter 22
1 David addressed the words of this song to Yahweh on the day Yahweh rescued him from the palm of all his enemies and from the palm of Saul.
2 He said: O Yahweh! my Crag, My Fastness, my Deliverance for me!
3 My Elohim, my Rock! I take refuge in Him, My Shield and the Horn of my salvation! My Impregnable Retreat and my Haven! My Saviour, You Who are saving me from violence!
4 The One being praised! I call on Yahweh, And I am being saved from my enemies.
5 For the cables of death have enveloped me, And the torrents of decadence, they frighten me.
6 The cables of the unseen, they have surrounded me; The traps of death have confronted me.
7 In my distress I called on Yahweh, And to my Elohim I implored. From His temple He heard my voice, And my imploring before Him, it came to His ears.
8 Then the earth reeled and quaked. And the foundations of the mountains, they were disturbed, And they reeled, for His anger grew hot.
9 Smoke ascended from His nostrils, And fire that devours, from His mouth; Flashing embers blazed forth from Him.
10 He stretched out the heavens and descended, And murkiness was beneath His feet.
11 He rode on a cherub and flew; So He swooped down on the wings of the wind.
12 He set darkness round about Him; His booth was the darkness of waters, the thick clouds of the skies.
13 Out of the brightness in front of Him Flashing embers of fire blazed forth.
14 Then Yahweh thundered from the heavens, And the Supreme, He gave forth His voice.
15 He sent off His arrows, with which He scattered them, And He multiplied bolts of lightning with which He discomfited them.
16 So the channels of water were made to appear, And the foundations of the habitance were revealed, By Your rebuke, O Yahweh, By the breath of the wind of Your nostrils.
17 He sent from the height; He took me; He removed me from many waters;
18 He rescued me from my strong enemy And from those hating me; For they were more agressive than I.
19 They confronted me in the day of my calamity, Yet Yahweh became my Stay.
20 He brought me forth into a wide place; He liberated me, for He has delighted in me.
21 Yahweh requited me according to my righteousness; According to the purity of my hands He recompensed me.
22 For I have kept the ways of Yahweh, And I have not been wicked by turning from my Elohim.
23 For all His ordinances have been in front of me, And I have not put away His statutes from me.
24 I have become flawless before Him; Let me keep myself from my depravity.
25 Yahweh recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to my purity in front of His eyes.
26 With the benign one You show Yourself benign; With a flawless master You show Yourself flawless.
27 With the purified one You show Yourself pure, But with the perverse one You show Yourself cunning.
28 For You Yourself shall save the humble people, But You shall abase those whose eyes are exalted.
29 Indeed You Yourself shall light up my lamp, O Yahweh; My Elohim, He shall brighten my darkness,
30 So that by You I may run over a stone dike, And by my Elohim I may leap a barricade.
31 The One, El, His way is flawless; The word of Yahweh is refined; He is a Shield to all who are taking refuge in Him.
32 For is there any Eloah apart from Yahweh? And is there any Rock apart from our Elohim?
33 He is the One, El, the One belting me with valor, And He spreads flawlessness on my way,
34 The One poising my feet like hinds’, And on my high-places He causes me to stand.
35 He is the One teaching my hands for the battle, So that my arms may manage a bow of bronze.
36 You gave to me the shield of Your salvation; And Your help made me great.
37 You widened my steps beneath me, So that my limbs have not tottered.
38 I pursued my enemies and exterminated them, And I did not return until they were finished.
39 I finished them, and I transfixed them, And they were not able to rise. They fell beneath my feet.
40 You belted me with valor for the battle; You bowed beneath me those rising against me.
41 As for my enemies, You gave to me the scruff of their necks, And those hating me, I effaced them.
42 They implored, yet there was no salvation; They called to Yahweh, yet He would not answer them.
43 I reduced them to powder like the soil of the earth; Like the mud of the streets I pulverized them; I stamped on them.
44 You delivered me from the disputes of my people; You placed me at the head of the nations. A people I had not known, they serve me;
45 The sons of the foreigner, they cower before me; As soon as the ear is hearing they hearken to me.
46 The sons of the foreigner, they disintegrate, And they come cringing from their enclosures.
47 Alive is Yahweh, and being blessed is my Rock; Let the Elohim of the rock of my salvation be exalted.
48 He is the One, El, Who is rendering vengeance for me, And the One bringing down the peoples under me,
49 The One bringing me forth from my enemies. From those rising against me have You exalted me; From the man of violence have You rescued me.
50 Therefore, I shall acclaim You among the nations, O Yahweh, And to Your Name shall I make melody.
51 He is the One magnifying the salvations of His king. And showing benignity to His anointed one, To David, and to his seed for the eon.

Chapter 23
1 Now these are the last words of David: The averring of David son of Jesse, The averring of the master whom El raised up, The anointed of the Elohim of Jacob, And the pleasant one of the psalms of Israel.
2 The spirit of Yahweh has spoken by me, And His declarations have been on my tongue.
3 The Elohim of Israel has said, To me the Rock of Israel has spoken: When the one ruling over humanity is righteous And is ruling in the fear of Elohim,
4 Then it is like the light of the morning, When the sun rises, A morning without thick clouds, Like the brightness after rain Bringing verdure from the earth.
5 Indeed, is not my house thus with El? For He has made an eonian covenant with me, Arranged forth in every respect and safeguarded. Indeed, shall He not cause all my salvation And my every desire to sprout?
6 Yet the worthless, they are like thorns, All of them isolated away, For they should not be taken by hand.
7 When a man touches them, he must be fully armed with iron and the shaft of a spear. And with fire shall they be burned, yea burned in their shame.
8 These are the names of the masters of war who belonged to David: Ish-bosheth the Hachmonite, the head of the three. He brandished his spear against eight hundred, all slain at one time.
9 Next to him came Eleazar son of Dodai son of Ahohi among the three masters of war with David when they reproached the Philistines. There they were gathered for battle. As the men of Israel went up,
10 he arose and smote the Philistines until his hand became weary, and his hand clung to the sword. Thus Yahweh performed a great salvation on that day; now the people, they returned after him, only to strip them.
11 Next to him came Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines were gathered at Lehi, where there was a portion of a field full of lentils, the people had fled before the Philistines.
12 Yet he stood by in the midst of the portion and reclaimed it and smote the Philistines. Thus Yahweh performed a great salvation.
13 Three of the thirty head men went down and came during the harvest to David at the cave of Adullam, while a Philistine kinfolk troop was encamping in the vale of Rephaim.
14 David was then in the fastness, and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem.
15 Now David voiced his yearning and said, Who may give me to drink water from the cistern of Bethlehem that is at the gate?
16 So three of the masters of war rent their way into the camp of the Philistines and bailed water from the cistern of Bethlehem at the gate. When they had carried and brought it to David, then he would not drink it, but poured a libation of it to Yahweh.
17 He said, Far be it from me, O Yahweh, for me to do this. Should I drink the blood of the men who went risking their souls? And he would not drink it. These are the exploits that the three masters of war performed.
18 As for Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, who was head of another three, he brandished his spear against three hundred, all slain. He won a name among the second three.
19 He was the most illustrious among the three; and so he became their chief. Yet he did not come to the rank of the first three.
20 Benaiah son of Jehoiada from Kabzeel was a man of many valiant deeds. It was he who smote the two sons of Ariel of Moab. Once, on a snowy day, he went down and smote a lion inside a cistern.
21 He also smote an Egyptian man who was of imposing appearance. Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, he went down to him with a club and snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.
22 These are the exploits that Benaiah son of Jehoiada performed. So he won a name among the three masters of war.
23 Though he was more illustrious than the thirty, he did not come to the rank of the first three. Yet David placed him over his household guard. These are the names of the masters of war of king David:
24 Asahel brother of Joab was among the thirty, Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem,
25 Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite,
26 Helez the Paltite, Ira son of Ikkesh the Tekoite,
27 Abiezer the Anathotite, Mebunnai the Hushatite,
28 Zalmon the Ahotite, Maharai the Netophatite,
29 Heleb son of Baanah the Netophatite, Ittai son of Ribai from Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin,
30 Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai from the wadis of Gaash,
31 Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite,
32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan son of
33 Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam son of Sharar the Hararite,
34 Eliphelet son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maacathite, Eliam son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,
35 Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite,
36 Igal son of Nathan from Zobah, Bani the Gadite,
37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, the gear-bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah,
38 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,
39 Uriah the Hittite; thirty-seven in all.

Chapter 24
1 When the anger of Yahweh continued to grow hot against Israel, He incited David against them, saying, Go, count Israel and Judah.
2 So the king said to Joab and the chiefs of the army who were with him, Go now to and fro through all the tribes of Israel from Dan unto Beersheba and take a census of the people so that I may know the number of the people.
3 Joab replied to the king, May Yahweh your Elohim add to the people a hundred times as many as they are while the eyes of my lord the king are seeing it. But, my lord the king, why does he delight in this matter?
4 Yet the king’s word was unyielding to Joab and to the chiefs of the army. So Joab and the chiefs of the army went forth from the presence of the king to take a census of the people of Israel.
5 They crossed over the Jordan and encamped at Aroer to the right side of the city that is in the midst of the wadi; they went toward Gad and on to Jazer
6 and came to Gilead and to the land of the Hittites toward Kadesh. They came toward Dan-jaan and round about toward Sidon.
7 They also came toward the fortress of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivite and the Canaanite. Then they went forth to the Negeb of Judah at Beersheba.
8 Thus they went to and fro in all the land. At the end of nine months and twenty days they came back to Jerusalem.
9 Joab gave the number of the census of the people to the king; it came to be, in Israel, 800,000 men of valor drawing the sword; and the men of Judah were 500,000 men.
10 David’s heart was smiting him after he had thus numbered the people; and David said to Yahweh, I have sinned intensely in what I have done. Now, O Yahweh, I pray, cause the depravity of Your servant to pass away; for I was exceedingly unwise.
11 When David arose in the morning, the word of Yahweh came to Gad the prophet, David’s vision seer, saying,
12 Go, and you will tell David, Thus says Yahweh: I am holding over you three things. Choose for yourself one of them that I may do it to you.
13 When Gad came to David, he told him and said to him, Should three years of famine come to you in your land? Or should you be three months in flight before your foes while they are pursuing you? Or should there be three days of plague in your land? Now know and see what word I should bring back to the One sending me.
14 David replied to Gad, Utter distress is mine. Let us fall, I pray, into the hand of Yahweh, for His compassions are abundant; but let me not fall into the hand of humanity.
15 So Yahweh cast the plague on Israel from the morning until the eventide so that 70,000 men of the people died from Dan unto Beersheba.
16 The messenger of Elohim was stretching forth his hand toward Jerusalem to ruin it. Yet Yahweh showed Himself merciful as to the evil and said to the messenger who was causing ruin to the people, Enough, now hold back your hand. The messenger of Yahweh was then at the threshing site of Araunah the Jebusite. David lifted his eyes and saw the messenger of Yahweh standing between the earth and the heavens, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered in sackcloth, fell on their faces.
17 Now David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the messenger who was causing ruin to the people; he said, Behold, I myself have sinned, and I myself have been depraved, I, the shepherd, who has caused this evil, but these are the flock; what have they done? Let Your hand come to be, I pray, against me and my father’s house.
18 On that day Gad came to David and said to him, Ascend, set up an altar to Yahweh at the threshing site of Araunah the Jebusite.
19 So David went up according to the word of Gad just as Yahweh had instructed him.
20 When Araunah gazed and saw the king and his servants crossing over to him, Araunah went forth and prostrated himself before the king, his brow toward the earth.
21 Araunah said, For what reason has my lord the king come to his servant? David replied, To buy from you the threshing site for building an altar to Yahweh, so that the stroke may be restrained from the people.
22 Yet Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take it and offer up what is good in his eyes. See the oxen for the ascent offering, and the threshing sledges and the implements of the oxen for wood.
23 All this, O king, Araunah donates to the king. Then Araunah said to the king, Yahweh your Elohim, may He accept you.
24 The king replied to Araunah, No, for I shall buy, yea buy it from you at the full current price; and I shall not offer up to Yahweh my Elohim any ascent offerings gratuitously. So David bought the threshing site and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
25 Then David built there an altar to Yahweh and offered up ascent offerings and peace offerings. Now Yahweh let Himself be entreated again for the land; and the stroke was restrained from Israel.