2 Samuel 5:5
ESV
At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.
NIV
In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.
NASB
At Hebron he reigned over Judah for seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned for thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.
CSB
In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.
NLT
He had reigned over Judah from Hebron for seven years and six months, and from Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years.
KJV
In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah.
NKJV
In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.
What does 2 Samuel 5:5 mean?
David has been a shepherd, a soldier, a military commander, and the leader of 600 men and their families. He has dedicated his life to protecting his people in service to God. His loyalty to God is so strong that he refused to kill the man who wanted him dead because that man was God's anointed (1 Samuel 24:4–7; 26:7–11). God promised David when he was a teenager that he would be king over all the tribes of Israel (1 Samuel 16:12–13). Now, at the age of thirty, he has the throne.David's rule as king over Israel is divided into two parts. These are marked by the extent of his authority and the city he claimed as his capital. Before David, Israel had no established capital city. Saul lived and ruled from Gibeah, but it wasn't a national capital (1 Samuel 10:26). In the same way, following the Lord's direction, David settled with his men in Hebron and was anointed king there by the people of Judah (2 Samuel 2:1–4). David reigned as king from Hebron for seven-and-a-half years.
After being anointed as king over all of Israel, David will move the capital to the more central, strategic, and defensible city of Jerusalem. He will from there for thirty-three years. First, though, he must defeat the stubborn Jebusites, who have occupied the city since the earliest days of Israel's time in the Promised Land (2 Samuel 5:6–10).
David became king in Hebron around 1011 BC. He united the kingdoms and moved to Jerusalem in 1004 BC.
