2 Samuel 2-5
New American Standard Bible
Chapter 2
1Then it came about afterward that David inquired of the Lord, saying, 'Shall I go up to one of the cities of Judah?' And the Lord said to him, 'Go up.' So David said, 'Where shall I go up?' And He said, 'To Hebron.' 2So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. 3And David brought up his men who were with him, each with his household; and they settled in the cities of Hebron.
4Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, 'It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul.'
5So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead, and said to them, 'May you be blessed of the Lord because you have shown this kindness to Saul your lord, and have buried him.
6And now may the Lord show kindness and truth to you; and I also will show this goodness to you, because you have done this thing.
7Now then, let your hands be strong and be valiant, since Saul your lord is dead, and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.'
8But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim.
9And he made him king over Gilead, over the Ashurites, over Jezreel, over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, even over all Israel.
10Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he was king for two years. The house of Judah, however, followed David.
11And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
12Now Abner the son of Ner, went from Mahanaim to Gibeon with the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul.
13And Joab the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out and met them by the pool of Gibeon; and they sat down, Abner’s men on the one side of the pool and Joab’s men on the other side of the pool.
14Then Abner said to Joab, 'Now have the young men arise and hold a martial skills match in our presence.' And Joab said, 'Have them arise!'
15So they got up and went over by count, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve from the servants of David.
16And each one of them seized his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent’s side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim, which is in Gibeon.
17That day the battle was very severe, and Abner and the men of Israel were defeated by the servants of David.
18Now the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel; and Asahel was as swift-footed as one of the gazelles that is in the field.
19Asahel pursued Abner and did not turn to the right or to the left from following Abner.
20Then Abner looked behind himself and said, 'Is that you, Asahel?' And he said, 'It is I!'
21So Abner said to him, 'Turn aside for your own good to your right or to your left, and take hold of one of the young men for yourself, and take for yourself his equipment.' But Asahel was unwilling to turn aside from following him.
22Then Abner repeated again to Asahel, 'Turn aside for your own good from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I show my face to your brother Joab?'
23However, he refused to turn aside; so Abner struck him in the belly with the butt end of the spear, so that the spear came out at his back. And he fell there and died on the spot. And it happened that all who came thereafter to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, stood still.
24But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner, and when the sun was going down, they came to the hill of Ammah, which is opposite Giah by way of the wilderness of Gibeon.
25And the sons of Benjamin gathered together behind Abner and became one troop, and they stood on the top of a hill.
26Then Abner called to Joab and said, 'Should the sword devour forever? Do you not realize that it will be bitter in the end? So how long will you refrain from telling the people to turn back from pursuing their kinsmen?'
27Joab said, 'As God lives, if you had not spoken, then the people of Judah certainly would have withdrawn in the morning, each from pursuing his brother.'
28So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the people halted and no longer pursued Israel, nor did they continue to fight anymore.
29Abner and his men then went through the Arabah all that night; so they crossed the Jordan, walked all morning, and came to Mahanaim.
30Then Joab returned from pursuing Abner; but he gathered all the people together, and nineteen of David’s servants were missing, besides Asahel.
31However, the servants of David had struck and killed many of Benjamin and Abner’s men; 360 men were dead.
32And they carried Asahel away and buried him in his father’s tomb, which was in Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men traveled all night until the day dawned at Hebron.
2Sons were born to David in Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelitess;
3and his second, Chileab, by Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur;
4and the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital;
5and the sixth, Ithream, by David’s wife Eglah. These sons were born to David in Hebron.
6Now it happened that while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was strengthening himself in the house of Saul.
7And Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah; and Ish-bosheth said to Abner, 'Why have you gone in to my father’s concubine?'
8Then Abner became very angry over Ish-bosheth’s question and said, 'Am I a dog’s head that belongs to Judah? Today I show kindness to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers and to his friends, and have not let you fall into the hands of David; yet today you call me to account for wrongdoing with that woman?
9May God do so to me, and more so, if as the Lord has sworn to David, I do not accomplish this for him:
10to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to establish the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba!'
11And Ish-bosheth could no longer say a word in response to Abner, because he was afraid of him.
12Then Abner sent messengers to David at his place, saying, 'Whose is the land? Make your covenant with me, and behold, my hand shall be with you to bring all Israel over to you.'
13And he said, 'Good! I will make a covenant with you, only I require one thing of you, namely, that you shall not see my face unless you first bring Michal, Saul’s daughter, when you come to see me.'
14So David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, saying, 'Give me my wife Michal, to whom I was betrothed for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.'
15Ish-bosheth sent men and had her taken from her husband, from Paltiel the son of Laish.
16And her husband went with her, weeping as he went, following her as far as Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, 'Go, return.' So he returned.
17Now Abner had a consultation with the elders of Israel, saying, 'In times past you were seeking for David to be king over you.
18Now then, do it! For the Lord has spoken regarding David, saying, ‘By the hand of My servant David I will save My people Israel from the hand of the Philistines, and from the hands of all their enemies.’?'
19Abner also spoke to Benjamin; and in addition Abner went to speak to David in Hebron everything that seemed good to Israel and to the entire house of Benjamin.
20Then Abner and twenty men with him came to David at Hebron. And David held a feast for Abner and the men who were with him.
21Abner said to David, 'Let me set out and go and gather all Israel to my lord the king, so that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may be king over all that your soul desires.' So David let Abner go, and he went in peace.
22And behold, the servants of David and Joab came from a raid and brought a large amount of plunder with them; but Abner was not with David in Hebron, since he had let him go, and he had gone in peace.
23When Joab and all the army that was with him arrived, they informed Joab, saying, 'Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he has let him go on his way, and he has gone in peace.'
24Then Joab came to the king and said, 'What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you; why then have you let him go, so that he is already gone?
25You know Abner the son of Ner, that he came to gain your confidence, and to learn of your going out and coming in and to find out everything that you are doing.'
26When Joab left David’s presence, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the well of Sirah; but David did not know about it.
27So when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the middle of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the belly, so that he died on account of the blood of his brother Asahel.
28Afterward, when David heard about this, he said, 'I and my kingdom are innocent before the Lord forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner.
29May it turn upon the head of Joab and on all his father’s house; and may there not be eliminated from the house of Joab someone who suffers a discharge, or has leprosy, or holds the spindle, or falls by the sword, or lacks bread.'
30So Joab and his brother Abishai killed Abner because he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibeon.
31Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, 'Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner.' And King David walked behind the bier.
32And they buried Abner in Hebron; and the king raised his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept.
34Your hands were not bound, nor your feet put in bronze shackles; As one falls before the wicked, you have fallen.' And all the people wept over him again.
35Then all the people came to provide food for David in his distress while it was still day; but David vowed, saying, 'May God do so to me, and more so, if I taste bread or anything else before the sun goes down.'
36Now all the people took note of David’s vow, and it pleased them, just as everything that the king did pleased all the people.
37So all the people and all Israel understood on that day that it had not been the desire of the king to put Abner the son of Ner to death.
38Then the king said to his servants, 'Do you not know that a leader and a great man has fallen in Israel this day?
39And I am weak today, though anointed king; and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too difficult for me. May the Lord repay the evildoer in proportion to his evil.'
Chapter 4
1Now when Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, heard that Abner had died in Hebron, his courage failed, and all Israel was horrified. 2And Saul’s son had two men who were commanders of troops: the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin (for Beeroth is also considered part of Benjamin, 3and the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have lived there as strangers until this day).
5So the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, departed and came to the house of Ish-bosheth in the heat of the day, while he was taking his midday rest.
6And they came to the interior of the house as if to get wheat, and they struck him in the belly; and Rechab and his brother Baanah escaped.
7Now when they had come into the house, as he was lying on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him and killed him, and they beheaded him. And they took his head and traveled by way of the Arabah all night.
8Then they brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron, and said to the king, 'Behold, the head of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life; so the Lord has given my lord the king vengeance this day on Saul and his descendants.'
9But David replied to Rechab and his brother Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, 'As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress,
10when the one who informed me, saying, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ also viewed himself as the bearer of good news, I seized him and killed him in Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news.
11How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood from your hands and eliminate you both from the earth?'
12Then David commanded the young men, and they killed them and cut off their hands and feet, and hung them up beside the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the grave of Abner in Hebron.
Chapter 5
1Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, 'Behold, we are your bone and your flesh. 2Previously, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and in. And the Lord said to you, ‘You will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be a leader over Israel.’?' 3So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them before the Lord in Hebron; then they anointed David king over Israel. 4David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty years. 5At 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.
6Now the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land; and they said to David, 'You shall not come in here, but even those who are blind and those who limp will turn you away,' thinking, 'David cannot enter here.'
7Nevertheless, David captured the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.
8And David said on that day, 'Whoever strikes the Jebusites is to reach those who limp and those who are blind, who are hated by David’s soul, through the water tunnel.' For that reason they say, 'People who are blind and people who limp shall not come into the house.'
9So David lived in the stronghold, and called it the city of David. And David built all around from the Millo and inward.
10David became greater and greater, for the Lord God of armies was with him.
11Then Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David with cedar trees, carpenters, and stonemasons; and they built a house for David.
12And David realized that the Lord had appointed him as king over Israel, and that He had exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.
13Meanwhile David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron; and more sons and daughters were born to David.
14Now these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
15Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,
16Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
17Now when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek out David; and when David heard about it, he went down to the stronghold.
18Now the Philistines came and overran the Valley of Rephaim.
19So David inquired of the Lord, saying, 'Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You hand them over to me?' And the Lord said to David, 'Go up, for I will certainly hand the Philistines over to you.'
20Then David came to Baal-perazim and defeated them there; and he said, 'The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like the breakthrough of waters.' Therefore he named that place Baal-perazim.
21And the Philistines abandoned their idols there, so David and his men carried them away.
22Now the Philistines came up once again and overran the Valley of Rephaim.
23So David inquired of the Lord, but He said, 'You shall not go directly up; circle around behind them and come at them in front of the baka-shrubs.
24And it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the baka-shrubs, then you shall act promptly, for then the Lord will have gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines.'
25Then David did so, just as the Lord had commanded him; he struck and killed the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer.
King James Version
Chapter 2
1And it came to pass after this, that David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron. 2So David went up thither, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail Nabal's wife the Carmelite. 3And his men that were with him did David bring up, every man with his household: and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. 4And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, That the men of Jabesh-gilead were they that buried Saul. 5And David sent messengers unto the men of Jabesh-gilead, and said unto them, Blessed be ye of the Lord, that ye have showed this kindness unto your lord, even unto Saul, and have buried him. 6And now the Lord show kindness and truth unto you: and I also will requite you this kindness, because ye have done this thing. 7Therefore now let your hands be strengthened, and be ye valiant: for your master Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah have anointed me king over them. 8But Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim; 9And made him king over Gilead, and over the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel. 10Ish-bosheth Saul's son was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. 11And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
12And Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.
13And Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out, and met together by the pool of Gibeon: and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool.
14And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men now arise, and play before us. And Joab said, Let them arise.
15Then there arose and went over by number twelve of Benjamin, which pertained to Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David.
16And they caught every one his fellow by the head, and thrust his sword in his fellow's side; so they fell down together: wherefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim, which is in Gibeon.
17And there was a very sore battle that day; and Abner was beaten, and the men of Israel, before the servants of David.
18And there were three sons of Zeruiah there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel: and Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe.
19And Asahel pursued after Abner; and in going he turned not to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner.
20Then Abner looked behind him, and said, Art thou Asahel? And he answered, I am.
21And Abner said to him, Turn thee aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and lay thee hold on one of the young men, and take thee his armor. But Asahel would not turn aside from following of him.
22And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me: wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother?
23Howbeit he refused to turn aside: wherefore Abner with the hinder end of the spear smote him under the fifth rib, that the spear came out behind him; and he fell down there, and died in the same place: and it came to pass, that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died stood still.
24Joab also and Abishai pursued after Abner: and the sun went down when they were come to the hill of Ammah, that lieth before Giah by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon.
25And the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together after Abner, and became one troop, and stood on the top of a hill.
26Then Abner called to Joab, and said, Shall the sword devour forever? knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? how long shall it be then, ere thou bid the people return from following their brethren?
27And Joab said, As God liveth, unless thou hadst spoken, surely then in the morning the people had gone up every one from following his brother.
28So Joab blew a trumpet, and all the people stood still, and pursued after Israel no more, neither fought they any more.
29And Abner and his men walked all that night through the plain, and passed over Jordan, and went through all Bithron, and they came to Mahanaim.
30And Joab returned from following Abner: and when he had gathered all the people together, there lacked of David's servants nineteen men and Asahel.
31But the servants of David had smitten of Benjamin, and of Abner's men, so that three hundred and threescore men died.
32And they took up Asahel, and buried him in the sepulcher of his father, which was in Bethlehem. And Joab and his men went all night, and they came to Hebron at break of day.
Chapter 3
1Now there was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David: but David waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker.
2And unto David were sons born in Hebron: and his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess;
3And his second, Chileab, of Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;
4And the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital;
5And the sixth, Ithream, by Eglah David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron.
6And it came to pass, while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abner made himself strong for the house of Saul.
7And Saul had a concubine, whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah: and Ish-bosheth said to Abner, Wherefore hast thou gone in unto my father's concubine?
8Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ish-bosheth, and said, Am I a dog's head, which against Judah do show kindness this day unto the house of Saul thy father, to his brethren, and to his friends, and have not delivered thee into the hand of David, that thou chargest me today with a fault concerning this woman?
9So do God to Abner, and more also, except, as the Lord hath sworn to David, even so I do to him;
10To translate the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beer-sheba.
11And he could not answer Abner a word again, because he feared him.
12And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf, saying, Whose is the land? saying also, Make thy league with me, and, behold, my hand shall be with thee, to bring about all Israel unto thee.
13And he said, Well; I will make a league with thee: but one thing I require of thee, that is, Thou shalt not see my face, except thou first bring Michal Saul's daughter, when thou comest to see my face.
14And David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth Saul's son, saying, Deliver me my wife Michal, which I espoused to me for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.
15And Ish-bosheth sent, and took her from her husband, even from Phaltiel the son of Laish.
16And her husband went with her along weeping behind her to Bahurim. Then said Abner unto him, Go, return. And he returned.
17And Abner had communication with the elders of Israel, saying, Ye sought for David in times past to be king over you:
18Now then do it: for the Lord hath spoken of David, saying, By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies.
19And Abner also spoke in the ears of Benjamin: and Abner went also to speak in the ears of David in Hebron all that seemed good to Israel, and that seemed good to the whole house of Benjamin.
20So Abner came to David to Hebron, and twenty men with him. And David made Abner and the men that were with him a feast.
21And Abner said unto David, I will arise and go, and will gather all Israel unto my lord the king, that they may make a league with thee, and that thou mayest reign over all that thine heart desireth. And David sent Abner away; and he went in peace.
22And, behold, the servants of David and Joab came from pursuing a troop, and brought in a great spoil with them: but Abner was not with David in Hebron; for he had sent him away, and he was gone in peace.
23When Joab and all the host that was with him were come, they told Joab, saying, Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he hath sent him away, and he is gone in peace.
24Then Joab came to the king, and said, What hast thou done? behold, Abner came unto thee; why is it that thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone?
25Thou knowest Abner the son of Ner, that he came to deceive thee, and to know thy going out and thy coming in, and to know all that thou doest.
26And when Joab was come out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, which brought him again from the well of Sirah: but David knew it not.
27And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there under the fifth rib, that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.
28And afterward when David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are guiltless before the Lord forever from the blood of Abner the son of Ner:
29Let it rest on the head of Joab, and on all his father's house; and let there not fail from the house of Joab one that hath an issue, or that is a leper, or that leaneth on a staff, or that falleth on the sword, or that lacketh bread.
31And David said to Joab, and to all the people that were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And king David himself followed the bier.
32And they buried Abner in Hebron: and the king lifted up his voice, and wept at the grave of Abner; and all the people wept.
33And the king lamented over Abner, and said, Died Abner as a fool dieth?
34Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters: as a man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou. And all the people wept again over him.
35And when all the people came to cause David to eat meat while it was yet day, David swore, saying, So do God to me, and more also, if I taste bread, or aught else, till the sun be down.
36And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them: as whatsoever the king did pleased all the people.
37For all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of the king to slay Abner the son of Ner.
38And the king said unto his servants, Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?
39And I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah be too hard for me: the Lord shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness.
Chapter 4
1And when Saul's son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands were feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled. 2And Saul's son had two men that were captains of bands: the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon a Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin: (for Beeroth also was reckoned to Benjamin: 3And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and were sojourners there until this day.)
5And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went, and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ish-bosheth, who lay on a bed at noon.
6And they came thither into the midst of the house, as though they would have fetched wheat; and they smote him under the fifth rib: and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped.
7For when they came into the house, he lay on his bed in his bedchamber, and they smote him, and slew him, and beheaded him, and took his head, and got them away through the plain all night.
8And they brought the head of Ish-bosheth unto David to Hebron, and said to the king, Behold the head of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul thine enemy, which sought thy life; and the Lord hath avenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed.
9And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said unto them, As the Lord liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity,
10When one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good tidings, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, who thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings:
11How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? shall I not therefore now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?
Chapter 5
1Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spoke, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. 2Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the Lord said to thee Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel.
3So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord: and they anointed David king over Israel.
4David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
5In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah.
6And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spoke unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither.
7Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion: the same is the city of David.
8And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David's soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.
9So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward.
10And David went on, and grew great, and the Lord God of hosts was with him.
11And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons: and they built David a house.
12And David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake.
13And David took him more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron: and there were yet sons and daughters born to David.
14And these be the names of those that were born unto him in Jerusalem; Shammua, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon,
15Ibhar also, and Elishua, and Nepheg, and Japhia,
16And Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphalet.
17But when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines came up to seek David; and David heard of it, and went down to the hold.
18The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.
19And David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the Lord said unto David, Go up: for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into thine hand.
20And David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there, and said, The Lord hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim.
21And there they left their images, and David and his men burned them.
22And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.
23And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, Thou shalt not go up; but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.
24And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the Lord go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines.
25And David did so, as the Lord had commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gazer.
Christian Standard Bible
2So David went there with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail, the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.
3In addition, David brought the men who were with him, each one with his family, and they settled in the towns near Hebron.
4Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. They told David: "It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul."
5David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, "The Lord bless you, because you have shown this kindness to Saul your lord when you buried him.
6Now, may the Lord show kindness and faithfulness to you, and I will also show the same goodness to you because you have done this deed.
7Therefore, be strong and valiant, for though Saul your lord is dead, the house of Judah has anointed me king over them."
8Abner son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Saul’s son Ish-bosheth and moved him to Mahanaim.
9He made him king over Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin—over all Israel.
10Saul’s son Ish-bosheth was forty years old when he became king over Israel; he reigned for two years. The house of Judah, however, followed David.
11The length of time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
12Abner son of Ner and soldiers of Ish-bosheth son of Saul marched out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.
13So Joab son of Zeruiah and David’s soldiers marched out and met them by the pool of Gibeon. The two groups took up positions on opposite sides of the pool.
15So they got up and were counted off—twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth son of Saul, and twelve from David’s soldiers.
16Then each man grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his sword into his opponent’s side so that they all died together. So this place, which is in Gibeon, is named Field of Blades.
17The battle that day was extremely fierce, and Abner and the men of Israel were defeated by David’s soldiers.
18The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel was a fast runner, like one of the wild gazelles.
19He chased Abner and did not turn to the right or the left in his pursuit of him.
21Abner said to him, "Turn to your right or left, seize one of the young soldiers, and take whatever you can get from him." But Asahel would not stop chasing him.
22Once again, Abner warned Asahel, "Stop chasing me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How could I ever look your brother Joab in the face?"
23But Asahel refused to turn away, so Abner hit him in the stomach with the butt of his spear. The spear went through his body, and he fell and died right there. As they all came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, they stopped,
24but Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. By sunset, they had gone as far as the hill of Ammah, which is opposite Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.
25The Benjaminites rallied to Abner; they formed a unit and took their stand on top of a hill.
26Then Abner called out to Joab: "Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize this will only end in bitterness? How long before you tell the troops to stop pursuing their brothers?"
27"As God lives," Joab replied, "if you had not spoken up, the troops wouldn’t have stopped pursuing their brothers until morning."
28Then Joab blew the ram’s horn, and all the troops stopped; they no longer pursued Israel or continued to fight.
29So Abner and his men marched through the Arabah all that night. They crossed the Jordan, marched all morning, and arrived at Mahanaim.
30When Joab had turned back from pursuing Abner, he gathered all the troops. In addition to Asahel, nineteen of David’s soldiers were missing,
31but they had killed 360 of the Benjaminites and Abner’s men.
32Afterward, they carried Asahel to his father’s tomb in Bethlehem and buried him. Then Joab and his men marched all night and reached Hebron at dawn.
6During the war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner kept acquiring more power in the house of Saul.
7Now Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah daughter of Aiah, and Ish-bosheth questioned Abner, "Why did you sleep with my father’s concubine?"
8Abner was very angry about Ish-bosheth’s accusation. "Am I a dog’s head who belongs to Judah?" he asked. "All this time I’ve been loyal to the family of your father Saul, to his brothers, and to his friends and haven’t betrayed you to David, but now you accuse me of wrongdoing with this woman!
9May God punish Abner and do so severely if I don’t do for David what the Lord swore to him:
10to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish the throne of David over Israel and Judah from Dan to Beer-sheba."
11Ish-bosheth did not dare respond to Abner because he was afraid of him.
15So Ish-bosheth sent someone to take her away from her husband, Paltiel son of Laish.
16Her husband followed her, weeping all the way to Bahurim. Abner said to him, "Go back." So he went back.
17Abner conferred with the elders of Israel: "In the past you wanted David to be king over you.
18Now take action, because the Lord has spoken concerning David: ‘Through my servant David I will save my people Israel from the power of the Philistines and the power of all Israel’s enemies.’"
19Abner also informed the Benjaminites and went to Hebron to inform David about all that was agreed on by Israel and the whole house of Benjamin.
20When Abner and twenty men came to David at Hebron, David held a banquet for him and his men.
22Just then David’s soldiers and Joab returned from a raid and brought a large amount of plundered goods with them. Abner was not with David in Hebron because David had dismissed him, and he had gone in peace.
23When Joab and his whole army arrived, Joab was informed, "Abner son of Ner came to see the king, the king dismissed him, and he went in peace."
24Joab went to the king and said, "What have you done? Look here, Abner came to you. Why did you dismiss him? Now he’s getting away.
25You know that Abner son of Ner came to deceive you and to find out about your military activities and everything you’re doing."
26Then Joab left David and sent messengers after Abner. They brought him back from the well of Sirah, but David was unaware of it.
27When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab pulled him aside to the middle of the city gate, as if to speak to him privately, and there Joab stabbed him in the stomach. So Abner died in revenge for the death of Asahel, Joab’s brother.
28David heard about it later and said: "I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the Lord concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner.
29May it hang over Joab’s head and his father’s whole family, and may the house of Joab never be without someone who has a discharge or a skin disease, or a man who can only work a spindle, or someone who falls by the sword or starves."
30Joab and his brother Abishai killed Abner because he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibeon.
35Then they came to urge David to eat food while it was still day, but David took an oath: "May God punish me and do so severely if I taste bread or anything else before sunset!"
36All the people took note of this, and it pleased them. In fact, everything the king did pleased them.
37On that day all the troops and all Israel were convinced that the king had no part in the killing of Abner son of Ner.
38Then the king said to his soldiers, "You must know that a great leader has fallen in Israel today.
39As for me, even though I am the anointed king, I have little power today. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too fierce for me. May the Lord repay the evildoer according to his evil!"
Chapter 4
1When Saul’s son Ish-bosheth heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he gave up, and all Israel was dismayed. 2Saul’s son had two men who were leaders of raiding parties: one named Baanah and the other Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite of the Benjaminites. Beeroth is also considered part of Benjamin, 3and the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and still reside there as aliens today.
5Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, set out and arrived at Ish-bosheth’s house during the heat of the day while the king was taking his midday nap.
6They entered the interior of the house as if to get wheat and stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and his brother Baanah escaped.
7They had entered the house while Ish-bosheth was lying on his bed in his bedroom and stabbed and killed him. They removed his head, took it, and traveled by way of the Arabah all night.
8They brought Ish-bosheth’s head to David at Hebron and said to the king, "Here’s the head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who intended to take your life. Today the Lord has granted vengeance to my lord the king against Saul and his offspring."
9But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, "As the Lord lives, the one who has redeemed my life from every distress,
10when the person told me, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ he thought he was a bearer of good news, but I seized him and put him to death at Ziklag. That was my reward to him for his news!
11How much more when wicked men kill a righteous man in his own house on his own bed! So now, should I not require his blood from you and purge you from the earth?"
Chapter 5
1All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, "Here we are, your own flesh and blood. 2Even while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led us out to battle and brought us back. The Lord also said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will be ruler over Israel.’"
4David was thirty years old when he began his reign; he reigned forty years.
5In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.
7Yet David did capture the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.
8He said that day, "Whoever attacks the Jebusites must go through the water shaft to reach the lame and the blind who are despised by David." For this reason it is said, "The blind and the lame will never enter the house."
9David took up residence in the stronghold, which he named the city of David. He built it up all the way around from the supporting terraces inward.
10David became more and more powerful, and the Lord God of Armies was with him.
11King Hiram of Tyre sent envoys to David; he also sent cedar logs, carpenters, and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David.
12Then David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.
13After he arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.
14These are the names of those born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
15Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,
16Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
17When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they all went in search of David, but he heard about it and went down to the stronghold.
18So the Philistines came and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
20So David went to Baal-perazim and defeated them there and said, "Like a bursting flood, the Lord has burst out against my enemies before me." Therefore, he named that place The Lord Bursts Out.
21The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his men carried them off.
22The Philistines came up again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
23So David inquired of the Lord, and he answered, "Do not attack directly, but circle around behind them and come at them opposite the balsam trees.
24When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, act decisively, for then the Lord will have gone out ahead of you to strike down the army of the Philistines."
25So David did exactly as the Lord commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Geba to Gezer.
New Living Translation
2David’s two wives were Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel. So David and his wives
3and his men and their families all moved to Judah, and they settled in the villages near Hebron.
4Then the men of Judah came to David and anointed him king over the people of Judah. When David heard that the men of Jabesh-gilead had buried Saul,
5he sent them this message: 'May the Lord bless you for being so loyal to your master Saul and giving him a decent burial.
6May the Lord be loyal to you in return and reward you with his unfailing love! And I, too, will reward you for what you have done.
7Now that Saul is dead, I ask you to be my strong and loyal subjects like the people of Judah, who have anointed me as their new king.'
8But Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, had already gone to Mahanaim with Saul’s son Ishbosheth.
9There he proclaimed Ishbosheth king over Gilead, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, the land of the Ashurites, and all the rest of Israel.
10Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he became king, and he ruled from Mahanaim for two years. Meanwhile, the people of Judah remained loyal to David.
11David made Hebron his capital, and he ruled as king of Judah for seven and a half years.
12One day Abner led Ishbosheth’s troops from Mahanaim to Gibeon.
13About the same time, Joab son of Zeruiah led David’s troops out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. The two groups sat down there, facing each other from opposite sides of the pool.
14Then Abner suggested to Joab, 'Let’s have a few of our warriors fight hand to hand here in front of us.' 'All right,' Joab agreed.
15So twelve men were chosen to fight from each side — twelve men of Benjamin representing Ishbosheth son of Saul, and twelve representing David.
16Each one grabbed his opponent by the hair and thrust his sword into the other’s side so that all of them died. So this place at Gibeon has been known ever since as the Field of Swords.
18Joab, Abishai, and Asahel — the three sons of Zeruiah — were among David’s forces that day. Asahel could run like a gazelle,
19and he began chasing Abner. He pursued him relentlessly, not stopping for anything.
24When Joab and Abishai found out what had happened, they set out after Abner. The sun was just going down as they arrived at the hill of Ammah near Giah, along the road to the wilderness of Gibeon.
25Abner’s troops from the tribe of Benjamin regrouped there at the top of the hill to take a stand.
27Then Joab said, 'God only knows what would have happened if you hadn’t spoken, for we would have chased you all night if necessary.'
28So Joab blew the ram’s horn, and his men stopped chasing the troops of Israel.
30Meanwhile, Joab and his men also returned home. When Joab counted his casualties, he discovered that only 19 men were missing in addition to Asahel.
31But 360 of Abner’s men had been killed, all from the tribe of Benjamin.
32Joab and his men took Asahel’s body to Bethlehem and buried him there in his father’s tomb. Then they traveled all night and reached Hebron at daybreak.
2These are the sons who were born to David in Hebron: The oldest was Amnon, whose mother was Ahinoam from Jezreel.
3The second was Daniel, whose mother was Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel. The third was Absalom, whose mother was Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur.
4The fourth was Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith. The fifth was Shephatiah, whose mother was Abital.
6As the war between the house of Saul and the house of David went on, Abner became a powerful leader among those loyal to Saul.
7One day Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, accused Abner of sleeping with one of his father’s concubines, a woman named Rizpah, daughter of Aiah.
8Abner was furious. 'Am I some Judean dog to be kicked around like this?' he shouted. 'After all I have done for your father, Saul, and his family and friends by not handing you over to David, is this my reward — that you find fault with me about this woman?
9May God strike me and even kill me if I don’t do everything I can to help David get what the Lord has promised him!
10I’m going to take Saul’s kingdom and give it to David. I will establish the throne of David over Israel as well as Judah, all the way from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south.'
11Ishbosheth didn’t dare say another word because he was afraid of what Abner might do.
15So Ishbosheth took Michal away from her husband, Palti son of Laish.
16Palti followed along behind her as far as Bahurim, weeping as he went. Then Abner told him, 'Go back home!' So Palti returned.
17Meanwhile, Abner had consulted with the elders of Israel. 'For some time now,' he told them, 'you have wanted to make David your king.
18Now is the time! For the Lord has said, ‘I have chosen David to save my people Israel from the hands of the Philistines and from all their other enemies.’'
19Abner also spoke with the men of Benjamin. Then he went to Hebron to tell David that all the people of Israel and Benjamin had agreed to support him.
20When Abner and twenty of his men came to Hebron, David entertained them with a great feast.
21Then Abner said to David, 'Let me go and call an assembly of all Israel to support my lord the king. They will make a covenant with you to make you their king, and you will rule over everything your heart desires.' So David sent Abner safely on his way.
22But just after David had sent Abner away in safety, Joab and some of David’s troops returned from a raid, bringing much plunder with them.
23When Joab arrived, he was told that Abner had just been there visiting the king and had been sent away in safety.
24Joab rushed to the king and demanded, 'What have you done? What do you mean by letting Abner get away?
25You know perfectly well that he came to spy on you and find out everything you’re doing!'
26Joab then left David and sent messengers to catch up with Abner, asking him to return. They found him at the well of Sirah and brought him back, though David knew nothing about it.
27When Abner arrived back at Hebron, Joab took him aside at the gateway as if to speak with him privately. But then he stabbed Abner in the stomach and killed him in revenge for killing his brother Asahel.
28When David heard about it, he declared, 'I vow by the Lord that I and my kingdom are forever innocent of this crime against Abner son of Ner.
29Joab and his family are the guilty ones. May the family of Joab be cursed in every generation with a man who has open sores or leprosy or who walks on crutches or dies by the sword or begs for food!'
31Then David said to Joab and all those who were with him, 'Tear your clothes and put on burlap. Mourn for Abner.' And King David himself walked behind the procession to the grave.
32They buried Abner in Hebron, and the king and all the people wept at his graveside.
34Your hands were not bound; your feet were not chained. No, you were murdered — the victim of a wicked plot.' All the people wept again for Abner.
35David had refused to eat anything on the day of the funeral, and now everyone begged him to eat. But David had made a vow, saying, 'May God strike me and even kill me if I eat anything before sundown.'
36This pleased the people very much. In fact, everything the king did pleased them!
37So everyone in Judah and all Israel understood that David was not responsible for Abner’s murder.
38Then King David said to his officials, 'Don’t you realize that a great commander has fallen today in Israel?
39And even though I am the anointed king, these two sons of Zeruiah — Joab and Abishai — are too strong for me to control. So may the Lord repay these evil men for their evil deeds.'
Chapter 4
1When Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, heard about Abner’s death at Hebron, he lost all courage, and all Israel became paralyzed with fear. 2Now there were two brothers, Baanah and Recab, who were captains of Ishbosheth’s raiding parties. They were sons of Rimmon, a member of the tribe of Benjamin who lived in Beeroth. The town of Beeroth is now part of Benjamin’s territory 3because the original people of Beeroth fled to Gittaim, where they still live as foreigners.
5One day Recab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon from Beeroth, went to Ishbosheth’s house around noon as he was taking his midday rest.
6The doorkeeper, who had been sifting wheat, became drowsy and fell asleep. So Recab and Baanah slipped past her.
7They went into the house and found Ishbosheth sleeping on his bed. They struck and killed him and cut off his head. Then, taking his head with them, they fled across the Jordan Valley through the night.
8When they arrived at Hebron, they presented Ishbosheth’s head to David. 'Look!' they exclaimed to the king. 'Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of your enemy Saul who tried to kill you. Today the Lord has given my lord the king revenge on Saul and his entire family!'
9But David said to Recab and Baanah, 'The Lord, who saves me from all my enemies, is my witness.
10Someone once told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ thinking he was bringing me good news. But I seized him and killed him at Ziklag. That’s the reward I gave him for his news!
11How much more should I reward evil men who have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed? Shouldn’t I hold you responsible for his blood and rid the earth of you?'
Chapter 5
1Then all the tribes of Israel went to David at Hebron and told him, 'We are your own flesh and blood. 2In the past, when Saul was our king, you were the one who really led the forces of Israel. And the Lord told you, ‘You will be the shepherd of my people Israel. You will be Israel’s leader.’'
4David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in all.
5He 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.
6David then led his men to Jerusalem to fight against the Jebusites, the original inhabitants of the land who were living there. The Jebusites taunted David, saying, 'You’ll never get in here! Even the blind and lame could keep you out!' For the Jebusites thought they were safe.
7But David captured the fortress of Zion, which is now called the City of David.
9So David made the fortress his home, and he called it the City of David. He extended the city, starting at the supporting terraces and working inward.
10And David became more and more powerful, because the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies was with him.
11Then King Hiram of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar timber and carpenters and stonemasons, and they built David a palace.
12And David realized that the Lord had confirmed him as king over Israel and had blessed his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.
13After moving from Hebron to Jerusalem, David married more concubines and wives, and they had more sons and daughters.
14These are the names of David’s sons who were born in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
15Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,
16Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
17When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king of Israel, they mobilized all their forces to capture him. But David was told they were coming, so he went into the stronghold.
18The Philistines arrived and spread out across the valley of Rephaim.
20So David went to Baal-perazim and defeated the Philistines there. 'The Lord did it!' David exclaimed. 'He burst through my enemies like a raging flood!' So he named that place Baal-perazim (which means 'the Lord who bursts through').
21The Philistines had abandoned their idols there, so David and his men confiscated them.
22But after a while the Philistines returned and again spread out across the valley of Rephaim.
23And again David asked the Lord what to do. 'Do not attack them straight on,' the Lord replied. 'Instead, circle around behind and attack them near the poplar trees.
24When you hear a sound like marching feet in the tops of the poplar trees, be on the alert! That will be the signal that the Lord is moving ahead of you to strike down the Philistine army.'
25So David did what the Lord commanded, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.
English Standard Version
Chapter 2
1After this David inquired of the Lord, "Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?" And the Lord said to him, "Go up." David said, "To which shall I go up?" And he said, "To Hebron." 2So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 3And David brought up his men who were with him, everyone with his household, and they lived in the towns of Hebron. 4And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. When they told David, "It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul,"
5David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, "May you be blessed by the Lord, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord and buried him.
6Now may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. And I will do good to you because you have done this thing.
7Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant, for Saul your lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them."
8But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul 's army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim,
9and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel.
10Ish-bosheth, Saul 's son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David.
11And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
12Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.
13And Joab the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. And they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool.
14And Abner said to Joab, "Let the young men arise and compete before us." And Joab said, "Let them arise."
15Then they arose and passed over by number, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David.
16And each caught his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent 's side, so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim, which is at Gibeon.
17And the battle was very fierce that day. And Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.
18And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was as swift of foot as a wild gazelle.
19And Asahel pursued Abner, and as he went, he turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner.
20Then Abner looked behind him and said, "Is it you, Asahel?" And he answered, "It is I."
21Abner said to him, "Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and seize one of the young men and take his spoil." But Asahel would not turn aside from following him.
22And Abner said again to Asahel, "Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?"
23But he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner struck him in the stomach with the butt of his spear, so that the spear came out at his back. And he fell there and died where he was. And all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, stood still.
24But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. And as the sun was going down they came to the hill of Ammah, which lies before Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.
25And the people of Benjamin gathered themselves together behind Abner and became one group and took their stand on the top of a hill.
26Then Abner called to Joab, "Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that the end will be bitter? How long will it be before you tell your people to turn from the pursuit of their brothers?"
27And Joab said, "As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely the men would not have given up the pursuit of their brothers until the morning."
28So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the men stopped and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight anymore.
29And Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, and marching the whole morning, they came to Mahanaim.
30Joab returned from the pursuit of Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing from David 's servants nineteen men besides Asahel.
31But the servants of David had struck down of Benjamin 360 of Abner 's men.
32And they took up Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was at Bethlehem. And Joab and his men marched all night, and the day broke upon them at Hebron.
2And sons were born to David at Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam of Jezreel;
3and his second, Chileab, of Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;
4and the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital;
5and the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah, David 's wife. These were born to David in Hebron.
6While there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was making himself strong in the house of Saul.
7Now Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. And Ish-bosheth said to Abner, "Why have you gone in to my father 's concubine?"
8Then Abner was very angry over the words of Ish-bosheth and said, "Am I a dog 's head of Judah? To this day I keep showing steadfast love to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not given you into the hand of David. And yet you charge me today with a fault concerning a woman.
9God do so to Abner and more also, if I do not accomplish for David what the Lord has sworn to him,
10to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan to Beersheba."
11And Ish-bosheth could not answer Abner another word, because he feared him.
12And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf, saying, "To whom does the land belong? Make your covenant with me, and behold, my hand shall be with you to bring over all Israel to you."
13And he said, "Good; I will make a covenant with you. But one thing I require of you; that is, you shall not see my face unless you first bring Michal, Saul 's daughter, when you come to see my face."
14Then David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul 's son, saying, "Give me my wife Michal, for whom I paid the bridal price of a hundred foreskins of the Philistines."
15And Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband Paltiel the son of Laish.
16But her husband went with her, weeping after her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, "Go, return." And he returned.
17And Abner conferred with the elders of Israel, saying, "For some time past you have been seeking David as king over you.
18Now then bring it about, for the Lord has promised David, saying, ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines, and from the hand of all their enemies.’"
19Abner also spoke to Benjamin. And then Abner went to tell David at Hebron all that Israel and the whole house of Benjamin thought good to do.
20When Abner came with twenty men to David at Hebron, David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him.
21And Abner said to David, "I will arise and go and will gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your heart desires." So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.
22Just then the servants of David arrived with Joab from a raid, bringing much spoil with them. But Abner was not with David at Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace.
23When Joab and all the army that was with him came, it was told Joab, "Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he has let him go, and he has gone in peace."
24Then Joab went to the king and said, "What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it that you have sent him away, so that he is gone?
25You know that Abner the son of Ner came to deceive you and to know your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you are doing."
26When Joab came out from David 's presence, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah. But David did not know about it.
27And when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the stomach, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.
28Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, "I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the Lord for the blood of Abner the son of Ner.
29May it fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father 's house, and may the house of Joab never be without one who has a discharge or who is leprous or who holds a spindle or who falls by the sword or who lacks bread!"
30So Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner, because he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibeon.
31Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, "Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner." And King David followed the bier.
32They buried Abner at Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept.
33And the king lamented for Abner, saying, "Should Abner die as a fool dies?
34Your hands were not bound; your feet were not fettered; as one falls before the wicked you have fallen." And all the people wept again over him.
35Then all the people came to persuade David to eat bread while it was yet day. But David swore, saying, "God do so to me and more also, if I taste bread or anything else till the sun goes down!"
36And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as everything that the king did pleased all the people.
37So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king 's will to put to death Abner the son of Ner.
38And the king said to his servants, "Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel?
39And I was gentle today, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are more severe than I. The Lord repay the evildoer according to his wickedness!"
Chapter 4
1When Ish-bosheth, Saul 's son, heard that Abner had died at Hebron, his courage failed, and all Israel was dismayed. 2Now Saul 's son had two men who were captains of raiding bands; the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, sons of Rimmon a man of Benjamin from Beeroth (for Beeroth also is counted part of Benjamin; 3the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have been sojourners there to this day).
5Now the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, set out, and about the heat of the day they came to the house of Ish-bosheth as he was taking his noonday rest.
6And they came into the midst of the house as if to get wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped.
7When they came into the house, as he lay on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him and put him to death and beheaded him. They took his head and went by the way of the Arabah all night,
8and brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron. And they said to the king, "Here is the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life. The Lord has avenged my lord the king this day on Saul and on his offspring."
9But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, "As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life out of every adversity,
10when one told me, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news.
11How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and destroy you from the earth?"
12And David commanded his young men, and they killed them and cut off their hands and feet and hanged them beside the pool at Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner at Hebron.
Chapter 5
1Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, "Behold, we are your bone and flesh. 2In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the Lord said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’" 3So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. 4David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. 5At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.
6And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, "You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off" — thinking, "David cannot come in here."
7Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.
8And David said on that day, "Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack ‘the lame and the blind,’ who are hated by David 's soul." Therefore it is said, "The blind and the lame shall not come into the house."
9And David lived in the stronghold and called it the city of David. And David built the city all around from the Millo inward.
10And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.
11And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, also carpenters and masons who built David a house.
12And David knew that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.
13And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to David.
14And these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
15Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,
16Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
17When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard of it and went down to the stronghold.
18Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
19And David inquired of the Lord, "Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?" And the Lord said to David, "Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand."
20And David came to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there. And he said, "The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like a breaking flood." Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim.
21And the Philistines left their idols there, and David and his men carried them away.
22And the Philistines came up yet again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
23And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, "You shall not go up; go around to their rear, and come against them opposite the balsam trees.
24And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, for then the Lord has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines."
25And David did as the Lord commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from Geba to Gezer.
New International Version
2So David went up there with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.
3David also took the men who were with him, each with his family, and they settled in Hebron and its towns.
4Then the men of Judah came to Hebron, and there they anointed David king over the tribe of Judah. When David was told that it was the men from Jabesh Gilead who had buried Saul,
5he sent messengers to them to say to them, "The Lord bless you for showing this kindness to Saul your master by burying him.
6May the Lord now show you kindness and faithfulness, and I too will show you the same favor because you have done this.
7Now then, be strong and brave, for Saul your master is dead, and the people of Judah have anointed me king over them."
8Meanwhile, Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ish-Bosheth son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim.
9He made him king over Gilead, Ashuri and Jezreel, and also over Ephraim, Benjamin and all Israel.
10Ish-Bosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he reigned two years. The tribe of Judah, however, remained loyal to David.
11The length of time David was king in Hebron over Judah was seven years and six months.
12Abner son of Ner, together with the men of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon.
13Joab son of Zeruiah and David’s men went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. One group sat down on one side of the pool and one group on the other side.
15So they stood up and were counted off—twelve men for Benjamin and Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, and twelve for David.
16Then each man grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his dagger into his opponent’s side, and they fell down together. So that place in Gibeon was called Helkath Hazzurim.
18The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai and Asahel. Now Asahel was as fleet-footed as a wild gazelle.
19He chased Abner, turning neither to the right nor to the left as he pursued him.
24But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner, and as the sun was setting, they came to the hill of Ammah, near Giah on the way to the wasteland of Gibeon.
25Then the men of Benjamin rallied behind Abner. They formed themselves into a group and took their stand on top of a hill.
30Then Joab stopped pursuing Abner and assembled the whole army. Besides Asahel, nineteen of David’s men were found missing.
31But David’s men had killed three hundred and sixty Benjamites who were with Abner.
32They took Asahel and buried him in his father’s tomb at Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men marched all night and arrived at Hebron by daybreak.
6During the war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner had been strengthening his own position in the house of Saul.
7Now Saul had had a concubine named Rizpah daughter of Aiah. And Ish-Bosheth said to Abner, "Why did you sleep with my father’s concubine?"
8Abner was very angry because of what Ish-Bosheth said. So he answered, "Am I a dog’s head—on Judah’s side? This very day I am loyal to the house of your father Saul and to his family and friends. I haven’t handed you over to David. Yet now you accuse me of an offense involving this woman!
9May God deal with Abner, be it ever so severely, if I do not do for David what the Lord promised him on oath
10and transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish David’s throne over Israel and Judah from Dan to Beersheba."
11Ish-Bosheth did not dare to say another word to Abner, because he was afraid of him.
13"Good," said David. "I will make an agreement with you. But I demand one thing of you: Do not come into my presence unless you bring Michal daughter of Saul when you come to see me."
14Then David sent messengers to Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, demanding, "Give me my wife Michal, whom I betrothed to myself for the price of a hundred Philistine foreskins."
15So Ish-Bosheth gave orders and had her taken away from her husband Paltiel son of Laish.
16Her husband, however, went with her, weeping behind her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, "Go back home!" So he went back.
17Abner conferred with the elders of Israel and said, "For some time you have wanted to make David your king.
18Now do it! For the Lord promised David, ‘By my servant David I will rescue my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies.’ "
19Abner also spoke to the Benjamites in person. Then he went to Hebron to tell David everything that Israel and the whole tribe of Benjamin wanted to do.
20When Abner, who had twenty men with him, came to David at Hebron, David prepared a feast for him and his men.
21Then Abner said to David, "Let me go at once and assemble all Israel for my lord the king, so that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may rule over all that your heart desires." So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.
22Just then David’s men and Joab returned from a raid and brought with them a great deal of plunder. But Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, because David had sent him away, and he had gone in peace.
23When Joab and all the soldiers with him arrived, he was told that Abner son of Ner had come to the king and that the king had sent him away and that he had gone in peace.
24So Joab went to the king and said, "What have you done? Look, Abner came to you. Why did you let him go? Now he is gone!
25You know Abner son of Ner; he came to deceive you and observe your movements and find out everything you are doing."
26Joab then left David and sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern at Sirah. But David did not know it.
27Now when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into an inner chamber, as if to speak with him privately. And there, to avenge the blood of his brother Asahel, Joab stabbed him in the stomach, and he died.
28Later, when David heard about this, he said, "I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the Lord concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner.
29May his blood fall on the head of Joab and on his whole family! May Joab’s family never be without someone who has a running sore or leprosy or who leans on a crutch or who falls by the sword or who lacks food."
31Then David said to Joab and all the people with him, "Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and walk in mourning in front of Abner." King David himself walked behind the bier.
32They buried Abner in Hebron, and the king wept aloud at Abner’s tomb. All the people wept also.
36All the people took note and were pleased; indeed, everything the king did pleased them.
37So on that day all the people there and all Israel knew that the king had no part in the murder of Abner son of Ner.
38Then the king said to his men, "Do you not realize that a commander and a great man has fallen in Israel this day?
39And today, though I am the anointed king, I am weak, and these sons of Zeruiah are too strong for me. May the Lord repay the evildoer according to his evil deeds!"
Chapter 4
1When Ish-Bosheth son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost courage, and all Israel became alarmed. 2Now Saul’s son had two men who were leaders of raiding bands. One was named Baanah and the other Rekab; they were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite from the tribe of Benjamin—Beeroth is considered part of Benjamin, 3because the people of Beeroth fled to Gittaim and have resided there as foreigners to this day.
5Now Rekab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, set out for the house of Ish-Bosheth, and they arrived there in the heat of the day while he was taking his noonday rest.
6They went into the inner part of the house as if to get some wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rekab and his brother Baanah slipped away.
7They had gone into the house while he was lying on the bed in his bedroom. After they stabbed and killed him, they cut off his head. Taking it with them, they traveled all night by way of the Arabah.
8They brought the head of Ish-Bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, "Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, your enemy, who tried to kill you. This day the Lord has avenged my lord the king against Saul and his offspring."
9David answered Rekab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, "As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble,
10when someone told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and put him to death in Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his news!
11How much more—when wicked men have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed—should I not now demand his blood from your hand and rid the earth of you!"
Chapter 5
1All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, "We are your own flesh and blood. 2In the past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the Lord said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.’ "
4David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.
5In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.
6The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites, who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, "You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off." They thought, "David cannot get in here."
7Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion—which is the City of David.
9David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built up the area around it, from the terraces inward.
10And he became more and more powerful, because the Lord God Almighty was with him.
11Now Hiram king of Tyre sent envoys to David, along with cedar logs and carpenters and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David.
12Then David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.
13After he left Hebron, David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.
14These are the names of the children born to him there: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
15Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,
16Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet.
17When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they went up in full force to search for him, but David heard about it and went down to the stronghold.
18Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim;
20So David went to Baal Perazim, and there he defeated them. He said, "As waters break out, the Lord has broken out against my enemies before me." So that place was called Baal Perazim.
21The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his men carried them off.
22Once more the Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim;
23so David inquired of the Lord, and he answered, "Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the poplar trees.
24As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the poplar trees, move quickly, because that will mean the Lord has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army."
25So David did as the Lord commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.
New King James Version
2So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.
3And David brought up the men who were with him, every man with his household. So they dwelt in the cities of Hebron.
4Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, “The men of Jabesh Gilead were the ones who buried Saul.”
5So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead, and said to them, “You are blessed of the Lord, for you have shown this kindness to your lord, to Saul, and have buried him.
6And now may the Lord show kindness and truth to you. I also will repay you this kindness, because you have done this thing.
7Now therefore, let your hands be strengthened, and be valiant; for your master Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”
8But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Ishbosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim;
9and he made him king over Gilead, over the Ashurites, over Jezreel, over Ephraim, over Benjamin, and over all Israel.
10Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. Only the house of Judah followed David.
11And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
12Now Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.
13And Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out and met them by the pool of Gibeon. So they sat down, one on one side of the pool and the other on the other side of the pool.
15So they arose and went over by number, twelve from Benjamin, followers of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and twelve from the servants of David.
16And each one grasped his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent’s side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called the Field of Sharp Swords, which is in Gibeon.
17So there was a very fierce battle that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.
18Now the three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab and Abishai and Asahel. And Asahel was as fleet of foot as a wild gazelle.
19So Asahel pursued Abner, and in going he did not turn to the right hand or to the left from following Abner.
21And Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and lay hold on one of the young men and take his armor for yourself.” But Asahel would not turn aside from following him.
22So Abner said again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I face your brother Joab?”
23However, he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner struck him in the stomach with the blunt end of the spear, so that the spear came out of his back; and he fell down there and died on the spot. So it was that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died, stood still.
24Joab and Abishai also pursued Abner. And the sun was going down when they came to the hill of Ammah, which is before Giah by the road to the Wilderness of Gibeon.
25Now the children of Benjamin gathered together behind Abner and became a unit, and took their stand on top of a hill.
26Then Abner called to Joab and said, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it will be bitter in the latter end? How long will it be then until you tell the people to return from pursuing their brethren?”
27And Joab said, “ As God lives, unless you had spoken, surely then by morning all the people would have given up pursuing their brethren.”
28So Joab blew a trumpet; and all the people stood still and did not pursue Israel anymore, nor did they fight anymore.
29Then Abner and his men went on all that night through the plain, crossed over the Jordan, and went through all Bithron; and they came to Mahanaim.
30So Joab returned from pursuing Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing of David’s servants nineteen men and Asahel.
31But the servants of David had struck down, of Benjamin and Abner’s men, three hundred and sixty men who died.
32Then they took up Asahel and buried him in his father’s tomb, which was in Bethlehem. And Joab and his men went all night, and they came to Hebron at daybreak.
2Sons were born to David in Hebron: His firstborn was Amnon by Ahinoam the Jezreelitess;
3his second, Chileab, by Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite; the third, Absalom the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur;
4the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital;
5and the sixth, Ithream, by David’s wife Eglah. These were born to David in Hebron.
8Then Abner became very angry at the words of Ishbosheth, and said, “ Am I a dog’s head that belongs to Judah? Today I show loyalty to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not delivered you into the hand of David; and you charge me today with a fault concerning this woman?
9May God do so to Abner, and more also, if I do not do for David as the Lord has sworn to him—
10to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul, and set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan to Beersheba.”
11And he could not answer Abner another word, because he feared him.
13And David said, “Good, I will make a covenant with you. But one thing I require of you: you shall not see my face unless you first bring Michal, Saul’s daughter, when you come to see my face.”
14So David sent messengers to Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, saying, “Give me my wife Michal, whom I betrothed to myself for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.”
15And Ishbosheth sent and took her from her husband, from Paltiel the son of Laish.
16Then her husband went along with her to Bahurim, weeping behind her. So Abner said to him, “Go, return!” And he returned.
17Now Abner had communicated with the elders of Israel, saying, “In time past you were seeking for David to be king over you.
18Now then, do it! For the Lord has spoken of David, saying, ‘By the hand of My servant David, I will save My people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and the hand of all their enemies.’ ”
19And Abner also spoke in the hearing of Benjamin. Then Abner also went to speak in the hearing of David in Hebron all that seemed good to Israel and the whole house of Benjamin.
20So Abner and twenty men with him came to David at Hebron. And David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him.
21Then Abner said to David, “I will arise and go, and gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your heart desires.” So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.
22At that moment the servants of David and Joab came from a raid and brought much spoil with them. But Abner was not with David in Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace.
23When Joab and all the troops that were with him had come, they told Joab, saying, “Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he sent him away, and he has gone in peace.”
24Then Joab came to the king and said, “What have you done? Look, Abner came to you; why is it that you sent him away, and he has already gone?
25Surely you realize that Abner the son of Ner came to deceive you, to know your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you are doing.”
26And when Joab had gone from David’s presence, he sent messengers after Abner, who brought him back from the well of Sirah. But David did not know it.
27Now when Abner had returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him privately, and there stabbed him in the stomach, so that he died for the blood of Asahel his brother.
28Afterward, when David heard it, he said, “My kingdom and I are guiltless before the Lord forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner.
29Let it rest on the head of Joab and on all his father’s house; and let there never fail to be in the house of Joab one who has a discharge or is a leper, who leans on a staff or falls by the sword, or who lacks bread.”
30So Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner, because he had killed their brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle.
31Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes, gird yourselves with sackcloth, and mourn for Abner.” And King David followed the coffin.
32So they buried Abner in Hebron; and the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept.
35And when all the people came to persuade David to eat food while it was still day, David took an oath, saying, “God do so to me, and more also, if I taste bread or anything else till the sun goes down!”
36Now all the people took note of it, and it pleased them, since whatever the king did pleased all the people.
37For all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king’s intent to kill Abner the son of Ner.
38Then the king said to his servants, “Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel?
39And I am weak today, though anointed king; and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too harsh for me. The Lord shall repay the evildoer according to his wickedness.”
Chapter 4
1When Saul’s son heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost heart, and all Israel was troubled. 2Now Saul’s son had two men who were captains of troops. The name of one was Baanah and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin. (For Beeroth also was part of Benjamin, 3because the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have been sojourners there until this day.)
5Then the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, set out and came at about the heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, who was lying on his bed at noon.
6And they came there, all the way into the house, as though to get wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped.
7For when they came into the house, he was lying on his bed in his bedroom; then they struck him and killed him, beheaded him and took his head, and were all night escaping through the plain.
8And they brought the head of Ishbosheth to David at Hebron, and said to the king, “Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul your enemy, who sought your life; and the Lord has avenged my lord the king this day of Saul and his descendants.”
9But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, “ As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all adversity,
10when someone told me, saying, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ thinking to have brought good news, I arrested him and had him executed in Ziklag—the one who thought I would give him a reward for his news.
11How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous person in his own house on his bed? Therefore, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and remove you from the earth?”
12So David commanded his young men, and they executed them, cut off their hands and feet, and hanged them by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner in Hebron.
Chapter 5
1Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and spoke, saying, “Indeed we are your bone and your flesh. 2Also, in time past, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them in; and the Lord said to you, ‘You shall shepherd My people Israel, and be ruler over Israel.’ ” 3Therefore all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord. And they anointed David king over Israel. 4David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. 5In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.
6And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, “You shall not come in here; but the blind and the lame will repel you,” thinking, “David cannot come in here.”
7Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion (that is, the City of David).
9Then David dwelt in the stronghold, and called it the City of David. And David built all around from the Millo and inward.
10So David went on and became great, and the Lord God of hosts was with him.
11Then Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters and masons. And they built David a house.
12So David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel, and that He had exalted His kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.
13And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he had come from Hebron. Also more sons and daughters were born to David.
14Now these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
15Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,
16Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
17Now when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. And David heard of it and went down to the stronghold.
18The Philistines also went and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim.
20So David went to Baal Perazim, and David defeated them there; and he said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies before me, like a breakthrough of water.” Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Perazim.
21And they left their images there, and David and his men carried them away.
22Then the Philistines went up once again and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim.
23Therefore David inquired of the Lord, and He said, “You shall not go up; circle around behind them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees.
24And it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly. For then the Lord will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.”
25And David did so, as the Lord commanded him; and he drove back the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer.
